Crazy Cat Kid (Crazy Cat Kids Book 1)

by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

  Saltry growled again. Once more Purple ignored the warning.

  Then there must have been a change in Saltry’s expression because Purple’s tail quit twitching. She thought through her plan and realized that she may have pushed too far. She climbed up on my bed.

  Saltry sauntered to the cat house and settled on the top.

  Daisy came and meowed at me. She can be a very talkative cat when she wants to be. I’ve learned that cats meow and if people talk to them they will meow back as if carrying on a conversation.

  “What do you want?” I asked her.

  “Meow, meow, mew,” Daisy said. She has a musical lilt to her voice.

  “You want to go outside?”

  “Mew, meow.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Mew.”

  “Well, you won’t be home when you get outside,” I warned her.

  “Mew, meow, mew.”

  “If you are sure.”

  I had only seen the two dogs and, as requested by Mel and Robin, they were tied. I had hoped to take the girls outside periodically while we were camping so I had bought two different sized harnesses and two leashes.

  Since Daisy was the one requesting to go outside, I put one of the larger harnesses on her. It wasn’t an easy feat. I had to get each of her front paws into the openings and pull the straps up to hook behind her shoulders. I’d get one paw in but she would lift it out before I could grab the other. I finally pinned her between my legs and got the harness hooked.

  I snapped the leash on and stood. Daisy didn’t like having the harness on. She laid on the floor. I tried to get her to stand but she went limp. I picked her up and carried her to the passenger’s door. We went outside and I set her on the grass. Mom and Dad were gone somewhere. I opened the camper door and latched it so the other girls could watch us.

  Daisy immediately wanted to go back to the motorhome. I tied the end of the leash to the picnic table so she had plenty of cord to move around but she kept straining to get to the camper. I picked her up and carried her back to the table a few times. I petted her and told her she was a good kitty. She hunkered down and pulled on the leash. She started a low howl. I unhooked the leash from her harness and carried her to the passenger door. I removed the harness and let her go. She jumped off the seat and sprinted away.

  I tried Saltry next and she didn’t like it much better. As soon as I tied the leash to the table, she strained towards the motorhome. I picked her up and held her a few minutes then set her down again. I petted her and eventually, she started to eat some grass. Then Carol and Alan stepped out of their trailer. They were laughing and talking and waved to me. The unexpected noise startled Saltry. I held her and talked to her until they went by but she didn’t calm down very well. She went back inside.

  Even though Purple had been looking for a way out since we’d made camp, she was not excited about finally being outside. I carried her a few steps away to let her walk back towards the table. Instead she headed to the motorhome and wanted to go underneath it. I pulled on the cord to stop her. I made her walk around a bit but like her sisters, she just wanted inside.

  Red didn’t like the idea of going outside at all and fought all the way, claws out, paws reaching to grab anything close. I kept her out for a while but finally gave up. None of the other girls were at the camper door so I opened the door and she climbed in.

  So much for letting my girls out for a nice walk in the grass and to give them a little freedom. I guess the motorhome was safer to them than the unfamiliar noise and smell of the unknown place we were at. Maybe they would be more accepting of their fate. I rattled their treats and gave them some to make them feel better.

  Again I was faced with finding something to occupy my time. I looked out and saw Mom and Dad coming back from the shower. They had wet hair and they were laughing.

  “Is there any warm water left?” I asked, when they entered the motorhome.

  “Yes,” Mom smiled. “We showered together.”

  “Together?”

  She looked over at Dad. “To save water.”

  I put a towel, toiletries, clean shorts and a top in a plastic bag and headed over. The morning was already hot and most of the campers were outside enjoying it. Some sat under their awnings, some visited, and some were even playing volleyball. They would probably need a shower afterwards.

  The building had two small areas. One for changing and one with the shower. The changing room had a couple of hooks and I hung my towel on one and the bag on the other. I reached around the shower curtain and put my shampoo and soap on the one shelf. I removed my clothes and stepped in. I turned on the water to get wet. There was barely room to put my elbows out to shampoo my hair. How had Mom and Dad showered together in here? They must have been constantly rubbing against each other.

