Catnapped (A Klepto Cat Mystery)

by Fry, Patricia

  “Oh, it’s the cat from the meeting—Meowster. It has become his favorite contraband. He carries it around with him a lot and likes to sleep near it in the afternoon. I’m not sure he’ll give it back to Ida. We may have to get her a new one,” she said with a slight grimace.

  Once the couple was seated in the cab of the truck, Michael reached over and took Savannah’s hand. She welcomed his touch. “I’ve missed you,” he said.

  “We just saw each other a couple of hours ago,” Savannah quipped.

  “You know what I mean. And now I can’t even hold you tightly because of your bruises.”

  “Says who?” Savannah asked playfully.

  He smiled and pulled her close for a passionate kiss, which they both enjoyed immensely.

  “Where are we going tonight?” he asked while nuzzling her neck.

  “Well, I’m hungry—maybe that diner in town? I had breakfast there with Auntie one day.” She paused for a few moments and then said, “Seems like years ago.” She sat with her thoughts for a few seconds and then asked, “Do they serve a good dinner?”

  “Yes, they do. But I’m afraid the atmosphere isn’t all that great.”

  “That’s okay. After dinner,” she said while running her fingers slowly along his neck, “I’d like to talk. Maybe we can go back to your place for a little dessert.”

  “I don’t have anything for dessert…” Michael started in a serious tone. And then he noticed the look on Savannah’s face and said, “Ohhhhh. Yes, dessert. Sure. I’d like that.” He kissed her again and then started the truck, letting it run while they both got situated in their seatbelts.

  ***

  “Hello Iris,” Michael said when she walked up to their booth with menus and two glasses of water.

  “Oh hi, Dr. Mike.” She pointed the eraser end of a pencil toward Savannah and said, “… Margaret’s niece—Savannah Jordan.”

  “Yes. Hello Iris.”

  “Wow, I see all kinds of hookups (if you pardon the expression) here in this place, but I never thought I’d see the two of you together,” she said. And then as if catching herself making a stupid statement, she attempted to explain, “I mean, Dr. Mike, I rarely see you with a girl…er…a…that’s not what I meant to say.”

  Iris blinked a couple of times, took a breath and said, “You know, you two make a gorgeous couple.” And she hurriedly walked away.

  “What was that about?” Savannah asked.

  “I have no idea. I think poor Iris is just a tad overworked. She has a couple of teenagers still at home and she supports them by herself. She cleans offices at night. Mine included.”

  “But isn’t she my aunt’s age? She must have gotten a late start having children if she has teenagers,” Savannah said.

  “Actually, one is hers and I guess he isn’t a teenager anymore, but he lives off her as if he is. I think he’s into drugs. And then she took on the responsibility of her last husband’s kids when he ran off with a younger woman. Their mother is out of the picture. Iris is all they have and she treats them as if they were her own. They have a dog and I sometimes work a trade with her when the dog needs vaccines or food.”

  “Oh bartering. I believe in it, too. I’m afraid my current boss is pretty hard-nosed when it comes to people paying. He wants cash money and he’d rather pay cash money for services and stuff rather than fool around with any sort of bartering system. Do you barter your services often?”

  “Just occasionally, depending on what the individual has for trade.”

  “Makes sense. You can’t be giving away free services and products in exchange for things you can’t use—crocheted baby booties, for example,” Savannah said rather flippantly.

  Michael looked across at Savannah for a few seconds and then said, “Crocheted booties? Where did that come from? I may very well want some crocheted booties at some point. In fact, I hope…”

  “Have you decided?” Iris asked as she approached their table.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I haven’t even looked at the menu,” Savannah apologized.

  “I recommend the Special tonight,” Michael said. “They make a pretty good fish and chips. And their cole slaw is excellent.”

  “Sounds good,” Savannah agreed.

  “And two draft beers?” Michael gave Savannah a questioning look.

  She nodded.

  Iris collected the menus. “I’ll be right back with those beers.”

