Revenge at its Felinest

by Patricia Fry

  Savannah rolled her eyes.

  Chapter 3

  The Ivey family and Gladys had been on the road in their SUV for a few hours Thursday morning when Savannah looked toward the cargo area and asked, “Mom, what’s Rags doing? Is he in his pen?”

  Gladys peered into the back. “I don’t see him.” She unbuckled her seatbelt and raised up a little. “Rags, are you under that blanket?” She leaned over the seat and tugged on the blanket. “Yeah, I think he’s under there; I can’t lift it.”

  “That doesn’t sound like Rags,” Savannah said. “He doesn’t usually crawl under a blanket on his own. Would you make sure that’s where he is?”

  “Oh, hon,” Michael said, “let’s not disturb him. I’m enjoying a quiet drive.”

  “But Michael, what if he isn’t there? I want to know where he is.”

  He grimaced. “Where would he be? You know he’s someplace in here. I saw you carry him out of the house and put him in the car. He was sitting on that pad on top of the pen a while ago. Just leave him alone.”

  In the meantime, Gladys reached farther into the cargo space and managed to pull the blanket free. “You’re right, Vannie; he isn’t under there.” She quickly looked around the rest of the space. “There aren’t many places he could be with the pen and our luggage and the baby’s stroller taking up so much room.” She faced Savannah. “It’s sure a good thing you opted for this bigger car with the giant cargo space. You can really fit a lot in here.”

  Michael grumbled, “And I don’t know why we have to fill every square inch of it when we travel.”

  Savannah grinned at him. “We need all this stuff for the kids and the cat and us. It takes a lot!” After some thought, she suggested, “He must be under one of the seats.” She reached underneath her seat as far as she could. When she didn’t feel fur, she insisted, “Michael, let’s pull over.”

  “What?” he complained.

  “I want to find Rags. I can’t relax until I know where he is.”

  “Where else would he be, but in this car?” he cranked.

  “Maybe he sneaked out when we stopped back there at that gas station.” She looked at him, her eyes wide. “He’s done that before, you know.”

  Michael glanced at her. “Didn’t you check before we left there?”

  She winced. “Well, yeah, I did, but maybe he got out after that. Come on, Michael, just pull over. I have to be sure.”

  Michael let out a deep sigh and took the next off-ramp, mumbling, “It’s sure going to take us a long time to get to San Francisco if we have to stop every five minutes to see where Rags is.”

  Savannah ignored him. Once he stopped, she instructed, “Look under your seat, hon.” She warned, “Just watch that he doesn’t dart out when you open the door.”

  “I know how to handle a cat,” Michael snarked good-naturedly.

  Savannah grinned at him, then watched as he looked under his seat and under the backseat where Lily sat. “Not there?” she asked. “Okay, close your door, honey. I want to search this side of the car. He must be under where mom’s sitting.”

  “I don’t know how he’d get under there,” Gladys said. “I would have noticed him. Anyway, I have my bag blocking the space.”

  “Let’s just check, Mom. We’ve learned not to question where Rags might be—you know, to expect the unexpected.”

  When their attempts to find Rags failed, Savannah and Michael cautiously opened the cargo door and looked around in that area.

  “Nothing,” Savannah said, shaking her head. “Where is he? I’m sure he was in the car when we left the gas station.”

  “You actually saw him, did you?” Michael asked. When she looked confused, he explained, “Did you see him in the flesh and fur, or did you assume he was in here because you didn’t notice him slip out?”

  Savannah thought for a moment, then said, “I saw him. I saw his tail hanging out of his canopy bed. Yes, he was here.”

  Michael picked up a cat toy—a wand with a piece of fake fur hanging from it. “Or was it this that you saw?”

  “Oh, my gosh,” Savannah shrieked. “Do you suppose…?” She put her hands to her mouth. “Oh nooo.”

  “Kitty!” Lily shouted.

  “Not now, honey,” Savannah said. “We can’t find Rags. We’re looking for Ragsie. Oh, Michael, we just have to find him. What shall we do?” She looked him in the eyes and insisted, “We have to go back to that gas station.”

  Lily pointed. “Kitty in there, Mommy.”