  The image popped into my mind. Yuck!

  The water was on the cool side of warm. I turned the handle to on and rinsed my hair, then shut it off and soaped up. My hand ran over the large burn scar just below my belly button and to the right and the smaller one on my leg. Usually, I paused to rub them but I didn’t have time. I turned on the handle, rinsed off the soap, and shut it off. Fast, easy and clean without using much water.

  I quickly dressed and realized I’d forgotten my comb. My hair was usually a tangled mess after my shower. I reached up and felt the nest in the back. I tried to pull it apart and finger comb it but I could tell I wasn’t doing much good. I thought about dashing across the yard to the motorhome, hoping no one would see me but I knew that was an impossibility. I bent over and wrapped my wet towel, turban style, around my head. It refused to stay upright on my head. The corner I tucked in kept falling out and the turban tilted to the side. I reached up to hold it as I stepped outside almost hitting Jesse with the door.

  I stopped short, so surprised that I let go of the towel. Before I could grab it again the towel fell off my head. My tangle of hair tumbled in my face. I pushed it back and held it with my hand. My face was red as I tried to smile at him. I wasn’t sure how he would react after last night and seeing me now.

  He didn’t laugh.

  “Hi,” he said.

  That was encouraging.

  I said, the first thing that came to mind, the idea I had had earlier. “Want to go kayaking this afternoon?”

  His face brightened. “Yes, that would be fun.”

  “See you later.” I scurried to the motorhome and entered the passenger door.

  * * *

  Jesse and I went over to where the two flat, wide-bottomed kayaks sat on a rack. Bill and Maurie were already on the water in a canoe.

  “Have you ever kayaked before?” Jesse asked.

  I shook my head. “You?”

  “No but it doesn’t look hard.”

  We let Mel know that we were taking the sit-in boats. Dad came and helped me with the lifejacket and Mel demonstrated how to paddle and explained about the spray decks. I had no intention of rolling the thing and then trying to right it with my paddle so we declined the spray decks.

  Dad and Mel helped us carry the boats to the beach.

  “To avoid scratching the hull, place the kayak a short distance out in the water,” Mel said.

  Dad and I followed Mel’s orders with my kayak while Mel helped Jesse.

  “There are two ways to enter the kayak,” Mel said. He demonstrated while Jesse stood back. “Have your kayak perpendicular to the shore in the water. Lean one blade and part of the shaft of your paddle just behind the seat and have the rest on the shore or on the lake bottom. Sit on the paddle and kayak and place your legs, one at a time, into the cockpit. Slide your bum into the seat and swing your paddle to the front.”

  It looked so easy when he did it.

  Mel reversed the process and stood up in the water. “The other way it to straddle the kayak, lower your butt into the seat and pull in your legs.” Again, it didn’t look all that difficult.

  “Okay, you two try it.”

  I deci
ded to try the sit-on-paddle method. I leaned my paddle on the kayak but didn’t leave enough to touch the shore. I adjusted it until it was resting on the ground. I sat on the paddle and the kayak and gingerly lifted one foot out of the water. I turned slightly to get that foot inside the cockpit. So far, so good. I brought the other foot in and slid into the seat. I swung the paddle to the front.

  “Nice going,” Dad said, and I swelled with pride.

  Jesse with his longer legs, straddled the boat and sat down. He had a hard time getting his long legs into the cockpit and he scraped the shin of one of them on the edge.

  “There are footrests for you to push against with your feet as you paddle and a backrest to support your lower back,” Mel said. “When you come back, just reverse what you did in order to get out.”

  Dad and Mel gave our kayaks a push and Jesse and I started paddling. Surprisingly we headed away from the shore. I grinned. I was actually kayaking.

  We paddled alongside the shore until we were comfortable with our paddling and then headed further out into the bay. I was ahead of Jesse when we met up with Bill and Maurie in the canoe on their way back to the camp.

