by Patricia Fry
Savannah shook her head. “No. As far as I know he’s never seen one.”
When Adam saw Aggie place the hammock on the floor, he rushed to it and landed on his knees in front of it. “Here, Rags,” he coaxed, “get up on this and you can lay down.”
Rags simply sat next to Aggie, looking at the contraption.
Adam patted the hammock. “Here, Rags. Get on here and I’ll swing you.” He moved it back and forth. “See, it swings. Want to swing, Rags?”
Everyone watched as the lanky cat walked toward the hammock.
“Can I take his harness off?” Adam asked.
Savannah looked around the room, hesitating, when Aggie said, “Sure,” as she unbuckled it and removed it. “The hammock will be more comfy without this cumbersome thing.” She looked at Savannah and Michael asking, “Why does he wear it, anyway?”
“Well, he can be kind of a handful,” Michael explained.
Aggie stared at him, then scolded, “You should know better, being a veterinarian. There are other ways to handle a cat than to confine him.”
Michael and Savannah simply rolled their eyes at each other.
By then, Cassie had joined Adam on the floor. “Get on the hammock, Rags,” she urged. And everyone watched as Rags took a few steps toward it and stopped. He sniffed it, then touched it with one paw and stepped back when it moved.
“Try holding it steady, Adam,” Savannah suggested.
“Like this?” Adam asked. He then said, “Come on, Rags. Come on. I’ll hold it so it doesn’t wiggle.”
Rags stepped closer again and put one foot in the middle of the hammock, then another. He stood there for a few moments, then stepped off.
“Hey, Lily,” Aggie said. “Lily, is that right? Bring me your baby. Can the baby swing in the hammock?” She explained to the others, “If he sees the doll swinging in the hammock, maybe he’ll get the idea. I can tell he’s not a stupid cat.”
But when Savannah and Michael tried to get Lily to hand over her doll, she held on tightly and refused.
“Do any of your cats use it?” Keith asked.
Aggie lifted one finger in the air, her eyes wide. “Good idea, William. Let me go get Snowball.” When she returned, she carried a beautiful white cat with brilliant green eyes. She held the cat near Rags so the two of them could get acquainted. “He’s friendly, isn’t he?”
Savannah nodded. “He’s pretty good with most animals.”
Aggie placed Snowball next to the hammock and indicated for her to climb up on it. “Up, up,” she said, motioning for the cat to step onto the hammock.
“She’s more interested in Rags right now,” Holly said.
Aggie thought about it before responding. “You’re so right. Hey, why don’t we just chat and let the cats do what cats do. If Rags wants to try out the hammock, he will, right?”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“GranGran, do you need anything from downtown while we’re here?” Jess asked. “Or would you like to go on an outing—take a drive?”
Aggie thought for a moment, then said, “You know what? I’d love to get out for a while if you don’t mind taking me to the mall. It’s warm in there.”
“Yeah, who wants to go?” Jess asked.
When the kids seemed interested in going, Michael suggested, “We have the room; why don’t we all go?”
“Yes, that would be fun. I’ll spring for ice cream,” Aggie said to the children.
“Yay!” Adam, Cassie, and Bethany exclaimed.
“I-cream?” Lily chirped.
“Yes, GranGran will buy you an ice cream.”
“I’ll get your coats,” Jess offered
In the meantime, Aggie turned to Gladys. “What do your grandchildren call you?”
“Grammy.”
“I like that. But I guess I’ll always be GranGran. Why, I’ll never know.” Aggie looked down at the two cats. “We can leave Rags here with my kitties. He’ll probably be in the hammock by the time we return.”
“Oh,” Michael said hesitantly.
“What?” Aggie asked.
“I think we’d better take him with us. I hate to let him out of our sight.”
The older woman chortled. “What damage could he possibly do?”
