“I’m sure I mentioned that. Why would I not tell you what you were supposed to find?” Ms. Midnight started to ramble as she got up from the bench. Summer could tell she was slipping into her less amiable persona and with that, the conversation was over. The scowl was back and her arms were flailing as she complained about all the questioning to no one but the shrubs and trees on the way to the mansion door.
*****
With a handful of herbs and her mind whirling with puzzling details of the conversation with Ms. Midnight, Summer went to her cottage to make the brew for Sully and maybe chamomile tea for herself. Her head was starting to ache.
In desperate need of someone to help her sort out all that was on her mind, she called Tori and relayed what she learned. Tori was always good at calming her and making her see the other side of the coin, so to speak, or interpreting things she could not comprehend. She relied on Tori’s keen sense of understanding, as Tori relied on Summer to keep her grounded and remind her there were good sides to almost everything.
Tori didn’t seem too surprised when Summer told her Ms. Midnight had she had magic. Maybe it had been the recent events of talking to animals or how Summer had always had a special talent and connection to plants and animals, but whatever the reason, Tori rolled with it without even a hiccup. The story about how the RAT was actually a cat and somehow a vessel of magic too—that didn’t go as well.
“So you’re telling me the old bat had you hunting all over God’s green earth looking for a rat when in fact it was a cat you were searching for?” Tori said, enraged.
“Apparently.”
“She’s crazy I tell you—off her creaky little rocker,” Tori said.
“I know it seems that way, but I think it’s just that she doesn’t remember what she has and hasn’t said.”
“Right…in my book, that’s crazy.”
“I was thinking maybe more like dementia,” Summer stated.
“Whatever. Does that mean you believe her? You think a cat is some kind of vessel?”
“I don’t know what I think, but at least I know I’m looking for a cat now and not a rat,” Summer said.
“You are a better person than I am then. I would have written her off as a looney toon,” Tori told her.
“Aw…you say that, but I know you better. You act all tough but if you had seen the sweet side of Ms. Midnight like I have, you’d be doing everything you could to help her,” Summer insisted.
“Nope…wouldn’t happen. I’m hard as steel,” Tori said.
“Liar,” Summer retorted and they both had a little chuckle.
“Any word from the cat torturer in the creepy house? Oooooh…you don’t think…could the cat you saw in the window be this ‘Morti’?” Tori speculated.
“NO. No, that isn’t…that’s ridiculous. Why would anyone in their right mind steal a cat from an old woman? That’s just crazy talk,” Summer said.
“Crazy talk for a crazy lady. Maybe he’s a good Samaritan and was saving the cat from the crabby old bat,” Tori said, then she paused and Summer imagined the wheels turning in Tori’s mind when she continued, “Or maybe it’s like Men in Black where this vessel she’s talking about is actually a universe and is on the cat’s collar—oh shoot, that can’t be, you have the collar.”
“Okay, now who’s talking crazy? There’s nothing that says this collar is from the cat I saw in the window. You said it yourself, there are probably hundreds of cats in the neighborhood or the forest, any one of which could be the owner of the collar,” Summer explained.
“Then why was the cat so scared? You said he looked terrified. Why would a cat be afraid of its owner?”
“I don’t know. There could be tons of reasons.”
“Like?”
“Okay, well, maybe the renter found the cat and brought it in the house until he could see if anyone had any lost pet flyers up. The cat doesn’t know this guy so he’s scared,” Summer brainstormed.
“That’s pretty weak, but even if it were true it could still be this Morti,” Tori rationalized.
“Maybe. Maybe not. Or maybe the renter just had his pet delivered from wherever he lived before and he’s still freaked out about his new accommodations,” Summer guessed.
“That’s even lamer than the first one,” Tori insisted.
“Well, I’m not going to theorize on why the cat was scared. It’s highly unlikely it’s the cat I’m looking for. I’ll just focus on combing the forest and neighborhood. I’ll check for posted found notes. I’ll check the board at work and at Homer’s Market,” Summer said.
“But you don’t even know what the cat looks like,” Tori declared.
“I know he has green eyes. He’s chubby and he’s mostly black,” Summer said.
“Right. That’s helpful. That description describes half the cats in town. Is he long haired or short haired, black and grey, black and brown, black and orange? I mean, come on, Summer. That’s not a lot to go on,” Tori complained.
“No, but it’s more than I had when I thought he was a rat. If I find a lost cat, I’ll take a picture on my phone and show it to Ms. Midnight until we find the right one.”
“IF you find the right one. For all you know the cat could have been killed in the woods by a coyote, or a mountain lion. Even a raccoon can kill a cat,” Tori told her.
“I know. Everything you said is true. Morti may be dead. He might be a figment of Ms. Midnight’s imagination. He might even be the cat next door, but wherever he is, I’m going to try and find him. If you had seen how important this was to her when she had asked me to find him, you wouldn’t give up either,” Summer said.
“I’m sorry, Summer. I may not agree with you on the old lady’s sanity, but it’s obviously important to you to do this, so whatever you want me to do to help, just say it,” Tori relented.
“Thanks, Tori. I really appreciate it,” Summer said.
