by Patricia Fry
"Yes, of sorts."
"What does that mean?" he asked.
"Well, I met Rob when he came here to film a documentary starring Rags," Savannah explained.
"The cat? No kidding?"
She nodded. "Yes. Then Rob had an author create some children's books featuring Rags. He sets up events and activities—you know, book signings and things where Rags and I promote the children's books. After I wrote my book, Rob found a publisher and Rags and I became involved in signings to promote that book as well." She chuckled. "I guess you'd say that Rob is Rags's agent. He's a very creative guy, and he seems to know a lot about promotion. As a result of his efforts we've sold tons of books."
"All you have to do is show up?" Cody asked. "I mean, he makes all the arrangements for you?"
"Pretty much," she said. "He finds interesting venues and makes sure the books are there and all. It's been quite a nice arrangement. I told him about you and he's definitely interested in meeting you."
"Really?" Cody exclaimed.
She nodded. "Yes, but I guess we need to know if you're serious about writing the book and…"
"Yeah, I'm serious," Cody said. "I have it written, actually. I just don't know how good it is. I haven't told many people that it's finished for fear they might want to read it. My mom loves it and my girlfriend thinks it's really good, but I realize they might be biased. I was hoping to drum up the courage to show it to you."
"I'd like to see it," Savannah said. She asked, "Do you have it with you? It appeared that everything you guys owned was destroyed."
"Yes," Cody said. "My mom managed to bring it up on my computer and I had her send it to your local business center. They printed it out for me." He patted his backpack. "It's right here." He tilted his head. "So you want to read it?"
"Yes," Savannah said, "but you really want to show it to Rob."
"How do I get in touch with him?" he asked as she drove into their driveway. He looked up at the house. "Wow, did you buy this with your book earnings?"
Savannah laughed. "Not really. We fell into a sweet deal, and I had an inheritance, but book sales are certainly helping to keep it up. Come on in. Rags is waiting to meet you."
"There he is," Cody said, smiling when he walked into the house and saw Rags peering out from one of Buffy's canopy beds. He leaned over and stared back at the cat. "What are you doing in there? You look like some sort of Julius Caesar wannabe."
Savannah laughed. "That's our Himalayan cat's bed. Rags liked it so much we bought a second one." When Glori sauntered into the room, she said, "We're going to need a third one because our newest rescue, Glori, loves hunkering down in those covered beds, too. Sometimes we find two cats in one bed."
Cody petted Glori and crooned, "Hi there, girl. You're a pretty thing." He looked up at Savannah. "You say she's a rescue?"
"Yes, she has a hearing problem, although it's much better than it was. They thought she was deaf, but it turns out it was just a horrible ear infection. She came from a hoarding situation outside of San Francisco, as a matter of fact. Maybe you heard about it."
"Do you mean the Belson case?" Cody asked. "I sure did. Mom rescued a couple of those cats too—a cute runt of a tortie and a big Maine coon type that had lost most of his fur because of some bacterial infection. It's coming in nicely now."
"So the cats are working out okay for your mom?" Savannah asked. When Cody hesitated, she said, "So often people try to help by adopting cats in need, but discover it's a bigger project than they expected."
"Yeah," Cody said, "Mom loves those cats—well, Dad does, too. The cats have adjusted nicely to their new life. Mom has done a lot of fostering over the years, and she's taken on some challenging cats." He smiled. "She knows the drill. No, these two are doing well, and Luna likes them."
"That's your cat," Savannah asked, "Luna?"
He nodded while scratching Glori behind one ear. "She's really gorgeous." He laughed. "She's Luna only with fur. Luna is a short-haired tortie, so she doesn't have the white, but her coloring is brilliant like Glori's." He felt something bump up against his leg. "Well, hello Rags," he said. "Did you decide to come out and get acquainted?" He scratched Rags's cheek as the cat looked up at him, then ran his hand over his head and back. "You're a right handsome guy, you know it? Yeah, handsome, and I hear that you're also smart."
"Too smart for his own good sometimes," Savannah said.
"Well, I admire a smart cat," Cody said, continuing to pet Rags. Just then he yelped, "Hey, what are you doing?"
"What?" Savannah asked.
