by Patricia Fry
Michael joined the others in laughter, then he asked, “Speaking of vacationing, did Savannah tell you where we’re going?”
Before anyone could respond, Mattie, the chef at the Kaiser Inn, announced, “It’s ready.” When she got everyone’s attention, she added, “It’s buffet style today.” She motioned with one arm. “The line starts here.”
“So who’s cooking at the inn today?” Colbi asked.
“The guests have all left,” Iris said. “I wanted Mattie to join us, so I didn’t book any rooms for Sunday.”
“Doesn’t she ever get a day off?” Damon asked, smiling at Mattie.
Mattie chuckled. “This is a day off—cooking for Ms. Iris and her friends in her home.” She lowered her head and said, “I wasted a lot of years wandering around on the streets, doing too much drinking and all.” Avoiding eye contact, she said, “Since I discovered sobriety and cooking, I just can’t get enough of it.”
Iris moved toward Mattie and gave her a one-armed hug. “Okay, like Mattie said, the line forms here.”
“What are we having?” Michael asked.
In the background, just about everyone chuckled.
Mattie smiled. “Sesame ginger salmon, baked yams and Idahos, crusty French bread, fresh greens from the Kaiser Inn gardens, and a veggie slaw.” She paused, then said, “Oh yes, and a fruit medley with brownies for dessert.”
Before Michael could respond, he heard a chorus of voices shout, “My favorite!”
Michael glanced around at the others. “Mine too.”
“Of course it is,” Brianna said, patting her brother-in-law on the back.
Colbi walked up to him with fifteen-month-old Rosemary in her arms and asked, “Is there anything you don’t like?”
Everyone waited for Michael’s response. Finally he wrinkled his nose and said, “Fig jam.”
Once most of the guests were seated with their filled plates in front of them, Brianna asked, “So where are you going, Sis? Mom said you have a trip planned.”
Colbi joined the others after having put her toddler down for a nap. “Yeah, where to this time?”
When Savannah noticed everyone from both tables waiting for her response, she said, rather dramatically, “On a book tour.”
Colbi looked surprised. “Really? Where?”
Bud, Michael’s associate veterinarian, chortled. “To New York City? Hollywood?”
“What do you mean, a book tour?” Max asked.
Savannah took a sip of iced tea, then explained, “Well, Rob called last week—you know, Rags’s agent—and he wants us to go out and talk to people about Rags’s memoirs. It’s called exposure—spreading the word.”
Brianna looked surprised. “Really?” She laughed. “Where’s he sending you, to cat houses?”
“Cat houses,” Margaret repeated, grinning. “Good one, Bri.”
“Oh stop, Auntie,” Savannah insisted. “No, to bookstores and libraries—same as when we sign Rags’s children’s books. Rob may also set up a gig or two at pet stores that carry books.”
“Cool,” Bud said. He smiled at Savannah. “I enjoyed the book. It was fun learning more about the big guy’s mysterious past.”
Max nodded. “I thought you did a good job with the book.”
Before Savannah could respond, Colbi said, “Very good job. I was impressed.”
Brianna, Iris, and others also commented and Savannah beamed with pride.
“Will you take Rags?” Bud asked. “I mean on the book tour.”
Savannah grinned. “I’m taking the whole family—well, except for the horse, the dog, and our two homebody cats.”
“Homebodies?” Damon questioned.
“Yeah, neither Buffy nor Walter likes to travel.”
“And Rags does, huh?” Bud asked. “I mean, does he actually like to travel, or is it that he doesn’t want to be left behind?”
Savannah grinned. “A little of both, I suppose. Anyway, Rob thinks more people will come out to see Rags than to see me. Rags has a following. So, yes, Rob’s making accommodations that include Rags.”
“If only Rob knew how complicated traveling can be with that cat along,” Michael said under his breath.
“Isn’t that the truth?” Margaret agreed. When Savannah feigned a disgusted look at her aunt, Margaret said, “Well, think about it—have you ever traveled with him when everything went smoothly?” Before Savannah could respond, Margaret answered her own question. “No!” She leaned forward and said, “Remember the time he stowed away in the car without us knowing and we had to buy him all new stuff—harness, leash, pen, food bowls…”
“I remember,” Savannah complained.
