Patricia Fry - Klepto Cat 03 - Sleight of Paw

by Patricia Fry

  She rose up on one elbow. “Do you mean it, Michael?”

  “Yes. I think it would be good for you to get out of the clinic and on your horse more. We’ve had some unseasonably great weather lately. Maybe Brianna could borrow a horse from Bonnie and you could ride somewhere together. You could go shopping…things like that.”

  “That would be so much fun. I like the idea. I just talked to Mom a few days ago about Brianna. She said she seems kind of stressed lately. She could probably use a vacation.” She thought for a minute and said, “Yes, I’m going to call her first thing in the morning and see if I can get her to come. I can really take time off work?”

  “I don’t see why not. I can handle things for a week by myself. Bud can fill in.”

  “Okay, then. I’ll see if I can make it work.”

  ***

  A few days later, Michael asked, “So, when is she coming?”

  “Who?” Savannah teased.

  “You know who—your sister. Now don’t play with me, lady.”

  “She’s driving up tomorrow. Isn’t it exciting? Auntie said she wants to come out and play with us, too. Oh, I’d better go start freshening up the guest room. Which one is most ready for guests, do you think? Where are you going to be working?”

  “I want to continue working on the nursery, so that’s off-limits right now. And Adam will probably come next weekend. So how about the old master bedroom—your aunt’s old room upstairs. She would have her own attached bath and everyone could have their privacy. I think she’ll love the way you decorated it, don’t you?”

  “Yes, perfect.” She rushed toward her husband, grabbing him around the neck in a tight hug. “Thank you Michael. I am so excited, I can’t even tell you. It’s been a long time since I’ve hung out with my girlfriends.” She started to turn and walk toward the stairs. “Even if they are my relatives.” She laughed.

  Michael smiled broadly as he watched Savannah walk away. Sheesh, I love seeing her happy, he thought.

  ***

  “She’s here!” Savannah yelled to Michael, who had come home early from the clinic to work on the nursery—not that there was any rush to get that particular room done. In fact, there was no rush at all, yet. But when he surveyed the projects he had on his to-do list, this was the most appealing to him. The first thing he wanted to do was add more electrical outlets.

  “Hi, Bri—sooooo good to see you. Thank you for coming. Ooooooh, you look good, girl.”

  “Hi, Sis. Your invitation came just at the right time, I’ve been dying of boredom in LA,” Briana said, feigning extreme annoyance. She cocked her head, a smile taking over her pretty face. “Gosh, it’s good to be here and to see you.”

  “Your hair has grown. Are you straightening it now or have you lost your curl?”

  Brianna patted her overnight bag. “Got my straightener right here.”

  “Is that all you brought with you?” Savannah asked.

  “No, there’s more in the back.” She motioned to the back of the white Lexus.

  “Nice car.”

  “Yeah, I couldn’t wait like you did to get a house. I’ve been enjoying my inheritance the way Dad meant for me to. Paid cash for the car, you know. No car payments.”

  “Well, we have house payments. But the inheritance sure helped.” She became solemn for a moment. She looked to the heavens and said, “Thank you Dad. Love you!”

  Brianna smiled. “Amen to that.”

  The two sisters walked around to the back of the car and Brianna opened it with the push of a button.

  “Classy. I’ll bet you have heated seats, too.”

  “Sure do.”

  “No kidding. Look at you, girl. Living the good life.”

  “Mmmm, yeah, I guess that’s what most people consider it.”

  Michael stepped out onto the porch. “Hey there, Sis,” he called out to Brianna. He walked out to greet her, bent down and gave her a hug.

  “Holy cow, man, what do they put in the water here? You look great, Michael—taller, healthy. Both of you, in fact.”

  “It’s your sister’s cooking,” Michael said.

  “Well, whatever it is, it’s workin’. Good to see you, Michael. Thanks for letting me come.”

  “We’ve been looking forward to your visit. Can I bring something in?”

  “Yeah, there’s another bag in the back. Thanks.”

  Savannah bubbled over with excitement. “You’re going to be in Auntie’s old room. Wait until you see what Michael has done with it.”