"He just snatched some cash from my pocket." Cody grabbed for it, but Rags trotted out of his reach. He laughed. "Well, you are a klepto, aren't you?" He said to Savannah, "Now that's something none of our cats do."
"It's Rags's specialty," Savannah joked. She made a move toward Rags, but he ran from her and disappeared into the dining room.
"What do you have there?" Gladys asked when Rags darted into the kitchen where she was shelling peas from the garden. She called, "Vannie, your cat has something."
"I know," Savannah said, joining her. "He took money from our guest." She called out to Cody, "Come in here and meet my mom."
"Hi," Cody said, entering the kitchen. When Gladys faced him, he walked toward her with his hand out. "I'm Cody. Nice to meet you."
"Gladys," she said, bypassing his hand and hugging him. "Nice to meet you, Cody. So glad you survived the awful cave-in or whatever that was."
"Thank you," Cody said.
Savannah handed him a couple of dollar bills. "I believe these belong to you."
He took them and shoved them into his jeans pocket.
"Did Rags get them out of there?" Gladys asked. "How did he manage that?"
Cody grinned. "No, I'd tucked them into my shirt pocket after paying for my bagel and tea this morning. It was easy pickin's for him." He laughed. "And he sure took advantage. It was fun seeing him in action." He shook his head. "Crazy cat." He faced Savannah. "So do you always travel with him? You say he joins you at your signings. In your book you talked about taking some trips with him."
"Yes, and sometimes whether I want to or not."
"Oh?" Cody questioned.
She grimaced. "Yeah, he's been known to stow away." When Cody laughed out loud, she continued, "We plan a beautiful problem-free trip and eventually discover that he's in the backseat—once he road for many miles hidden in a trailer we were pulling. So our lovely carefree getaway suddenly became a stressful adventure."
By then, Cody was laughing so hard he could barely speak.
"But yeah, he does okay when we're prepared to have him along. Last week we went to Oregon to help friends with the opening of their antique store. We took Rags along so he could spend time with his mother."
"What?" Cody quizzed. "He visits his mother? Does she look like him? Oh wait," he said. "She's a Himalayan or…"
"Ragdoll," Savannah corrected. She pulled out her phone and showed him a picture. "This is Angel, his mother."
Cody studied the photograph, then looked down at Rags. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "We had them both DNA tested." She chuckled. "Yeah, we took a trip a few weeks ago to Los Angeles on a search for his mother, siblings, and most especially, the sire."
"And you found them?" he asked, wide-eyed.
"We found his mother, some of his siblings, and his father who, believe it or not, is a redhead."
"An orange tabby?" he asked, stunned.
Savannah nodded. She added, "We're taking him to Nevada camping next week."
"Cool," Cody said. "That's Luna's and my comfort zone—camping, hiking, canoeing— just about any outdoor activity."
"Now that's fascinating," she said. "I'm eager to hear more about your amazing fur-girl."
When Lexie stood up from her bed near the kitchen door, Cody acknowledged her. "You have a dog too," he said.
"Yes," Savannah said, "and horses."
"Cool," Cody said, greeting Lexie. "Hi.
What kind of dog are you, anyway? I'm not familiar with your look."
Savannah chuckled. "That's because she's incognito—not quite an Afghan, and who knows what else."
"Afghan," he repeated. "Of course. I can see it now." He ruffled her fur." You're a nice dog, aren't you? Yes, nice to know you too."
"Can I get you something to drink?" Savannah offered. "Coffee, tea, lemonade, water?"
"Tea sounds good," he said.
"Iced or hot?" Gladys asked.
"Iced, if it's ready. Thank you."
Once they each had a beverage, Savannah led Cody back into the living room, where they sat and talked about writing and publishing. After almost an hour, Savannah asked, "So, are you interested in meeting Rob?"
"I sure am," Cody said.
"Okay, I'm going to text him. He said he could be here by tomorrow afternoon. Listen, Cody," she continued, "why don't you move your stuff over here; you can stay the night, or a couple of nights if you want to. That will give you and Rob a chance to talk."
Surprised, Cody asked, "Really? Are you sure?"
"Yes." She grinned. "You might also want to pick my husband's brain about veterinary work in the real world."