“And what about when you took him to the mountains with us for Iris’s birthday. He sure found a lot of trouble to get into up there.”
Eager to shift the focus off herself and Rags, Savannah cocked her head and looked in Colbi’s and Damon’s direction. “Hey, guys, is that Rosemary I hear?” She laughed. “I don’t think she’s ready for a nap.”
Damon listened for a moment, then smiled and headed down the hallway.
At the same time, Michael addressed Bud’s question. “Yeah, Rags does dig traveling, but he sets his own itinerary. He likes to terrorize us and disobey us while we try to enjoy a little vacation. That’s what he likes to do.”
After laughing with the others, Max asked, “So where will you be going?”
“Yeah, where do the most cat-lovers live?” Craig asked.
“It’s not carved in stone yet,” Savannah admitted, “but Rob said something about San Francisco and Los Angeles—you know, some of the larger cities. We may fly over to Arizona and New Mexico; I think he’s considering a Western-states tour for starters. We’ll see how that goes.”
“This is a test, then,” Colbi joked.
Iris sat down in her chair after taking another helping of vegetables, and said, “Cool. So Rags’s agent is making all the arrangements?”
“All you have to do is pack and go wherever he tells you?” Brianna asked.
“It seems so,” Savannah said. “We’ll probably drive to San Francisco and maybe Los Angeles, then fly from there. Mom wants to visit friends, so she’ll stay in LA and we’ll reunite with her when we return from—you know, wherever.”
“You’re losing your chief babysitter?” Colbi asked. “How will you manage?”
“Michael will be there,” Savannah explained. “And the kids are getting easier to…”
Before Savannah could finish, Damon returned to the room with his baby daughter. He called out, “Hey, Craig, do you know a guy who wears a seafaring captain’s hat?”
Craig faced him. “Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Well, there’s an old fisherman outside who’s staring at your house.”
Craig walked into the living room and peered out a window. “Hmmm. I wonder who he is.” He shrugged, then headed for the front door, muttering, “One way to find out.”
A few minutes later, to the surprise of the others, Craig returned with the man, who did indeed look like an old-time fishing-boat captain. “This is Oliver Silver,” Craig announced. “Says he’s looking for something that was left here and he thinks we might have it.” He nodded toward Mattie. “I invited him for lunch. We have enough, don’t we?”
“Um…sure,” Mattie said, taking a clean plate from the cupboard and silverware from a drawer.
When Savannah saw Michael helping Lily down from her chair, she cleared the toddler’s plate from the table and offered, “You can sit here. Our daughter’s finished.” She removed the booster seat from the chair, and carried Lily’s dishes into the kitchen.
“Thank you,” the gent said. “That’s mighty generous of ya.” He looked around. “What is this some sorta family reunion? Are ya celebratin’ a birthday?”
Iris shook her head. “No. We’re friends and we gather every Sunday after church.” She corrected herself, by saying, “Well, some of us are also family.” She pointed. “S
avannah and Brianna are sisters. Gladys is their mother and Maggie is their aunt. Damon, the young man holding the baby, is my son and that pretty young lady there is his wife.” She glanced at the others. “The rest are spouses and significant others…you know…”
Oliver looked around at everyone. “How nice. And it’s nice to be invited to yer special Sunday occasion.”
“So what is it you’re looking for?” Margaret asked.
Oliver eyed her inquisitively. “Do you live here?” He jumped a bit and pointed across the room. “Hey, there’s a cat. I seen some in yer yard. How many cats do ya have?”
Craig chuckled. “Three. This is Tommy. He has the run of the house. The others stay outside.”
Oliver smiled down at Tommy. “I like cats. Used to have lots of ’em.” He wriggled his fingers in invitation to Tommy and the cat moved closer and sniffed his hand. “Hi, Tommy. Nice to make yer acquaintance.”
“So you don’t have cats where you live now?” Margaret asked.