  “Well, Savannah did the decorating,” Michael explained. “I just made a lot of sawdust.”

  “You got that right. He’s a sawdust-maker.” She laughed.

  “It’s beautiful. Just great. I may never leave this place,” Brianna said, spinning slowly around the room—taking it all in.

  “I’d love to see what else you two have done here.” She looked over at Michael. “I hear you’re quite the weekend renovation warrior.”

  Michael and Savannah laughed.

  “Come on, let’s do a tour,” Michael said. He chuckled. “They’re free on weekdays.” He led the way across the hall. “This is Adam’s room.”

  “This is great. I’ll bet he loves it. Does he come here much?”

  “He’ll be here this weekend.”

  “Can’t wait to see him. He is such a doll.”

  “Michael has completely redone our bedroom and bath.” Savannah looped her arm in her sister’s. “Come on I’ll show you.”

  “Beautiful. Is it too late to change rooms?”

  “Yes,” Michael and Savannah said in unison.

  “In here is the nursery,” Michael announced. “This is where I’m working now.”

  Brianna gasped and turned quickly toward Savannah. “Are you PG?”

  Savannah shook her head and put her hand on her stomach. “No, not yet,” she said sounding a little melancholy.

  “Well, there’s my favorite boy,” Brianna said as she spotted the big grey-and-white cat winding his way through the doorway into the unfinished nursery. She walked over to greet him. “Hi Rags. How’ve you been, huh buddy?”

  Just then, Savannah noticed a scattering of sawdust near the wall where Michael had been working. “Looks like I’m behind with my job,” she said as she picked up a broom that was leaning against the far wall and started to sweep the dust into a pile.

  “Well, while you do your wifely duties, I’m going to unpack,” Brianna said. “I want to hang the wrinkles out of my clothes.”

  “Cool. I’ll meet you on the porch in a few for lemonade. We can let Rags play outside.” Brianna picked up Rags and held him like a baby. “Does he still steal stuff from the neighbors?” she asked.

  “No,” Savannah said, looking over at her cat. “We keep a closer eye on him out here. He can’t go out by himself—too many predators. Besides, Auntie and Max are our closest neighbors.” She laughed and said, “I’d hate to see what he’d bring home from those old folks who live at the end of the lane—dentures, adult diapers, Bengay… Now, he takes things out of women’s purses and he even pulled a wallet out of a man’s jacket pocket once.” She leaned toward her sister as if to tell her a secret. “Oh, and he took off with Iris’s hormone replacement pills.”

  Both girls laughed. Savannah said, “When I called to tell Iris he had them, she asked if he’d swallowed any. I told her I wasn’t sure. She said to check him for boobs and a vagina.” Both girls doubled over laughing before Brianna lowered Rags to the floor and headed down the hall and up the stairs.

  “Get out of there, Rags,” Michael scolded. “We don’t want to lose you in this maze of walls.”

  ***

  This brings us full circle to that December day when Rags found the mysterious note in the wall.

  Savannah peeked into the nursery and found Michael still seated on the sawhorse, deep in thought. She walked over, put her arms around him, and said, “Michael…I…” Just then they heard a voice.

  “Hey, w
here are you guys?”

  “It’s Auntie. I knew she couldn’t stay away.” Savannah laughed as she gave her husband a quick peck on the cheek and turned toward the open nursery door. “We’re in here,” Savannah called.

  “Is she here?” Margaret asked upon entering the small room.

  “Yes, she just went up to unpack.”

  “So what are you two doing? Working?”

  As Savannah began to tell her aunt about their eerie find, Brianna returned to the room.

  “Hi, Auntie. I thought I heard your voice.” She rushed over to give her a hug.

  “Hi, Bri. You look great, girl. Love your hair long and straight like that. Makes you look thinner.”

  “I looked fat before?”

  “Nooooo. But this style does streamline you.” She looked over at Savannah and asked,

  “What’s that you have in your hands, Vannie? Looks old.”

  “Yeah. Rags just found it in the wall.”

  “What?” Margaret’s flawless skin suddenly turned pale. “What is it?”