  “Be careful,” Maurie said to me. “It’s windy out on the lake. That’s why we came back.”

  “Thanks,” I said, realizing these were the first words we had actually spoken to each other.

  Jesse and I played in the bay. Sometimes we raced, sometimes we paddled side by side, once we splashed each other with the paddles.

  “My arms are sore,” I finally admitted.

  “Mine, too. Let’s go in.”

  When we were close to shore I realized that I had to be perpendicular to the land. I paddled forward on one side and then backward on the other to turn the kayak. With that done I angled closer to the shore and when I thought I was near enough I stopped. I put my paddle behind me on the kayak but it didn’t touch the land. I was too far out. I paddled on one side to get nearer and tried again. Still too far.

  I looked over at Jesse. He was attempting to get his legs out of the cockpit. There just wasn’t room. I thought I might try that way of exiting so I pulled my legs out and put them over the edge. My feet were in the water but didn’t touch the bottom of the lake. I brought them back in.

  “Let’s get closer,” Jesse suggested.

  We both worked our way nearer the shore. I thought the best way for me to get out was to put one foot over the edge and stand up on it then remove the other. It sounded so simple. I held onto the sides of the cockpit and pulled my legs out. I was bent over as I put one leg outside and smiled when I touched bottom. Thinking I had done it I let go of the kayak so I could lift my other leg out. It was going well until the kayak began to move away with my foot still in it. I tried to use my leg muscles to pull it back towards me. It kept going in the opposite direction. I stuck the blade of the paddle into the water for support but I was too late. In slow motion I did the splits and splashed, backwards, into the lake.

  The momentum of my fall laid me out flat so that I was totally under water. I sat up sputtering to the sound of Jesse’s laughter. I tried to look offended but I could picture my landing and I had to join him.

  I wiped the water from my face. “Your turn.”

  Jesse balanced his paddle behind him but, like what happened with me, it didn’t reach the shore. He tried once again to get his legs out but his knees kept banging on the edge. He sat up on the kayak but at that angle couldn’t bring his legs out far enough to bend his knees.

  “I’ve had enough,” he finally said. He pushed himself further back on the kayak and then rolled into the water.

  It was my turn to laugh.

  We both stood up and pulled the boats onto the beach.

  “I guess we won’t be able to tell people we had no trouble getting out,” Jesse said, looking at trail of water we were leaving on the sand.

  “If I’d known this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have showered earlier.”

  “Let’s carry them up to the rack and then get changed.”

  Chapter Nine

  When I entered the motorhome I caught Red sharpening her claws on the bench seat again. I removed her paws from the seat and set them on the floor. She looked up at me as if to ask why I did that.

  “You can’t tear up the furniture in here.” I brought out the scratching post for her but she stuck her nose in the air and went to Mom and Dad’s bed.

  I changed and applied some sunscreen. When I came out of the motorhome, Mom was trying another camp meal. She had peeled potatoes and they were boiling in a pot on the grill over the fire. Dad was chopping a yellow onion on a cutting board on the crowded table. Mom handed me a grater, a block of cheddar cheese, and a bowl.

  “Could you grate about two cups?” she asked.

  I watched what Mom was making as I moved a package of tortilla shells and jars of salsa and hot sauce aside and set up beside Dad. She dropped some minced garlic in a frying pan and scraped the yellow onion in with it. While they were sautéing on the grill, Mom handed Dad some green onions and parsley to chop. She added some sausage to the yellow onions and garlic.

  Mom broke a dozen eggs into a bowl and beat them with a whisk. She poured them into the smaller cast iron skillet. The potatoes were done so she removed them and took them in the motorhome to drain. By this time I had the two cups of cheese done. Mom came back and gave dad a spatula to stir the eggs so they didn’t burn. When they were softly scrambled Mom added the potatoes, onions and sausage, green onions, parsley, and cheese. She seasoned the mixture with salt and pepper.