Oliver shook his head. His face brightened when he said, “But sometimes I have one for a day or maybe a summer. Blarney stayed with me for a coupla years.” He became more serious. “Cats are free agents, ya know.” He quickly turned to Margaret again. “So do you live here?”
Margaret nodded toward Iris. “No. She lives here.” She reached out her hand. “I’m Maggie.” She motioned toward Max. “This is my husband, Max.” She looked into the Oliver’s eyes. “Did you used to live here?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Oh, no. The sea’s my home. No, I never lived here.” He raised his eyebrows. “But I know someone who did.”
“You’re kind of a long way from the ocean, aren’t you?” Michael asked.
Oliver seemed slightly flustered. “Yeah. I’m stayin’ with a landlubber right now, but I’m most partial to the sea. I live most of the time on my boat.”
“You keep cats on your boat?” Brianna asked.
He glanced around at the others. “Yes. Cats come out on the docks sometimes. People have ’em to keep the rodents down. Sometimes the cats get tired of workin’ where there’s no people and they’ll wander down to my Bonnie Lu. Not everyone stays on their boats like I do. Cats like company,” he grinned, “and a good meal once in a while.”
“Bonnie Lu?” Colbi repeated. “Is that your boat’s name?”
Oliver nodded, then said, “My friend and I…well, we’re on a mission. Once we find what we’re lookin’ fer, I’ll head back out to the Bonnie Lu and whatever cats are there waitin’ fer me.”
“What are you looking for?” Craig asked. “Maybe we can help you find it. You say it’s in this house somewhere?”
“Probably not inside,” the man said. He guzzled down half the glass of iced tea Mattie had placed in front of him, then eagerly began eating the salmon and bread—pushing the veggies to one edge of the plate.
The others watched Oliver and waited for his response. Finally, Savannah asked, “So what is it?” She turned to Craig and glanced at Iris. “Have you found something here that might belong to Mr. Silver?”
“Yeah, an anchor or a compass or bait?” Damon joked.
Oliver looked up at Damon, then continued shoveling the food into his mouth. He didn’t speak again until he’d finished eating. He pushed away from the table and looked at Savannah, then Craig. “I doubt anyone would know what it was even if they seen it. It’s…um…well, sorta ordinary-lookin’. Most folks wouldn’t pay it no mind.” He looked around at the others. “They’d think it was a worthless trinket.” He took on a more serious demeanor. “It’s really important that I find it. It’s pretty much a matter of life and death.”
Iris raised her eyebrows at Savannah, while Margaret looked sideways at the strange man.
Colbi asked, “So what does it look like?”
Brianna giggled and suggested, “Is it some sort of medication?” When the others looked at her, she explained, “Well, he said it’s a matter of life and death.”
Margaret laughed. “Leave it to our doctor to come up with that.”
As everyone waited for Oliver’s answer, he simply stared at a plate of frosted brownies that Mattie had placed in the middle of the table. She pushed the plate toward him and invited, “Help yourself.”
Damon spoke up. “Be careful there, Oliver. With Mattie’s brownies, you can’t eat just one.”
“What do you mean?” Mattie asked, watching as Oliver lifted a brownie to his lips.
“They’re addicting,” Damon said, laughing. “They’re so good you just want more of them.”
Understanding now, Mattie smiled. She then squinted at Oliver and asked, “Are you without a home?” When he hesitated, she said, “I was without a home for a long time until Ms. Iris brought me here to cook for her at the inn. You just seem like someone who’s living without a home. Is it true?”
He mumbled, “Yeah, I have a home. I told ya, my boat’s my home. I’m not homeless.” He took a bite of the brownie, stared at Mattie while swallowing, then asked, “Why? Why would you think that?”
Mattie thinned her lips for a moment, then blurted, “Like I said, I’ve been there. I know the signs. Terrible hunger’s one of them.”
Oliver continued to eat the brownie, then stared across the table at Mattie. “What if I was…I mean homeless?”
Mattie shrugged. “Well, nothing, I guess…only I could pack you some food if you like.” She looked at Iris and then Craig. “…with Ms. Iris’s and Mr. Craig’s permission.”