  “Not sure. I was just going to look at it again when you came in. This seems to be some sort of message.” Savannah set the box down on the sawhorse next to Michael and unfolded the paper. “Looks like it’s written in German.”

  Margaret became quiet.

  “How do you know it’s German? Ever read German, Vannie?” Brianna laughed.

  “I’ve seen German writing before,” she said indignantly.

  “Can you read it?”

  “Noooooo.”

  Michael held up the box they had found. “This was in the wall, too.”

  Margaret gasped and everyone looked over at her.

  “What’s wrong, Auntie?”

  “Well, it’s probably just as well that you found it.”

  “Found what? What is it?”

  “What’s in the box, Michael?” Brianna asked.

  “A broken eggshell.”

  “Eggshell?” Brianna repeated looking confused. “Why would someone store an eggshell in the wall?” She walked over and peered into the small box. Margaret stood back, staring apprehensively toward the others.

  “Do you know what this means, Auntie?” Savannah asked.

  “Well, only partially. Remember, I told you there was something in the house. I didn’t know exactly what it was—didn’t expect it to be a broken egg. But the rumor passed down through the generations says it’s a gypsy curse.”

  Savannah and Michael caught each other’s eyes.

  “What?” Brianna said. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “The story is that when old Jed Forster’s dad was building this house, a band of gypsies came through. I guess the old man didn’t quite cotton to them—thought they stole a hog from him or something. Anyway, he got angry with them and the gypsies, before they left the area, claimed to have cursed the house. This was around 1900.”

  “Wow! That’s quite a story, Auntie. Something out of the books I used to read as a kid,” Savannah said. She looked over at the box. “Never thought I’d be living one of those stories, though,” she said almost inaudibly. She then looked up at her aunt and her sister. “What do you think it means?”

  “Well, I read those stories, too, Vannie,” Brianna said. “And I even met a gal in college who was into some of this voodoo stuff. I think an egg has to do with fertility. This egg, however, is broken, so this would mean lack of fertility—infertile—unfertile.”

  Michael and Savannah looked at each other. Tears filled Savannah’s eyes.

  When Brianna saw how her words had affected her sister, she said, “But I could be way out in left field. Let’s find a German somewhere and have them read the note. Okay, Sis? Let’s do that before jumping to any conclusions.” She thought for a minute and then said, “Heck, the egg may have been whole and it broke with all of Michael’s hammering or there was an earthquake or something.”

  “Yes, good idea,” Margaret said. “Let’s don’t get upset until we know what it means. Come on now, how about dinner at our place tonight? Max is cooking,” she added, in an enticing, sing song manner.

  “Oh, that’s right, he used to be a chef,” Brianna said. She looked over at Michael and Savannah. “Sounds great. Okay with you two?”

  They nodded.

  Savannah tucked the note in her pocket and took a deep breath in an attempt to shake off the sense of doom that had washed over her. “What time?” she asked.

  “Come over any time. If you show up before dark, we can show Bri around the place.”

  Still feeling a bit off kilter, Savannah hesitated and then, determined to collect herself, she said, “How about if we freshen up and we’ll come over around four thirty. Okay with everyone?”

  “Yes.” Margaret nodded. “What time is it now?”

  “Just about two thirty,” Savannah responded. “That will give us time to find a German.”

  “Bud,” Michael said.

  “What about Bud?” Savannah wanted to know.

  “He took German in college.”

  “You’re kidding. I had no idea,” Savannah said. She then added, “Hey, isn’t his name Bogart? That’s German, isn’t it?”

  “I think it is,” Brianna agreed.

  ***

  Michael walked out to the porch where Savannah, Briana, Lexie, and Rags were gathered. “Bud said he’ll meet us at the clinic at four and see if he can read the curse thing.”

  “Don’t call it that until we know that’s what it is, Michael,” Savannah scolded.

  “You’re really taking this seriously, aren’t you?” he asked.

  “No. I just don’t want to jinx anything.”

  “Jinx a curse?” Brianna laughed. “Now that’s rich.”

  “It may just be a joke that one of the construction workers played while they were building the house,” Savannah reasoned.