  I brought out three plates and put a tortilla shell on each of them. We took turns scooping up some of the mixture onto a shell. Mom and I put on a layer of salsa but Dad picked up the jar of the hot sauce and liberally poured it over his tortilla. We tucked in the bottoms and rolled the tortillas up.

  I was impressed when I bit into it. It was pretty good, better than I expected. Dad didn’t put as much hot sauce on his next one. Maybe his confidence in the taste had been as low as mine.

  When we were finished, Mom made up more tortillas with the remaining ingredients and wrapped them in tin foil.

  “Our supper,” she smiled. “We’ll just heat them up over the fire.”

  I couldn’t believe how much Mom, who had been raised in Vancouver, was embracing camping.

  Mom and Dad decided to go into town to buy some more milk, vegetables, meat, and snacks. That left me with the cleanup which was no fun. There was the potato pot, two frying pans, grater, cutting board, plates, cutlery, and various other utensils. After washing them, I left them to air dry and took my book outside to read in the shade. My cats crowded at the screen door to watch me and to look out.

  Bill’s car was gone. The three of them had gone exploring without asking me. And, why shouldn’t they? We weren’t friends. We’d only just met. They’d been nice to me because I was the daughter of their mother’s team mate. They didn’t owe me anything more.

  I got immersed in the story of girl who finds a portal that takes her back to Ireland where she meets her grandmother who was twelve years old at the time. I was enjoying the story and was surprised when someone cleared his throat. I jumped then looked up and saw Jesse standing just outside the shade of the awning.

  “You look drier,” I said, happy that he hadn’t gone anywhere.

  “And fuller,” Jesse smiled, rubbing his stomach.

  That was another thing I liked about Jesse. He was always smiling.

  “What are you reading?”

  “A fantasy about Ireland.”

  “You want to do something?”

  “Sure. Anything but kayaking.”

  We looked around the yard. Some families were having a late lunch, the little kids were playing a game of hide and seek, there were groups sitting around fires and drinking. No one was at the volleyball net.

  I pointed at it. “Want a game?”

  “Just the two of us?”

  “Sure, why not?”


  “That will be a lot of running around.”

  “Good exercise.”

  Just then Bill and Maurie stepped out of the camper. I looked at them and then at the spot where Bill’s car should have been. Jesse’s eyes followed mine.

  “It’s Mom and Dad’s car,” he said, reading my thoughts. “Bill drove it here so they had a way of getting around. It was Mom’s idea of incentive to get Bill to come.”

  “Oh,” I said, thinking of Bill stepping out of the car before lighting up his cigarette when they first arrived and not smoking in the vehicle when we were exploring.

  “Hey, Bill, Maurie. Do you want to play volleyball?” Jesse yelled at them.

  They looked at each other. Maurie nodded.

  “Sure,” Bill said and they came over.

  We walked over to where the ball was lying beside the pole holding the net.

  “So, will it be girls against guys or you two against us?” Bill asked.

  “We’ll play you two,” Jesse said.

  I picked up the ball and Jesse and I went to one side. Jesse stayed close to the net. I saw that Bill and Maurie were side by side near the back of the impromptu court.

  I aimed for the middle of the court when I hit the ball. Maurie was faster than I expected and ran towards it. Bill dashed to the net. Maurie volleyed the ball to him then went up to the net. Bill set the ball and Maurie jumped up to spike it. Jesse jumped up at the same time and blocked the ball from coming to our side.

  Bill stuck out one fist and hit the ball. It came over the net at me. I did the same as Maurie had done. I volleyed the ball to Jesse, then he set it and I jumped to spike. Maurie jumped to block it but instead of slamming it down over the net with my fist, I volleyed it over her head to the far corner away from Bill. He dove for it but missed.

  Jesse and I slapped hands and I took the ball to serve again. I was excited. We were up against other experienced players, something I hadn’t expected. This was going to be a good game.

  After a few volleys back and forth, Bill spiked, and I missed the ball. Bill served twice then we got the ball back. Jesse’s ball skimmed the net and Bill blocked it. Neither Jesse nor I could get to it. And that was the way the game went. We had the ball, they had the ball.