by Cy Wyss
“I’ll see you off,” Robert said.
“Are you sure you want to do that?”
He was pale, deathly pale, in the fading light with shadows from the firelight dancing over his face.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Okay.”
Robert turned to Nanci. “I’ll be back shortly, honey. You going to be okay here?”
“Yuh-huh.” She didn’t lift her head from her book.
PJ and Robert walked into the woods, far enough that they were obscured to Nanci, but close enough to hear her if anything happened. Robert stood next to a large tree, facing the way they had come; his back was to PJ.
“I’ll watch Nanci,” he said. “You… do whatever it is you do.”
“It just happens. I don’t need to do anything.”
“Okay.”
They still weren’t talking about PJ’s shift in anything other than vague allusions, which was fine with her. She was ecstatic at the possibility she would no longer be alone with her knowledge, but a lifetime of avoiding contact had made her unable to fully face the idea an ordinary human might venture into her world. She couldn’t even begin to comprehend how life would be if there were another of her, if Nanci really was going to make the transformation too.
Robert leaned against the tree trunk with his arms folded across his chest. His beautiful daughter was in her lawn chair with her legs crossed, her foot dancing up and down as she read. World War Z could have broken out down the gravel road and she wouldn’t have noticed.
At eight forty, a furry creature rubbed against Robert’s calves. He jumped, almost treading on the cat.
“PJ?”
Yes, it’s me, PJ wanted to say, but it came out as three unintelligible meows.
Robert stared at her. After a moment he reached down and stroked her soft fur.
“I don’t believe it. This is not happening. How do I know you’re not just a normal cat and my sister took off and is hiding somewhere? That this is all just an elaborate plot to make me look like a complete fool?”
“Rawr,” said the cat.
“Okay, PJ, if it is you, we need some semaphores.”
“Rawr?”
“A code. How about, one meow for yes, and two meows for no.”
“Meow.”
“Is my hair brown?”
“Meow.”
“Are my eyes blue?”
“Meow meow.”
“Okay, great. I really don’t believe this. I’m talking with a cat.”
He rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans. PJ headed toward the campsite. Robert followed. When they got there, they saw Nanci had taken up a flashlight so she could see her book better. PJ rubbed against Nanci’s ankle. Nanci’s bobbing foot almost smacked PJ, so the cat moved away and jumped into PJ’s chair. She settled into a ball and stared at Nanci.
Robert chuckled. “Nanci, did you see the cat?”
“What?” Nanci looked up at her dad.
He pointed at PJ, resting in the chair next to her.
“Oh! A kitty!” Nanci jumped up, leaving her book in her chair, all but forgotten. “Oh, you are a pretty kitty, aren’t you?”
Nanci petted PJ for nearly ten minutes while Robert cleaned up their dinner mess, washed dishes, and repacked all the remaining food in the vehicle. When he came back to the fire, it was dark all around, and PJ was sitting in Nanci’s lap, getting her ears gently scratched. PJ was purring for all she was worth.
“This is the most freaky thing I could ever imagine,” Robert muttered.
“What?” Nanci said. “She’s a cute little kitty. Who do you think she belongs to?”
“I think she’s theirs.” Robert waved his hand vaguely in the direction of a camper at a site in the distance.
“Well, she sure is a friendly little thing. And she can stay with us as long as she wants, right, kitty?” Nanci pressed her forehead to PJ’s. “She doesn’t have a collar. Maybe she’s a stray.”
“Oh, that reminds me. PJ—uh, I mean, kitty—can you come with me for a sec?”
The cat jumped from Nanci’s lap and followed Robert to his truck.
“Meow?”
“I got you something.” He opened the passenger door and reached into the glove compartment. He took out a small box. “Here.”
PJ looked at the box.
“Oh, right,” Robert said. “You don’t have hands, do you?”
“Meow meow.”
Robert chuckled. He opened the box and pulled out an exquisite collar of velvet and jewels, all colors of the rainbow. It looked vastly expensive. He slid it over PJ’s ears onto her lithe neck.