Savannah put her arm through Aggies’s and led her toward the front door. “Well, so far on this trip, he escaped at a gas station and was almost catnapped. He eventually did get catnapped and found his way back to Mom’s house five miles away…and he’d never been there before. He found a little boy’s medical bracelet and even possibly diagnosed an illness.”
Overhearing this, Adam added, “He found a dog and a little girl who had run away.”
“Yes, he did,” Savannah agreed.
“And,” Adam said, “he got out of the hotel room and came into the restaurant while we were having breakfast.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Oh my,” Aggie said, “he sounds pretty smart, that one. Yeah, we’d better not leave him here; he might turn off the alarm system and let out all my cats.”
“Where do you want to shop today?” Jess asked. “Which end of the mall shall we park at?”
“Well, the ice cream shop is on the east side,” Aggie said. “The place where I want to get the birthday gift is on the west, and,” she laughed, “would you believe the department store where they’re having a sale is on the north side? So, I guess you can park just about anywhere. Oh,” she sat forward, “the toy store is in the middle someplace and I know the children will want to visit the toy store.” When Holly began to protest, Aggie said, “My treat, of course.”
“Yay!” Cassie said.
Bethany mimicked her sister. “Yay!”
“Say yay, Lily,” Adam urged.
“Yaaay!” the toddler repeated.
****
The lively group had been strolling in the mall for about an hour and a half when they stopped to enjoy an ice cream. “Okay,” Aggie said, “where’s my pocketbook? I’d better put my credit card away.”
“I’ll get it,” Cassie said, running to one of the strollers they’d rented. She checked the basket, lifted a blanket that was lying across the seat, and finally reported, “It’s not here.” She looked at Lily’s stroller. “Did you put it in the other one?”
“Oh, maybe I did,” Aggie said.
After searching Lily’s stroller, Cassie said, “I can’t find it. It’s not here.”
“Oh,” Holly said, jumping up from her seat, “let me look.”
After she, Savannah, and even the men had looked in both strollers, in the shopping bags they’d accumulated, and all around the table where they sat with their ice cream treats, Holly asked, “Did you leave it in one of the stores?”
Aggie frowned. “I hope not.”
“I’ll help you go look,” Adam offered, throwing his napkin away in a nearby trash can. “Let’s see, we were in the ice cream store and before that, the toy store.” He looked up at the wiry woman. “What color is it? I forget what it looks like.”
“Red with some sort of silver design on it—diamond-shapes, I think,” Aggie explained.“When did you take your credit card out of your purse?” Jess asked.
“I’m not sure. I think it was when we were in the department store. That’s when I put it in my pocket.”
“What’s wrong with you, Rags?” Savannah asked.
Michael turned quickly and looked at the cat. “What’s he doing?”
“Pulling on the leash.” She nodded to the right. “He probably wants to go to the pet store over there.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Adam said quietly. “He was pulling like that in the toy store, too, when I was holding his leash. I looked around to see why he was pulling and I saw a man. I think he was staring at that man, but I don’t know why.”
“What man?” Michael asked.
“Oh, just some man. I saw him go down those stairs while we were eating ice
cream just now.”
“What did he look like?” Savannah persisted.
“Kinda skinny with long hair. He must have been doing a lot of shopping because he was carrying some big shopping bags.”
“I think I saw him in the toy store!” Cassie exclaimed. “I thought he must be buying a lot of toys for someone. Only one of his big bags didn’t seem very full.”
Michael chuckled. “Why were you two watching that guy, anyway?”
“I wasn’t watching him, Dad,” Adam said, “but it seemed like Rags was.” He narrowed his eyes and looked up at Michael. “Hey, maybe that man had GranGran’s purse in one of those bags?” Adam glanced briefly at Aggie. “I mean why else would Rags be trying to chase that man? Maybe Rags saw him take her purse.”
When Michael noticed the look of apprehension on Jess’s face, he said, “Hey, with that cat, it’s possible.”
Keith thinned his lips. “Well, let’s go find out, shall we?”
“What on earth?” Aggie said, when the two brothers rushed past her.