  Michael stared at Savannah and then said, “Don’t you want to be married someday?”

  “Sure, I think so.” She thought about the question for a few minutes. “But you’ve been married. It doesn’t sound like it was a fun ride for you. Why would you want to do it again?”

  “Because I believe that marriage can be the most beautiful relationship ever with the right person. Don’t you?”

  “I suppose.” She hesitated and then said, “But Michael, how do you know when it is the right person? I thought I was with the right person twice in my life and it turned out…”

  “Turned out what? You aren’t going to say the word ‘failure,’ are you?”

  “Well, I’m not married, am I?” Savannah asked, not expecting an answer.

  “And aren’t you glad?”

  Iris appeared again and set two chilled mugs of beer in front of the couple.

  Savannah took a long sip, set the glass down, licked the foam from her upper lip and chuckled. “Yes, I’m really glad I didn’t marry either of those yoyos.”

  “So where’s the failure?” Michael asked. He thought about his next comment and then said, “Savannah, just because you dated with the idea of marriage, doesn’t mean that you chose wrong or that you failed in some way. Dating is a prelude to marriage. Sometimes it ends in marriage and more often than not, it does not. That’s why we date—in order to determine if we would be compatible and happy being together with someone forever—whether we have the same values and goals. We don’t—or shouldn’t—go into dating anyone with such strong, well-defined expectations that when those expectations aren’t met, we feel as though we’ve failed at life.”

  “Gosh, is that what I’ve been doing?” Savannah asked feeling a little off-kilter at the realization. “Have my expectations kept me from my dreams? I mean, you don’t know how much time I ‘ve spent mourning my broken relationships.” Finally she said in a quiet voice, “Wow, I always thought my girlfriends—and even my former boyfriends—were callous and in denial when they seemed to recover from breakups so quickly and, seemingly, easily. But I was the one who was off base? Do you really think so, Michael?”

  “Savannah, I’m not an expert, but it seems to me that you are just about as loyal as they come. You take your relationships and friendships more seriously than many people do in today’s mixed-up world. And you hold onto things.”

  “Oh yes, I do hold on—big time. How does one get over that?” She looked Michael in the eyes and asked, “How did you get over your marriage breaking up, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  Michael thought before responding. “Well, Savannah, I was the one who ended the marriage. As it turns out, my high-school sweetheart wasn’t ready for marriage. She married me just to get away from her dysfunctional family.” He hesitated. “I guess I didn’t see the big picture—although looking back, I can see that my own parents and a few friends tried to warn me. It’s not easy to grow up in a dysfunctional family and not become a dysfunctional adult. Marcy didn’t love me—I’m not sure she was capable of love at the time. When she got pregnant, I was the happiest man alive—on top of the world. But she began brooding. She’d been enjoying a night life—she was very social. And pregnancy wasn’t in her plan.

  “We were struggling financially. I was taking the prerequisites for veterinary school and working at night. She worked at night, too—at a popular club. Unbeknownst to me, she saved up her money and borrowed a little from her mother and had an abortion—without even consulting me.”

  Savannah could see the pain in Michael’s fa
ce. She reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry, Michael.”

  He gave her a faint smile, squeezed her hand in response and then sat back in his seat.

  “Fish and chips,” Iris interrupted. “Can I get you kids anything else?”

  “No, we’re okay, right, Savannah?”

  “Yes,” she replied. As Iris walked away, she said, “Let’s eat, shall we? I want to hear more—I’m especially interested in knowing how you managed to get beyond all of that. But later, okay?”

  “Sure,” he said as he sucked down several swigs of beer. “This looks great. I’m hungry,” he said with enthusiasm.

  ***

  Savannah looked over at Michael as they walked up the step to his house. “Thanks for dinner.” “Thanks for suggesting the diner. I enjoyed that,” he replied as he unlocked the front door and held it open for her.

  While Savannah was giving an overly excited Lexie and a curious Walter their proper greetings, Michael asked, “Would you like another beer? Or I have iced tea…soda…milk?”