“Sure. No problem.” Tori sighed. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yep. Hey, thanks for helping sort things out. You’re the best friend a girl could ask for.”
“Ditto, Summer. Ditto.”
*****
The following day was work as usual. Sully seemed to be feeling better. Usually antibiotics took a full day or two to kick in, so she was hopeful it was the prescribed tea she put over his food. Dr. Stuart concurred that even if it wasn’t the reason for Sully feeling better, it certainly wouldn’t hurt him. All the things Ms. Midnight suggested for the tea would be beneficial to him and probably would help the antibiotics get their work done.
It was a huge relief to see him feeling better. One more day and she might not have had to carry the fire extinguisher around with her wherever they went.
Hunter had shown up for deliveries that day, but seemed to be avoiding Summer at all costs, which seemed odd to her since Tori had told her when she had been on vacation he had been curious about her whereabouts.
On her way home from work, she hit Homer’s Market for some items and also to check on the Community Board for any lost animals. She started a list of numbers from the board at work and there were a few here at the market that looked promising.
While looking for something interesting for dinner, she thought she saw Hunter leaving an aisle she had just turned down. She called out, but there was no response. She kept an eye out for him at the checkout line, but never did cross paths with him. She assumed she had been mistaken and it might have been someone who looked like him.
When they got home she put Sully in the yard and headed to the crumbling house next door and knocked. Still no response. She checked the mailbox to see if her note was still inside, but there was nothing except dust and a tiny scared spider within. He must have received the note then, she thought, puzzling on why the renter hadn’t made contact. Maybe I should leave my number and that way if we miss one another again, he can call.
She pulled a prescription pad out of her pocket and scribbled down another note, this time with her cellphone number.
She deposited it in the mailbox, panicking the tiny spider into retreat through a tiny hole where the box had rusted through.
With Sully snoozing on the floor and finally breathing freely, she took out her list of numbers and started calling. Twenty minutes later with a very short list of two possibilities, she set out to take pictures of the lost cats.
The first stop was at a dry cleaner’s. An ancient Asian man was behind the counter who did not speak a word of English but yelled commands at the headphone-clad teen boy in front of a nearby computer playing some kind of ‘shoot ’em up’ game. The boy was clearly annoyed by this but turned to Summer and asked, “Can I help you?” without a trace of accent.
“Yes. I called about a cat that someone found?”
“Oh, yeah. He’s back in the back. Follow me,” he said and then yelled at the ancient man something in their native tongue. The old man responded unsmiling to the boy then turned again to Summer with a wide grin and a bow of his head.
“Here he is,” the boy said, opening the door to what looked like a small break room and directing her attention to the tattered, mewing cat making its way towards them. The cat was clearly a tomcat and almost as ancient as the smiling, nodding man behind her. Tufts of hair were missing here and there and the tip of one of his ears was missing. He was mostly black and had green eyes, but he was definitely not what anyone would call chubby. Summer felt the poor thing probably had never seen a vet in its entire life.
Summer explained she was not the owner of the lost cat, only a friend helping to look for the missing cat. She took a picture and handed the young man her business card, telling him if the cat needed any medical attention she’d be willing to waive the fee for a checkup. He thanked her and showed her to the front of the store all the while yelling Chinese at the nodding, smiling old man who followed them.
The second place was a residence where a young child answered the door. Behind her were at least five other children of various ages running around screaming. A moment later, a tired-looking woman with an infant in her arms took the place of the small greeter.
“Yes?” the woman said while the baby pulled at her lips.
“Hi. I called earlier. You said you had found a cat?”
“Yes,” the woman responded in exhaustion. “He’s in the shed out back. Could you just let yourself in the yard, I’ve got dinner on the stove and I don’t want to burn it.
“No problem. I’m doing this for a friend, so if it’s all right, I’ll take a picture of the cat and call you if it’s hers?”
“Sure, whatever. Just make sure to secure the gate. It’s hard enough to keep track of all these rugrats without them getting out of the yard.”
“I understand. No problem. Thank you,” Summer said, but the door was already being shut before she finished the words and she heard the woman scolding the little girl who had opened the door about the dangers of strangers and how she shouldn’t ever open the door without mommy.
Summer made her way around the house to the gate and into the yard. It was big and strewn with anything that might entertain a child at play. There was a swing set with a slide, a pint-sized basketball hoop, and several bikes in different colors and ranging in size. There were yellow tractors, red fire engines, a pink Barbie corvette and a small soft-sided pool with bright colored toys floating on the water.
She spied a small blue storage shed, made to look like a small house with windows and a shake roof. The windows were open to let in a breeze and peering out of the screened window was a very young cat, probably only four to six months old. He had long soft grey and black striped fur. He also had pretty green eyes and was well fed but not fat. He still had his kitten fur that stuck out in all directions, giving the illusion of his being chubby. When Summer petted the cat she saw his fur made him look a lot bigger than he actually was. She took a picture of the cat, gave him a couple of much-appreciated pets and secured the gate behind her and made her way home.
When she pulled into the driveway she caught a glimpse of someone going into the house next door. It was not enough to make out any features of the person, not even whether that person was a man or a woman, but it was more than she had seen in the past.