“Adam thinks that man might have taken your purse,” Savannah said. “He saw Rags trying to get to him when we were in the toy store.”
“The cat?” Aggie exclaimed. She looked down at Rags, then stared off in the direction the men had gone. When they returned a short time later, Aggie asked, “Well?”
“He gave us the slip,” Keith said. “We didn’t see him go out of the mall, so he could still be in the building.”
“Do you think he took my pocketbook?” Aggie asked.
“According to the kids, maybe so,” Michael said.
“And according to Rags,” Savannah added.
As the three men stood talking about their next step, which included finding a security guard, reporting the theft to the police, and retracing their path through the mall, the women discussed a scheme of their own.
“Maybe we could set a trap and catch that guy in the act,” Savannah suggested.
“I don’t care so much about catching him as I do about getting my belongings back,” Aggie insisted. Her eyes lit up when she said, “But yes, count me in. What’s the plan?”
“Yeah, what do you have in mind?” Holly asked.
“Well,” Savannah started, “let’s walk through the mall with Rags. If he sees the guy again, he’ll probably react.”
“Plus, we have Adam’s description. So we sort of know who we’re looking for,” Holly reminded her.
“Yeah, but we don’t know if he actually took Aggie’s purse,” Savannah reasoned. She smiled. “But possibly Rags does.”
Aggie and Holly looked at Savannah, then down at the cat.
In the meantime, Savannah rummaged among the shopping bags they’d accumulated, rearranged some of their purchases, and came up with an empty bag. She dumped the contents of her purse into that bag, then addressed her husband. “Michael, we’re taking Rags in the stroller through the mall. We shouldn’t be long. Would you guys hold onto these shopping bags and keep an eye on the kids?” She leaned closer to him and gestured. “My money, credit cards, airline tickets…are in this bag. Do not let it out of your sight.” She put Rags in the stroller seat and placed her empty purse on the sunshade.
“Savannah, what are you doing?” he asked. “Where are you going?”
“To catch a thief,” she said flippantly. “Who’s going with me?”
Holly grabbed her purse. “Count me in.”
“Me too,” Aggie said, excitedly.
Savannah looked at her mother, who quickly said, “I’ll help with the children.”
When Adam expressed an interest in going with the women, Michael pulled some quarters out of his pocket. “Hey, who wants to play in the arcade?”
Adam raised his hand. “I do.”
“Me too,” Cassie said.
“Now what?” Aggie asked as she followed along behind Savannah, who pushed the stroller with Rags in it, and Holly, who had to skip a little to catch up.
Quietly, she explained as they took the elevator to the lower floor. “We’ll use my empty purse as bait. I’ll leave it sitting here in plain view—easy pickin’s.”
“High five, girl,” Holly said exuberantly.
Half an hour later, the three women joined the men, Gladys, and the children outside the arcade, with Rags still sitting in Lily’s stroller.
“Uh-oh,” Michael said when he saw Savannah’s face, “you look pretty smug. Don’t tell me…”
Keith looked at Holly. “You didn’t?”
“Oh yes, we did,” Aggie said haughtily. “They’re hauling that crook away as we speak.” She hugged her purse against herself. “And I even got my pocketbook back with everything still in it.”
“How?” Jess asked, looking confused.
“I’ll bet I can guess,” Michael said. He pointed. “The cat…”
“You bet your boots it was the cat,” Aggie said, petting Rags. Savannah and Holly roared with laughter while Aggie told the story. “We waited for what seemed to be forever with Savannah’s empty purse right out there in the open, teetering on the edge of the stroller shade, while we three sat with our backs to it, drinking sodas and chatting away.” She became more animated. “Suddenly, we heard a yell and we turned in time to see Rags hanging from this guy’s arm and the guy was screaming his head off, trying to shake him loose.” She smacked her lips and continued, “In his hand was Savannah’s pocketbook. Then out came the cell phones.” Aggie put her hand on Holly’s arm. “This one was taking pictures like crazy and Savannah called the cops. When she got Rags off the man, he fell backward and dropped his shopping bags, which were full, as you can imagine, of pocketbooks. Mine included. The creep,” she said under her breath.