“Careful, now. It’s not a breakaway collar. But maybe we can cut it at some point and put a breaker in.”
“Meow.”
PJ groomed herself and purred loudly.
“It was our mother’s, you know. I never thought about why she had such a thing. I just thought it was a big bracelet. But I know better now. And you know too, right?”
“Meow.”
“All those years I grew up with her and never noticed. Crazy, huh?”
“Meow meow.”
Robert laughed. “Come on. It’s almost time to put Nanci to bed.”
* * *
At nine, Robert put Nanci to bed. Although it wasn’t a school night, they didn’t want Nanci’s sleep schedule to get out of whack. Although Nanci was twelve and more than capable of reading anything she desired—at a university level no less—Nanci still loved to hear her dad’s sonorous voice read Nancy Drew, something she’d grown up with and felt like she’d never outgrow.
“When I’m in college, you’ll have to come over every night and read to me, Dad.”
“Interesting idea. I bet by then you’ll want me to stay as far away from you as possible.”
“Why do adults keep saying stuff like that? I can’t imagine ever wanting to leave you guys.”
PJ curled up next to Nanci for the reading. Nanci had made it to the last two chapters in her current book. Robert read one, then stopped. Both cat and girl yowled and yowled until he agreed to read the last chapter of The Secret of the Old Clock to them. In his soothing baritone he read, and both girl and cat were soon fast asleep before they learned the clock’s final secret.
Robert poked PJ, and she awoke with a start. She realized it would be very difficult for her to stay up all night, especially since cat naps came so easily to her. Robert beckoned her from the tent. They left the inner flap open so they could see Nanci sleeping through the vestibule. PJ sat at the tent entrance. Robert sat in his lawn chair, reached into his vest pocket, and pulled out a pipe. He packed it with fragrant tobacco and lit it. PJ watched, yellow eyes wide and all-seeing. Fragrant smoke curled toward her, the scent of earthy tobacco mixed with charcoal. PJ had no idea he enjoyed a pipe. She suddenly felt like there must be a ton of things about her brother she didn’t know. Already he was surprising her with his warmth and flexibility.
She came over to him and rubbed at his ankles. He stroked her back. “Nanci still asleep in there?” he said.
“Meow.”
“Good. I think we can keep an eye on her from the vestibule. I brought a chess board. Do you think you can still play as a cat?”
“Meow.”
After Robert finished his pipe, he set up the chessboard on the picnic table in the vestibule. PJ lay at the black end, and he sat at the white. He opened with his kingside pawn and she responded symmetrically. She had him trapped quickly in their first two games with daring gambits, and those games ended precipitously. PJ was learning she had to pace herself so the games lasted a while and had a chance to engage them to keep them up all night. At ten, Nanci was still a girl. A beautiful, fragile, slumbering, non-feline girl.
Around four, the night was at its darkest, and Robert was on his third cup of coffee. The fire was nothing but quiet, dark embers, and they were on their fourth game, PJ having won three. She liked to think she’d let him win the last game, to keep his interest and entice h
im to keep playing.
PJ’s tummy grumbled furiously. Robert had been feeding her cat treats and tossed her another. She gobbled it up.
“You need water or something?”
“Meow meow.”
“Okay. Well, let’s set up the board again. I have a feeling my luck is changing.”
* * *
The next day was very laid back. Nanci reread the ending about the old clock and started on another book she’d brought. PJ and Robert napped alternately. In the early afternoon, the three of them went on a hike. They passed a creek with pretty rapids and marveled at how quickly the trees were gaining their foliage. Early flowers in a grass bed shone under the sun in a wide field. At one point, Nanci pointed to a rock outcropping.
“Look! It’s a cat.”
There was a rock standing on its side that seemed to come to a point, like a feline ear. If you used a little imagination, the rock could have bespoken a cat.