  “They didn’t have construction workers in those days,” Michael explained. “They had neighbors come in and do a barn-raising thing.”

  “Well, neighbors play jokes, too,” Savannah reminded him.

  ***

  “Nice place,” Brianna said as they pulled up in back of the clinic.

  “Yes, it is a great place. Michael planned it out well. Oh there’s Bud just driving in.”

  “Hey Bud,” Michael said as he stepped out of Brianna’s Lexus.

  “Hi, Dr. Mike, Savannah. Nice wheels,” he said. Suddenly, Bud’s eyes focused on something past the couple. Savannah turned to see her sister sliding out of the driver’s seat and said, “Oh Bud, this is my sister Brianna. Come here Brianna; I want you to meet our right hand here at the clinic.”

  “Hi. I remember you from the wedding,” Bud said.

  “Oh yes. I think we danced, didn’t we?”

  “You must have made quite an impression on her, Bud, if she doesn’t remember whether you danced with her or not,” Michael teased.

  Both Brianna and Bud blushed.

  “Well, Bud, I told Savannah that you can speak some German. We have a challenge for you.” He held up the yellowed piece of paper and asked, “Can you read this for us?”

  Bud took the letter in his hands. He studied it for a few moments and then his demeanor turned somber. He looked up at Michael and then over at Savannah. “Where did you get this?”

  “Oddly,” Michael said, “we found it in the wall of our house, along with a broken eggshell.”

  Bud seemed stunned for a moment. He swallowed hard and said, “It’s a curse, guys…if you believe in such things. A gypsy curse.” He watched their reaction and took an extra look over at Brianna. “You know, there were bands of gypsies living in this area around the turn of the century—the 1900s.”

  “That’s about the time the Forster house was being built,” Michael said.

  “What kind of curse is it?” Savannah asked hesitantly.

  “Fertility. It says here that nothing on this property will be fertile, the land or the animals or—” He looked over at Savannah and added,
“the humans.”

  Michael could see that Savannah was upset. He put his arm around her and squeezed her to him. “That’s only if you’re into witchcraft and stuff, right?”

  “Not really,” Brianna said with wide eyes. “According to my witch friend, curses are real and can do damage.” She then asked Michael, “Can you grow things on your land? When’s the last time you had a good crop?”

  “Savannah laughed nervously. “Well, we’ve never planted a crop.”

  “Oh.”

  “But there are ways to break curses. Didn’t your witch friend tell you that?” Bud asked.

  “Yeah, but who wants to drink eyeball stew and eat gremlin guts?” Brianna laughed.

  “You guys are freaking Savannah out, now,” Michael warned. “Honey, they’re just making fun of the note.”

  Savannah turned to face Bud and Brianna. “Well, thank you for the bad news,” she said flatly. Do either of you witch hunters know where we can go to find out how to reverse the curse?”

  “I’ll do some checking,” Bud said.

  Brianna glanced over at Bud. “So will I.”

  Bud looked in Brianna’s direction for a moment and then said, “A…how about…I mean…maybe we could check together. I have a good source right here in town.”

  She looked him in the eyes and then glanced quickly up and down his body before saying, “Well, I suppose we could.” She shrugged. “Yeah, why not?”

  “What are you doing tonight?” he asked.

  “Gosh, Bud, you’re eager. She just got here,” Michael said.

  Bud looked down at his boots. “Oh sorry. Just seemed like there was an urgency with this situation, that’s all.”

  Michael thought for a few moments and then said, “Bud, why don’t you join us for dinner at Max and Maggie’s this evening after you do rounds. Then, if you want to go out together, you can go after dinner. Savannah and I have had a busy week and wouldn’t mind going to bed early. All right with you, Brianna?”

  “Sure,” she said, shrugging her shoulders again.

  ***

  An hour later, Brianna and Bud returned to the Sheridans’ kitchen with Max after having toured the cattery. “So, how do you like our place?” Margaret asked.

  “It’s great!” Bud said. “I had no idea you had such a cool facility here—especially that tunnel where the cats can go outside and be safe in wire pens. Max, you’re a genius.”