Iris smiled and nodded.
Craig, who had been leaning back in his chair studying the odd man, said, “Tell me about this thing you’re looking for.” When Oliver hesitated, Craig pushed, “You just made that up so you could join us and get something to eat, didn’t you?”
Oliver squirmed in his chair. He started to speak, but couldn’t seem to put his words together.
“Where are you staying, sir?” Bud asked. He added, “I mean, you mentioned a friend. Does your friend live around here?”
“Yeah.” He hesitated, then stammered, “Um…over yonder…um…in a boatyard, actually. He’s got his boat over there for some work and the manager’s lettin’ us stay on the boat at night after hours, when he’s done workin’ on it fer the day.”
“A boatyard so far from the ocean?” Max questioned.
“Forty miles is all.”
“So where do you dock your boat?” Colbi asked.
“Wherever the fishin’s good.” He grinned. “I’m kinda a vagabond, you see—a seafaring vagabond. I earn my way by chartering fishin’ trips.” He chuckled. “I guess you could call this a vacation—a vacation without much spendin’ money, that’s fer sure.” He glanced around at the others. “I thank you fer feedin’ a hungry old man.”
When Oliver started to stand, Michael asked, “Hey, what about the thing you came here for?”
“Yeah,” Margaret said, “what is it? It sounds awfully mysterious.” She squinted. “Is it invisible or something?”
Oliver spat, “It’s not invisible!” He added, “Least I don’t think it is.” He took a deep breath. “As I understand it, there actually is somethin’ here—right on this land. It was brought over from the old country by ship many years ago and carried to this exact coordinate. As fer as I know, it’s never been disturbed since.”
“Europe?” Gladys asked. “I mean, was it brought here from Europe?”
“Scotland, to be exact,” he explained.
What was here then?” Michael asked. “Must have been bare land.”
Oliver nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, there was no houses then, from what I’m told.”
“So you haven’t been here before...um…looking for it?” Craig asked.
Oliver stared down at his hands in his lap. “Well, yeah, I have. I came here with my papa and his brother when I was a wee lad.” As if he were reliving the experience in his mind, he motioned to the east. “There was an old farmhouse over yonder, and a big barn then. We probably could
have slept in the barn overnight, but the air was balmy and Papa and Uncle Stu wanted to be closer to where my great-grandpa had left it. It was a sort of test to see if we could feel the…um…power, so we camped under a tree. Papa said that’s where his grandparents had built their home.” He smiled. “Well, it was only a shack, but it’s where Papa and Uncle Stu lived with their grandparents, their parents, and the baby sister, Myrna. They stayed in the cabin, they called it, for dern near two years. When they moved back to the coast where the rest of the family was settled, they left somethin’ behind.” He glanced up at the others. “Papa said they never told anyone outside of the family about it. He wanted me to know of it and, maybe, someday claim it—ya know, when the time was right.” He hesitated, then said, “Ya see, it’ll be up to me now to right a wrong.”
When no one else spoke, Craig finally asked, “And is the time right?”
Oliver looked rattled. He avoided eye contact with Craig. “Maybe,” he muttered.
“What will it take for you to retrieve the…um…item?” Michael asked. “I mean, there’s a house built on this site now. Presumably the tree you mentioned is gone. Do you even know where this thing is?”
Oliver stood up, walked slowly into the living room, turned, and said, “No one’s goin’ to stop me from reclaimin’ it. What’s left of my family’s countin’ on me.” When Michael’s cell phone rang, he reached for it and Oliver took that opportunity to dash out the front door.
“What the…?” Damon said, quickly running after him. Bud joined him just outside the front door and the two men stood, bewildered, staring in one direction then another.
“Where’d he go?” Bud asked.
Damon ran his hand through his short-cropped, curly red hair, then shook his head slowly. “That’s a good question,” he muttered. “He flat disappeared.” He turned to Bud. “What is he some sort of genie?”
“He looks more like a leprechaun,” Bud said, chuckling.
“So?” Savannah questioned when the two men returned to the dining room.