His eyes lit up. "Oh that's right; you're married to a veterinarian. I read that in your book. Yes, that would be cool." He smiled. "And I might be able to share some things with him about what they're teaching in school now."
"I'll bet you can," she agreed. "Okay, I pick up the kids a little after noon; we can get your belongings then."
He winced. "I have no belongings, remember? Those derelicts destroyed everything. I got part of my driver's license back and my CPR certification card. Mom wired me a little money for a phone. I also bought this backpack and a blanket at a thrift store and saved a couple of bucks for food. I've been sharing an alcove behind the library with a homeless couple at night."
Savannah frowned. "Oh, Cody, that's awful. If only we'd known. We were out of town all week. You could have been our petsitter."
"That would have been real nice," Cody said. "Thank you. I have to say that the people I've met in this town, except for those two guys who—you know… Well, everyone's been so nice. Its really means a lot."
"Hey, I'm hungry. How about a sandwich?" Savannah invited. "I made egg salad this morning."
"What about your kids? Won't they want lunch? Shouldn't we wait for them?"
Savannah chuckled. "I send them with their lunch and they eat at school—well, it's actually a daycare for our son, and our daughter goes to preschool a couple of times a week. They get a big thrill out of taking their lunch, although many times they come home with it and I have to feed them, anyway." She glanced at him and asked, "So is egg salad okay?"
"That would be great," he said. "Can I help? Where can I wash up?"
Chapter Two
"Oh goodie, you brought your cats," Savannah said the following afternoon when she opened the door to Rob and Cheryl.
"I told you we would," Rob said.
Savannah reached for the fluffy tabby in Cheryl's arms. "Let me see you, you beautiful girl." She looked at Cheryl as she led the couple and the cats into the house. "Gidget, right?"
Cheryl nodded.
"She's absolutely adorable. She's growing into a lovely young Maine coon girl." Savannah snuggled with the wriggling cat. "I just love her." When Gidget got too fidgety to hold, Cheryl took her from Savannah, and placed her on the floor at the end of her leash.
Savannah hugged Cheryl. "Good to see you too." She reached out for Rob. "And you." When something at Rob's feet caught Savannah's eye, she looked down and crooned. "Hi, Miss Kitty. You're looking good, girl." She laughed. "You're just a refined, femmie version of Rags, aren't you?"
"Speak of the devil," Rob said, motioning toward the hallway. "Hi, Rags. How's it going, buddy?" He ruffled the cat's fur when he approached.
Savannah laughed. "He's more interested in your girls than in your petting."
Just then Glori made an appearance. She stopped at the doorway, sniffed the air, and watched as Rags head-butted the visiting cats. Savannah picked her up. "We have kitty-cat company, Glori. What do you think?"
"Oh, isn't she pretty," Cheryl said, petting Glori. "Where'd she come from?"
"We rescued her from a hoarding situation in San Francisco a while back. Isn't she precious?"
"Yes," Cheryl said. "I love the long-hair cats. Now to me that's a cat. Cats should have lots of fur."
"Rags and Miss Kitty would disagree," Savannah said, laughing. When she noticed Rob and Cheryl looking behind her, she turned. "Oh, Cody, come in. Guys, I'd like you to meet an up-and-coming author and avid cat person, Cody Byrd. Cody, this is Rob and Cheryl and their cats, Miss Kitty, wearing the grey-and-white coat, and Gidget."
"A Maine coon?" Cody asked.
"Part," Rob said, reaching for Cody's hand. "Nice to meet you. This is Cheryl."
Cody nodded, then went back to watching the cats.
"Want to let them go exploring with Rags and Glori?" Savannah asked. "I'll serve some refreshments. I made a pot of coffee. We also have iced tea. I'm pretty sure Cody wants to get back to his cat sometime soon, so I thought you might want to chat some this afternoon."
Rob nodded, then said, "Coffee sounds good."
"I'll have iced tea," Cheryl said, removing Gidget's harness and watching her walk away with Rags and Glori following behind.
"She's an independent one, isn't she?" Cody said.
"That she is," Rob agreed.
Cheryl asked, "Can I help you, Savannah?"