She went to the door and knocked. Nothing. She knocked again. Still no answer. Obviously, talking with the neighbor was going to be a lot harder than she expected. She headed home to revise her list and printed out the pictures from her phone to show Ms. Midnight next time she saw her.
*****
As one might imagine of life with a growing puppy (and most especially a hellhound growing three times faster than a dog), Summer was quickly in need of dog food and a trip to the feed store for one of those huge bags of kibble. She also needed a bigger collar, a heavy duty leash and some grooming supplies, so on the way into work she swung by Junebug Feed and Farm Supply.
It was a little out of the way, just out of town, but she could get a large bag of food (maybe delivered) and they would definitely have something big enough for a growing hellhound.
When they got out of the car, Sully was enjoying smelling all the new and strange smells. Pickup trucks lined the parking lot and Sully wanted to sniff each and every one. Summer thought this was cute. He’d probably never smelled a cow, pig or any other farm animals that the different farm trucks provided him.
“Come on, boy, let’s go get you some chow.” He would have preferred to sniff some more trucks, but willingly obeyed Summer and trotted behind her. The shop bell jingled as the door opened and a waft of more new scents occupied Sully’s attention. One of the farmer’s dogs came over to investigate Sully. He smelled Sully’s butt and Sully smelled his in the usual dog greeting etiquette. The dog was intrigued by Sully and wagged his tail playfully as did Sully, but when the farmer saw the hellhound, that was the end of the pleasantries. The farmer whistled which drew the attention of the intended dog and the dog obediently came to the farmer when he gestured with his hand a ‘heel’ command. Sully was going to him too, but Summer caught him with a tug of the tiny leash when she saw the scowl on the farmer and three other wary customers.
“Sully, come here,” she said.
“But I want to play,” he said, which only she could hear.
“I know, sweetie, but some people are…well, they’re a little scared of you,” she whispered to him as she led him away from the farmer and toward the back of the store where there were horse leads she thought might make a better leash.
“Why are they scared?”
“Because they’ve never seen anything like you before. You’re very big and getting bigger every minute. People are often scared of what they don’t know or understand,” she explained.
“Why haven’t they seen anything like me before?” he said.
“Because you’re a hellhound,” a man’s voice said from behind.
Summer turned to find Hunter standing there, looking very handsome indeed.
“Hunter. What are you doing here?”
He suddenly went a little pale, as if he hadn’t really thought this coming over and talking to her through. “I, uh,” he said, looking down at the bag of cat food in the crook of his arm and on the stitches she’d sewn on him a few weeks ago. “I’m grabbing some cat food…uh…for a friend,” he said anxiously.
“Oh. I thought maybe you got yourself a pet,” she said.
“Me? Heck no. I don’t like to be tied down—too much responsibility for me. I like to go where I want, when I want,” he said arrogantly.
“Right,” she said, shaking her head. “How are the stitches?”
He moved the bag to the other side and said, touching the area she was referring to, “Oh, fine. All healed,” as if it was totally normal.
“I forgot,” she said, whispering and leaning into him, “you heal really fast.”
He nodded, looking around to see that no one heard her whispering. Though there were a few farmers around craning their necks to get a look at the strange dog with the woman, they were all out of earshot. “I
see you still haven’t taken my advice about raising a hellhound.”
“No, and how many times are you going to ask me that? I told you, I’m taking care of him because he doesn’t have anyone else,” she said defensively.
“Fine. I’m sorry. But how do you know he doesn’t have any family? Where’s his father?”
Summer hadn’t really thought of that. Maybe the father was looking for his pup, but wouldn’t Ms. Midnight have mentioned that? But then, she did forget to tell her some very important facts about the RAT being a cat, and so on.
“I don’t know. It’s possible. If he shows up, well, we’ll deal with that when that happens, but for now, I’m taking care of him,” she said.
“You’re very stubborn, aren’t you?” Hunter said.
She took offense. “What do you mean? I am not. Why would you say that?”
“Take it easy there. I just meant that when you set your mind to something you, well, you really mean it,” he said.
“Of course I mean it,” she said defiantly and a bit confused.
“I guess what I’m trying to say, very badly, is that you’re true to your word.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, not everyone is. In fact, many are not. After all, you’ve kept my secret, as far as I know.”
“Yes. Why wouldn’t I?”
“See, that’s what I mean. Not everyone would do such a thing—help a complete stranger, not to mention a…” He whispered, “demon stranger. And then to take on a beast of hell,” he said, pointing to Sully.
Sully responded with a low growl of discontent. Summer yanked his leash a smidgen just to let him know she didn’t approve.
“Look. I don’t know what kind of people you hang out with, but you were hurt; what else was I supposed to do, just leave you there to die with Sully’s mother? That didn’t seem right. I’d like to think if you had found me in the same predicament that you might have helped me.”
“See, that’s the thing. I’m not sure I would have,” Hunter said.
She was taken aback.
“There was a time I might have…” he said thoughtfully, obviously thinking back on a better part of his life. “But I’ve seen a lot in my life and the larger percentage of that was not of the good kind.”
Finding Midnight Page 13