  “Yes, honey bun. I’ll look in a minute, okay? We have to find Rags.”

  “I find Rags,” Lily chirped.

  Suddenly, what her daughter said clicked. Savannah walked closer and stared into Lily’s face. “You know where Rags is? Where? Where is he? Did he get out of the car?”

  Lily shook her head and pointed.

  “I don’t see him, honey. Are you making up stories? You’re a good storyteller, aren’t you? But this time we need to be real. We need to find Rags for real.”

  “There, Mommy!” Lily persisted.

  Gladys began to laugh. She patted the toy pouch that Savannah had hung on the back of Michael’s seat. “Vannie, I think he’s in here.” She opened the canvas toy carrier and peered inside. That’s when the wily grey-and-white cat lifted his head, looked out at everyone, and yawned.

  “Well, for heaven’s sake!” Savannah exclaimed. “Look at you, all cozy in the kids’ toy bag.” She took out her phone and snapped a couple of pictures. “Oh, this is great. Doesn’t he look cute?”

  “Yeah, cute,” Michael grumped, shaking his head. “Okay, load up. Let’s go.”

  They’d been back on the road for several minutes, the women and children discussing their good fortune at finding Rags, when Savannah focused on her husband. “Michael, you’re sulking. Aren’t you glad we found him? Now we can continue on our trip worry free.”

  Michael rolled his eyes. “Well, I have to say I was beginning to fantasize about what it would be like to travel without him.” He grinned impishly. “It was starting to look really good to me.”

  “Oh, stop,” she complained. She then said in a provocative manner, “You know that Rags’s documentary and the children’s books are making us quite a bit of money. I don’t think you really want to lose our gravy train, do you?”

  He glanced at her as he drove and teased, “Is that what he is to you—a gravy train?”

  “No. You know better than that.” She ruffled Rags’s fur when he stepped up onto the console then onto her lap. “I love my fuzzy-wuzzy boy.” She explained to Michael, “I just thought that since he’s paying his way, you’d appreciate him more.”

  He smirked playfully at his wife and shook his head. “So that’s what you thought, did you?”

  ****

  The Iveys arrived in San Francisco a little after one that afternoon. Savannah picked up her cell phone. “I’ll call Rob and let him know we’re here. He might want to meet with us before we drive out to Peter’s and Rochelle’s.” Into the phone she said, “Hi, Rob. We’re here. Um…just pulling into a nice-looking restaurant called Don’s Burgers and Things.”

  “I know the place,” Rob said. “They serve a good lunch.”

  “Great. Just wondering if there’s anything you want to tell us before we get settled.”

  “Yeah, as a matter of fact.”

  “Want us to come to your hotel?”

  “No!” Rob said rather abruptly. “No, I’ll come to you.”

  “Okay. Then you’re close by here?”

  “Relatively. Go ahead and place your order. I can be there in…” he hesitated, “…maybe ten or fifteen minutes.”

  “Okay,” Savannah said. “We’ll save you a place. Want us to order something for you?”

  “No. I ate a while ago. I’ll order coffee when I get there.”

  Rob arrived about the same time as the Iveys’ food order. Savannah saw him coming and motioned for the waiter, who promptly brought Rob a cup of fresh cof
fee. After greeting everyone, Rob sat down across from Savannah and watched as she fed Teddy some of his baby food. Gladys and Michael helped Lily with her meal.

  After a few moments, Rob looked around and asked, “Where’s the cat? You brought Rags, didn’t you?”

  “Well,” Michael said, “he’s lucky we didn’t leave him alongside the road a ways back, or give him to a couple of homeless people who tried to fleece us for money.”

  Rob looked at Savannah for her reaction.

  She smiled at Michael and said, “He’s kidding. He adores Rags, don’t you Michael?” Not waiting for him to respond, she grinned and pointed. “Rags is right there in the car. You can see the car from here. It’s in the shade.”

  Rob gazed at their SUV, studied Michael for a moment, then smiled down at Lily. “So was your kitty a bad boy?”

  Lily shook her head. “No. He’s a good boy.” She giggled. “He put his paw out the window.”

  “He did? Did a bird bite his paw?” Rob teased.