"No. Get the cats settled and make yourself comfortable; I'll be right back." She stopped. "Cody what will you have?"
"Just water, if you don't mind."
Once they were all seated, Rob urged, "So tell me about your project, Cody. Savannah said you're writing a book about your cat."
Cody nodded. "Savannah let me print some things from my blog to show you." He handed Rob a few pages. "These are pictures of Luna, my almost constant companion."
"Cute," Rob said, showing a picture to Cheryl. "She doesn't mind wearing all that gear?"
Cody shook his head. "That's how much she likes adventuring; she'll even wear that bulky lifejacket."
"Girl?" Cheryl asked.
Cody nodded. He chuckled. "I've never met a tortie that wasn't." He pointed at the next picture. "This is Luna canoeing. Here she's hiking with me in Hawaii. This is us camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Here, we're cycling in Arizona." He continued, "She has appeared on TV; we handed out food and supplies after hurricane Michael. She's a real trouper and people like her. She makes friends easily."
"You don't have her with you?" Rob asked.
"No," Cody said. "I left Luna with my folks this time, and it was just as well, in light of what happened."
Rob looked at him. "What happened?"
Cody nodded toward Rags, who was following Gidget as she explored the area around the kitty beds in the dining room. "He could tell you about it."
"Who, Rags?" Rob asked.
Everyone laughed when Rags responded to hearing his name.
Cody continued, "A couple of other cyclists and I were lured into an underground cave by two fools. We thought it would be a unique experience to spend the rainy night in there. I'm always up for a quirky experience, but this one was a bit too much for me." He shook his head. "I'm just glad Luna wasn't with us. She might not have made it out." He glanced at the cats again. "As it turns out, those guys sealed the tomb, then there was a cave-in. We thought we were doomed, but Rags found us and none too soon."
"This happened here in Hammond?" Rob asked.
Cody nodded. "Yeah. Well, I knew about Rags and Savannah. I had a copy of her book. So when my buddy and I met Bruce Lang, who was doing a long-distance cycling event, we decided to ride up this direction with him." He looked at Savannah. "I had hoped to meet her while I was here." He grinned. "Who knew she'd find me?"
Bewildered, Rob asked, "So she and the cat rescued you
from this underground cave?"
Cody nodded. "I didn't know it was her and Rags until later. As I told Savannah, I want to publish a book with pictures. As you can see from my blog posts, I have some pretty good pictures. There are more if I can retrieve them. Those no-accounts, who almost smothered us, took my phone. A lot of my pictures are in there."
"You should be able to retrieve them if you saved them through one of those digital storage companies," Rob suggested.
"That's what I thought." Cody asked, "Well, Rob, what do you think? Would a book featuring Luna and her outrageous adventures sell? Would a publisher be interested in something like that?"
"Can you write, Cody?"
"I thought you'd ask that, so I printed out what I have so far, which is the unedited version. Savannah read it," he said, handing the manuscript to Rob.
Rob looked at Savannah. "You read his book?"
"Yes, last night. It'll be mostly pictures, so it was a quick read."
"But I can add more to it," Cody was quick to say. He added, "You can take that copy with you if you want."
Rob looked expectantly at Savannah.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "You're waiting for my impression. "Rob, I would recommend you think seriously about publishing and promoting Cody's book. You know that I'm no professional, but I think you're going to love it, and I believe others will, as well."
Rob thumbed through the pages, stopping to read an occasional paragraph. After a few minutes, he looked at Cody. "I think you have a potentially marketable book here. Sure, I'd like to work with you."
Rob thumbed through the pages again and asked, "So it's not edited?"
Cody shook his head. "Not yet. Do you know a good editor?"
"I might," Rob said. He took a deep breath and added, "Okay then, why don't you email me a digital copy of the book with the photographs. I'll present it to the publisher Savannah works with, and we'll see what he says."
"That sounds great!" Cody said. "Thank you. Thank you so much!"
"Now I have to warn you, not everyone does as well with their books as Savannah has done, but cat books are popular. People love reading about cats doing unusual things and your cat certainly appears to be unique." He looked down at the documents Cody had given him and said, "Tell me about your blog. Is it popular? Who reads it, do you know?"