“Really?” Adam said, his eyes wide. He walked over to Rags and hugged him. “Rags, you’re a hero again.”
“So did the cops come and handcuff the crook?” Cassie asked.
Aggie smiled down at the children and patted Cassie’s face. “Well, after the cat attack, the guy’s lying there on the floor, you see, and when he started to get up, the three of us began screaming as loudly as we could, ‘Purse snatcher! Thief!’ Soon people were coming out of the stores and a couple of brave men held the guy down until the cops arrived.” She stomped her feet excitedly. “It was the best day of my life so far this week!”
Holly contained her laughter just long enough to say, “Yeah, and instead of a gold medal or even a pat on the back, the arresting officer scolded us for taking things into our own hands.”
“As he should,” Michael said.
“Yeah, and he wanted to know which one of us scratched the guy all up,” Aggie said, snickering. “I told him it was our sweet little pussy cat, but I don’t think he believed me.”
Michael grinned, shook his head, and rubbed the back of his neck. He glanced at Keith, who still seemed rather stunned by the story. Jess put his arm around Aggie and said, “Good job, GranGran.”
Aggie looked at the cat. “We couldn’t have done it without Ragsdale.” She shook her head. “Boy, do I have stories to tell the others at dinner tonight.”
“Are you going out to dinner tonight?” Jess asked.
“Yeah, every night. I always eat with the residents. There are fourteen of us living in that big place, you know, and we share meals. Ray and Bessie do the cooking. Sometimes I help.” Her smile brightened. “I can’t wait to tell my story. No one’s going to believe it. They’ll think I’ve lost my marbles.”
Everyone laughed.
As the group walked toward the exit on their way out of the mall, Aggie put her arm around Savannah and looked at Holly. “So what are you ladies doing tomorrow? If you’re planning something exciting I might want to tag along.”
“Oh, tomorrow Rags has a book signing at the library in town,” Savannah said.
“Say what?” Aggie asked.
“He’s famous,” Adam said. “He’s in a movie and in books.”
“In books, too?”
Aggie asked, looking skeptical.
Michael slowed his pace to walk with Aggie. “Yeah, and you thought all he did was nab criminals.”
She peered into his eyes. “He really does sign books, huh?” When Michael nodded, she said, “Well, that’s amazing. Can you give me the address to the library? I’d like to get some of my friends together to come see this cat phenomenon.”
“Sure, when we get back to the house, I’ll look it up and write down that information for you. It’s at noon, isn’t it, hon?” he asked.
Savannah nodded.
Once some of the passengers had gotten out of the cars in front of Aggie’s home, Keith said, “We should probably mosey back to our condo.”
“What, you don’t like my company?” Aggie joked.
“That’s not it at all,” he said. “It’s been great meeting you. I just don’t want to wear out our welcome or interrupt your routine.”
“What routine?” she snarked. “I like to live by the seat of my pants.” She put her hand on his arm and leaned toward him. “And there’s no way you’re going to wear out your welcome. I’d move you all in, if I could.” She glanced around at everyone who’d accompanied her to her front door. “I wish I’d had the pleasure of knowing all of you earlier in my life.” Tears came to her eyes when she said, “Such a pleasure. Such a pleasure.” She straightened and cleared her throat. “Well, do come in. There is something I’d like to show you boys.”
Once Jess had taken the coats into another room and everyone was situated in the living room—or sitting room, as Aggie liked to call it—Aggie pulled out a drawer in a small table next to her chair and removed something. She looked at Michael and Keith. “Have you boys seen pictures of your family? I mean your dad’s side?”
The two men looked at each other and Keith said, “Well, we’ve seen some old photos of some of our…um…I guess they were our relatives.”