  “A nice glass or bottle of water sounds good to me.” She smoothed the fur on Lexie’s head and ears.

  “That’s easy,” he said as he filled two glasses with ice cubes and filtered water. “Let’s sit in the living room.” Michael motioned for her to walk ahead of him.

  “Who’s this?” she asked upon seeing a pair of blue eyes peering out from under the cloth on a round table sitting in the corner of the room.

  “Oh that’s Buffy, a neighbor’s cat. Mrs. Armstrong is traveling and I’m boarding Buffy, but I have to promise I won’t put her in one of those awful cages,” Michael said imitating how Mrs. Armstrong might say it. She’s here so often, she’s like part of the family,” he said. “She gets along famously with these two. Being an only cat, she doesn’t like much commotion. But once Lexie settles down, Buffy will be out demanding her share of the attention from us.”

  “Is she Siamese? Those eyes are incredible.” Savannah leaned down trying to get a better look at the cat’s face.

  “Almost Himalayan.” Michael set the glasses on coasters on a large wood-plank coffee table and motioned for Savannah to sit with him on the large dark-plum loose-pillow sofa.

  “Almost Himalayan?”

  “Yeah, like a cross between a Himalayan, a snowshoe, and maybe a ragdoll. She’s quite stunning. You’ll see her before the evening’s over.” He turned to Savannah and said, “Now, where were we when our dinner rudely interrupted our conversation?”

  “I don’t know if you want to revisit that period in your life, Michael. It must make you awfully sad.”

  “A little, sure. But it’s in the past. As you said, it was a period in my life. It’s over and I’m actually glad it happened—well most of it.”

  “Glad?”

  “Yes, I believe that everything happens for a reason…that there is a plan—a bigger picture. We have free choice, of course, so we can accept or decline the various options that come into our lives. But I believe that we are somehow led—through gut or a higher power—I’m not sure—but we are led to make some of the choices we make because we need the experience in order to learn.” He took a breath and then added, “I also believe that there are many wonderful gifts in the universe for us. All we have to do is choose to accept them.”

  “What?” Savannah asked, a puzzled look on her face.

  “We may be the designer of our lives, but, in case you haven’t noticed, we aren’t in charge of the big picture. I didn’t create Marcy or the circumstance of our meeting. That was something beyond my control, right? But I did choose to marry her. It didn’t just happen. I had choices. She had choices.” He stared into space before saying, “…although I don’t think she realized it at the time.”

  He reached around behind Savannah and pulled her to him. “We had no control over the circumstances of our meeting one another, did we?”

  “Well, no, I guess not.”

  “We didn’t even decide to become attracted to one another, do you think?”

  Savannah giggled a little and agreed with Michael’s statement.

  “But we did choose to spend time together this evening and I have made up my mind that I would like to be married to you—to spend the rest of my life with you—to have children together. That’s what I want more than anything right now.”

  He could feel resistance in Savannah’s body. What is she thinking? he wondered as they sat quietly together in the dimly lit room.

  “Oh! Well, hello Buffy,” she said as the lovely long-haired beauty reached a paw up and lightly clawed Savannah’s leg. “You want some attention, huh, girl?” She leaned over and began to pet the little cat.

  “Be careful, she’s a wool sucker,” Michael said as Buffy jumped up into Savannah’s lap. “Hmmm, does she also eat ribbon and pieces of string off of frayed towels?”

  “Oh, yes. Mrs. Armstrong has her hands full keeping things like that away from this one, especially when her little twin granddaughters come to visit with all of their hair bows, doll blankets, and stuff,” he said, laughing. Taking on a more serious tone, he said, “I had to operate on Buffy once when she swallowed something she couldn’t pass. The woman has done some research and found that there are some flower essence remedies that might help to reduce Buffy’s stress and help remedy the problem. We have also experimented with a few stress-relieving meds. So far, we haven’t made a lot of progress, but Buffy is only a year old, so maybe we’ll hit on something.”