  “No.”

  “A gopher. Did a gopher bite his paw?”

  “No,” she said, laughing.

  “How about a fish?” Rob teased.

  Becoming more serious, Lily said, “No. No thing bite Rags.”

  “Lily, eat your lunch, honey,” Savannah said. She looked across the table at Rob and asked, “Is something wrong?”

  He let out a sigh. “Does it show?”

  She frowned. “Yeah, I guess it does. A problem with the book tour?”

  He shook his head. “No. Nothing like that. It’s just Cheryl’s damn…”

  “Cheryl’s with you?” Savannah asked.

  He nodded. “And I guess she told her brother we were coming. I hate that guy. He’s nothing but a slug—a sleazy, no-good slug.”

  “Does he live here?” Michael asked.

  Rob took a swig of coffee and nodded. “Yes, and I’ve been dreading this leg of the trip because of him. He always gets Cheryl upset. She buys into his sob stories. He’s such a victim, you know.”

  Savannah frowned. “That’s too bad. Is he homeless?”

  “Pretty much, I guess, and he’s a moocher. The one thing he’s good at is mooching from people. He always seems to have a roof over his head and food to eat, but I’ve never known him to hold down a job or actually pay a first and last month’s rent.” He shifted in his seat. “I don’t know how he wound up like that. He had a promising career opportunity, but he dropped out of the school and those dreams went down the drain. Of course, he blames everyone but himself for all of his problems.”

  “Poor Cheryl,” Savannah said.

  “Don’t waste your pity on her. Like I said, she believes his lies.”

  “His lies?” she asked.

  “Yeah, that he’s going to clean up his act and get a job, and all the while she’s feeding him money that she’ll never get back. Oh hell, I’ve had enough of him to last at least a few years, let’s not talk about him anymore.” He smiled and leaned forward. “Tell me, are you ready for the big book tour?”

  “Yes,” Savannah said. “Do we have an audience? You know, I’m used to speaking and reading to children. It’s going to be way different trying to entertain adults. And what’s going to bring them out to hear me—a nobody?”

  Rob smiled. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Savannah. Anyway, it’s Rags they’re coming to see. Rags is the one with a name for himself.”

  “Of course,” Savannah said, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed.

  Michael winked across the table at her. “That ought to take some pressure off, right, hon?”

  “Sure,” Rob said, “just do what you always do when you’re promoting the children’s books. It’ll be a very similar audience—mostly children and their parents.”

  “Well, that does take the pressure off,” she said. “Thank you, Rob.”

  “Certainly. So you’re going out to the Garden Tract to stay with friends?”

  “Yes,” Savannah said. “Peter and Rochelle. You met them when we were here for the premiere of the documentary. They attended the showing.”

  “That’s your artist friend and his psychic wife, right? Yeah, I guess we did meet briefly that weekend.” He handed Michael a file folder. “This is the itinerary for the next few weeks. I sent it to you both as an electronic file, but figured you didn’t have a way to print it out. It includes the addresses and driving directions in case your GPS gets cranky like mine does sometimes. Savannah has the airline tickets and the coupons you’ll need to rent a car in Phoenix and Albuquerque.” He looked at Michael. “Do you need a car rental in Colorado?”

  Michael nodded. “Yeah, we might. But we can take care of that, Rob. After all, we’re going there mostly to visit my brother.”

  Rob looked him in the eyes. “But Savannah and Rags have a couple of signings in the Denver area, so let me take care of it for you.” Rob stood up. “I’ll meet you at the first bookstore tomorrow. Then, as you know, you have two signings Saturday. Try to be there at least fifteen minutes early, okay?”

  “Sure,” Savannah said. “Thanks for setting this up and for meeting us, Rob.” As he started to leave, she said, “I hope Cheryl and her brother can resolve some of those sticky issues.”

  “Not as much as I do,” he quipped.

  He kissed her lightly on the cheek, shook hands with Michael and Gladys, and waved at the children. “I’ll say hi to my buddy, Rags, as I walk past the car.”

  Savannah smiled. “He’ll like that.”