PJ smiled. Robert said, “Okay, we can call this cat point. I think we’re about halfway, so we’ll be back in plenty of time for dinner.”
That evening they had barbecued chicken and leftover salad and apple pie. Afterward, PJ announced she was going for her walk.
“Have fun. Is it helping?” Nanci asked, briefly looking up from her book.
“I think it is helping me.”
“Well then, get going.”
Robert laughed. “Nanci, don’t be rude.”
“Sorry.”
PJ chuckled. She nodded at Robert and headed off to the forest. It wasn’t long before she returned in feline form. She rubbed against Nanci’s ankles, and the girl absentmindedly stroked her. PJ jumped into her chair and started cleaning herself. Her pink tongue darted out and caught her paw, and she rubbed her ear.
The idyllic scene was broken at nine when it was time for Nanci to go to bed. Then girl and cat curled up in Nanci’s sleeping bag for Robert to read to them. He read for over half an hour, but neither could resist his soothing voice, and both ended up asleep.
When PJ came out around eleven, Robert was smoking his pipe. PJ came over and dared to jump in his lap. He stroked her soft fur, and she purred.
“I can’t believe my sister can purr so loudly.”
PJ closed her eyes, a gesture of trust, then opened them again and gazed fondly up at her brother. It wasn’t long before the fragrant surroundings and comforting position had PJ asleep. She only woke up when Robert’s pipe was extinguished and he moved to get up. She jumped down and followed him into the dining vestibule.
“More chess?” he asked.
“Rawr,” she said.
They played until the moon was high above them. PJ found herself slipping into cat naps between moves, and her game was off. Robert won two out of three before she knew it.
“See?” Robert said. “I knew my luck had to improve. I still can’t believe I’m playing chess with a cat. And losing at all. It’s crazy.”
PJ closed her eyes briefly and waggled her ears at him. He chuckled.
PJ was used to hearing night birds and buzzing insects, but at that moment, she heard another sound. It was a slight moaning from Nanci. PJ jumped from the table. She nosed into the sleeping area. Robert followed.
“What is it?” he whispered. “Did you hear something?”
Nanci was still sleeping, but there was a frown on her face. She complained softly again and turned over. PJ’s ears twitched and her nose quivered.
“What is it?”
PJ turned and bolted from the bedroom, through the vestibule, and out of the tent. She scampered behind it into the underbrush, sniffing the air and ground as she went. There was a familiar-scented animal somewhere close. A feline of some kind, which was odd since they were in the middle of the woods. PJ wondered if it was a wild cat or a domestic one.
Hello? Anyone out there?
There was no answer except for the chittering insects and calling night birds. The scent was fading fast. Whoever it was had left the area, PJ thought.
Then she heard murmuring from the tent. Nanci was up and talking to Robert. PJ ran back around the front and through the two flaps into the bedroom.
“… sure of it, Daddy.”
“Rawr?”
“Kitty,” Nanci said. “Come here.” She held out her arms and PJ climbed into them. Nanci stroked PJ behind the ears.
Robert said, “Kitty, Nanci was just telling me she’s sure she was just a cat. Did you see anyone out there?”
“Meow meow.”
“I think that means no,” Robert told Nanci.
Nanci nodded. “Well, whatever I felt is gone now. But I was right there in the woods, outside, in the grass near our tent sniffing around. It was so vivid. It had to be real.”
“Do you think you can get back to sleep?” Robert asked.
“As long as kitty stays with me.” Nanci yawned.
PJ obliged.
* * *
The next morning, PJ was still beside Nanci when she woke up to the pleasurable scent of brewing coffee. From the light, PJ figured it was after eight. She dressed quickly and joined her brother over a newly stoked fire. He was making eggs for breakfast.
“So what do you think?” he asked her.
“Well, it doesn’t seem like she’s turning into a cat. At least not yet.”
“Not yet? What does that mean?”
“Well, when I hit puberty is when it started. I don’t really remember how it happened. But it’s possible I was dreaming I was a cat before the changes actually started happening.”