  “I know of a product. We’ve used it with success in LA. It’s like a cat pacifier. Let me get the name of it for you. Buffy may like it instead of people’s clothing and such,” Savannah said.

  Michael leaned forward so he could look Savannah in the eyes. “Now see, don’t we make a good team?”

  “Yeah, sure.” A slight smile formed on her lips. After watching Buffy curl up and get comfortable on her lap, she began to pet the little cat. She then leaned back against Michael and said, “Michael, I do believe I’m in love with you. I’m so grateful for what you did out there during the raid and impressed and…well, just awestruck. I have so enjoyed the time we’ve spent together. You are a wonderful, wonderful human being. Yes, I do want to get married and have a child—maybe two. The idea thrills me. I think the right man and a family would complete me. But I also think I’m… well…damaged goods.”

  “What? Now you’re talking crazy, Savannah.”

  “Michael, please. I didn’t call your deepest thoughts and beliefs crazy. Let me finish.”

  “Point well taken. So sorry. I’m listening,” he said sheepishly.

  “I obviously have some things to work out within myself before I can give of myself in the way a wife should be willing to do.” She reached over and took his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. She then turned to face him and said, “I have some things to think about. I need to go home for a while. But I want to stay in touch. Can we do it that way?”

  He looked her square in the eyes and asked gently, “Savannah, are you running away again?”

  “From what?” she asked, shifting her body and causing Buffy to slide down between the two of them.

  “From us, like you ran away from the situation with Travis.”

  “I didn’t run away. He left. I only came here to help out my aunt.” She noticed that her voice was raised and sounded a bit unnatural.

  Buffy looked up at her as she spoke. She opened her mouth in a silent meow.

  “Sure, Savannah, maybe that’s the truth—at least that’s what you believe. So that’s your truth.”

  Buffy looked toward Michael now as he was speaking. She issued him the same silent meow.

  “Yes, it is what I believe, so it is the truth.”

  “It is your truth. And I’m not saying there is anything wrong with it. It just is.”

  “Did you notice that?” Savannah said, looking down at Buffy.

  “Yes, she’s quite engrossed in our conversation.”

  “A
nd she wants to be a part of it.” Savannah laughed. She ruffled the fur behind one of Buffy’s ears. “What a cutie.”

  The two sat in silence for a while just holding hands and watching the cat who so much wanted a connection to both of them.

  Finally Michael said, “Savannah, I have to ask; in your gut, do you think you’re leaving in order to forget me? Are you feeling trapped? Do you want to get away from me?”

  “No, Michael. It’s the opposite. I want to stay close. I want to be with you every minute. I want to experience everything about you and with you. As I said, I’m so off-kilter where you are concerned, I just feel a need to get my bearings before making a serious decision.”

  “Oh, Savannah,” he said, pulling her toward him and holding her. “You feel as I do, only you just don’t quite trust your feelings, do you?”

  The cat wriggled her way out from between the couple and moved over to the coffee table. Savannah took advantage of the space and closed the gap between herself and Michael. “I think you’re right,” she said, now feeling a little weepy. “I don’t think I trust myself. I’ve made so many mistakes.”

  “No!” Michael said sharply. This made Buffy react, thinking she was in some sort of trouble and she inadvertently bumped Michael’s water glass and knocked it over. She jumped off the table before her feet got wet, but a few drops splashed on her coat and she sat in a corner for the next several minutes bathing herself.

  “Sorry about that,” Michael said as he rushed back into the living room from the kitchen. He handed Savannah a paper towel to wipe water off her shoes. He then used a towel to soak up the water that spilled over the coffee table.

  “Hey, have you met Rags, the ‘into everything cat?’ This is nothing. Anyway, I think she got the worst of it.” They both laughed.

  ***

  “Will you be here for the meeting Wednesday?” Michael asked as he and Savannah pulled out of his driveway.

  “I wouldn’t miss it.” She smiled. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Can I see you again before you leave? And when will you be back?” he asked.