  ****

  “Is everyone ready to get out of the car for a few days?” Michael asked later, as he followed the GPS directions to Peter’s and Rochelle’s new home.

  “Yes!” Lily shouted.

  Savannah smiled at her. “You’re a pretty good traveler, punkin. You and your baby brother have been good children.” She turned to face front in her seat, saying under her breath, “Let’s hope the rest of the trip is as pleasant.”

  Michael smiled and squeezed her knee. Before he could say anything to her, he heard a horn honking. Alarmed, he quickly looked to his left, where he saw the driver of a pickup truck waving wildly, seemingly at him.

  “What’s wrong with that guy?” Savannah asked.

  “Heck if I know,” Michael said, slowing for traffic. “But he’d better simmer down before he causes an accident.”

  “I think he wants you to pull over,” Gladys said. “He’s pointing toward the curb. Do you think we should pull over? Maybe we have a wheel coming off or something. I saw a wheel come off a car on the freeway in LA once.” She shivered. “That was scary to see.”

  “What, Grammy?” Lily asked. “What happened?”

  Savannah smiled at her daughter as Gladys told the story of the time a wheel came off a car in front of her and rolled to the side of the road.

  “Again,” Lily insisted. “Say it again.”

  Gladys repeated the story with some embellishments and Lily listened intently.

  In the meantime, Michael let out a sigh, checked for traffic to his right, and began easing toward the curb. The driver of the pickup pulled in behind the Iveys and parked. When a man appeared at Savannah’s window, Michael said under his breath, “Lower it just a little. We don’t know who he is or what he wants.”

  Savannah did as he asked and Michael shouted, so he could be heard over the traffic, “What’s going on, man? Why did you stop us? Is there something wrong?”

  “Yeah,” the fifty-something man said. “Maybe.” He attempted to peer into the back of the car, saying, “It’s the cat. You have a cat in there, don’t you? I want to know where you got it.”

  Michael frowned. “The cat? Yeah, we have a cat.”

  Savannah and Gladys quickly turned toward the back of the car where Rags lay on a pad on top of the pen, and Michael asked, “What about it?”

  “I want to know where you got it.”

  “Why?” Savannah spouted. “As if it’s any of your business, we’ve had him for nearly seven years. I g
ot him in Los Angeles.”

  The man cocked his head and squinted at her. “Are you sure?”

  “Well, of course I’m sure,” Savannah asserted.

  Michael put his hand on her arm to quiet her and he cleared his throat. “Um…why do you ask?”

  The man removed his baseball cap and scratched his head. “Well, he sure looks like Ma’s cat. He’s missing, you see, and she’s really worried about him.” He looked suspiciously at Michael, then at Savannah, and asked, “How do I know that cat isn’t Bootsie? Do you have proof that he’s yours? I mean, what are the chances of someone driving through the streets of San Francisco with a cat, let alone one that looks like Bootsie?”

  Michael relaxed a little. He glanced around the area where they were parked and said, “Hey, I don’t like sitting here with all this traffic racing past.” He suggested, “How about let’s pull into that gas station up the block there and we’ll introduce you to Rags and show you proof that he’s ours. Okay?”

  The man challenged, “You won’t just disappear among the other cars, will you?”

  Michael grinned. “No. I’m going to pull into the back lot of that gas station up there. Do you want to follow me or not?”

  The man let down his guard a little. “Yeah, yeah; I’ll follow.”

  Once the two vehicles were parked in a safer location, Michael stepped out of the SUV and met the man at the back of it. He offered his hand. “I’m Michael Ivey. We drove down from up north, where I have a veterinary practice.” The man appeared too focused on Rags to respond, so Michael pushed, “And you are…?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry; I’m Claude Smith. I work for a delivery service here in the city.”

  “Who’s Ma?” Michael asked as he started to open the hatchback. “Your mother?”

  “No,” Claude said. “She runs a small pet supply store. She and Bootsie live in an apartment above the store. The cat has the run of the place.” He chuckled. “He’s quite the spectacle there in the store and people come from all over to meet him. He’s kind of famous, you know. Well, he has disappeared and she’s afraid that someone took off with him. When I saw the same-color cat in your vehicle, I thought maybe…”