“Now you’re terrifying me. Do you think my girl is actually going to turn into a cat?”
“I don’t know, Robert. I’m sorry.”
He eyed PJ. “How on earth did Mom hide it from us so effectively? How do you hide it?”
“People see what they want to see. No one expects that it’s possible to turn into a cat. So they believe whatever story I tell them because they can only comprehend the improbable over the impossible.”
“That sounds like what Sherlock Holmes said. ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’ ”
“Exactly. And people think from the outset that it is impossible I could be turning into a cat. So they even discount what they see with their own eyes.” PJ looked at Robert meaningfully.
He flipped the eggs. “I don’t think I could ever hide something like that from Didi. She’s too sharp. But that’s why you never got married, right? You figured you could hide it, but then you realized you probably couldn’t.”
PJ’s shoulders drooped as she recalled how madly in love with Liam she had been and how she abandoned him at the altar rather than share her secret. “Yep.”
“You know what that means, though?”
“That Dad knew too?”
“Yes. And he never said a word to us. And we never found out before it was too late. Crazy.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation, the fact you’re facing this makes me optimistic about love again. If you can come around, there must be another man on the face of the planet with an open enough mind. I just have to find him and get him to marry me.”
“I haven’t accepted this, PJ. I’m still in denial. If anyone ever asks, it never happened. I absolutely was not losing at chess all night to a cat.”
PJ grinned. “You mean like I never took a photo in my life? I just get them dropped in my inbox?”
“Exactly. Except that’s an open secret. This is a closed one. Solely among you and me and possibly Nanci—the blood Taylors.”
“Got it.”
Robert slid the eggs onto two plates and carried them into the dining alcove. PJ followed and they ate.
“Back to business,” Robert said after he’d finished.
“What’s that?” PJ was still finishing her eggs. She sipped her coffee.
“I assume you were a cat when you saw the Greene-Tate confrontation.”
“Yes.”
“Which is why yo
ur story keeps changing and it sounds like you’re lying half the time.”
PJ sighed. “Yes.”
“How much did you see?”
“Everything. Until I fell in the water near old Mrs. Norton’s house where Chip washed up.”
“You’re sure he washed up there? It wasn’t just his shoe?”
“I’m sure. He was there, plain as day.”
“And your vision at night is even better than a human’s, right?”
“Absolutely. If I say I saw something, it was there.”
Robert ran his fingers through his hair. “How on earth are we going to convince Detective Tipton of what really happened? Furthermore, what on earth did happen? How did Chip get back in the water and end up washed down all the way to the bridge?”
PJ smiled. “I’ve been thinking about that. And I have an idea.”
— 18 —
Ruse
Monday night, Robert met PJ and Mutt on the stoop of PJ’s trailer. He was wearing a ball cap and dark clothes. PJ had her backup camera in her usual collar and was ready to go.
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Robert said.
“Rawr.”
“Woof!”
“Shh,” Robert shushed Mutt. Then Robert turned to PJ. “Does he understand you when you’re a cat?”
“Meow.”
“How about when you’re a human again?”
“Meow meow.”
“Interesting.”
Robert looked around. No one other than PJ and Mutt seemed to be in the area. “All right,” he said. “Showtime.”
He walked around to the back of his truck and loaded a cloth dummy onto his back. It was one of the type used for instruction at the police academy. It was heavy, not as heavy as Robert himself, but probably roughly as heavy as a skinny old guy like Chip Greene. Or at least in the ballpark. Robert loaded it onto his back and followed the animals down the ravine to where the branches met over the creek behind old Mrs. Norton’s house.
The plan was to leave the dummy about where Chip had been, then Robert would skedaddle. Mutt would bark to bring old Mrs. Norton out, and PJ would be up in a tree filming what happened. They were all hoping Mrs. Norton would repeat whatever she had done weeks previously, when PJ thought she found Chip Greene on the edge of her property.