1 A Paw-sible Theory

by Anna Kern

  “No, thanks for the offer, but I’ve already made plans with Maggie. As a matter of fact, she should be here any time.”

  “All right, son. Call me if you need anything. I mean it.”

  “Sure, Dad, thanks for coming.”

  They shook hands at the door. Bob started to say something, and hesitated. I may have heard a note of regret in his mumbled, “I’m sorry about … about everything.”

  When he left, Misty wanted to know why humans made their relationships so complicated. It was obvious they loved each other. Why couldn’t they be more like cats and just be upfront about how they felt?

  “My cat speaks sign language with her tail.”

  ––Robert A. Stern

  CHAPTER TEN: Coming Soon

  After his father left, Ethan trudged to his old room and fell forward on the bed. His cell phone jingled and he turned on his back. I crouched next to his head.

  “Hey, Maggie what’s up?”

  “I’m on my way back from seeing a client and I’m calling to see how your day went and what you want for dinner.”

  “My day has been … full.”

  “You sound a little down. What happened?”

  “I’ll tell you when you get here.”

  “I won’t get there for a while; tell me now.”

  “Okay, fine as long as you leave me alone after I tell you.”

  “I didn’t sleep much last night and needed coffee when I got up this morning. I didn’t feel like making it so I stopped at the café next door to Antiques & Designs. Novie came out with a tray of muffins and told me to take one for later. She asked about Mom, wanted to know what happened, and said she’s going to send her flowers.”

  He switched the phone to the other ear, and I switched sides.

  “Maggie, I’m so tired of people asking me what happened. I don’t know what happened.”

  “You didn’t say that to her, did you?”

  He sighed in exasperation. “No, I didn’t.” He took a deep calming breath. “Then, when I turned left at the old Dixie Department Store building on the corner, I saw a large sign in the window with a picture of our building and Coming Soon––Luxury Condominiums––printed across it … but you know that already.”

  “You sound upset. Did the sign bother you?”

  “It bothered me because it would really upset Mom if she saw it.”

  Maggie then asked him what he did at the hospital without commenting on what he had said. He took a deep breath and started to calm down. He told her he sat with his mother, occasionally talking to her, sometimes playing games on his phone or on the internet sending and checking e-mails.

  “I left for a while when Marylyn Sims came to sit with her.”

  “Good; I’m glad Marylyn made it. She didn’t think she would when she called me last night––something to do with her daughter needing a ride somewhere. Did you go home when you left?”

  “Yeah, I went home to pack a few things and run some errands. Some other stuff happened but I’ll tell you about it later.”

  I had been to Ethan’s apartment before and could imagine Ethan running up the outside stairs of the two-story wood structure that was built to look like a seaside resort.

  He had decorated the comfortable apartment himself. Alyx had offered to help. He declined, saying her style wasn’t his style. This meant that he didn’t want to end up with half the stuff she had in her store that she didn’t have room to move. In the end, he asked for her input on furniture placement. He actually liked the suggestions she made and everybody was happy.

  Ethan didn’t answer the ringing phone in the kitchen and let the answering machine take the message from his aunt, Alyx’s sister. I brought him toys to play with, Misty brought him her string, and we kept him busy until Maggie arrived with bags of take-out food from the local BBQ restaurant––ribs, chicken, baked beans, coleslaw, and rolls.

  “One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat only has nine lives.”

  ––Mark Twain

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: An Unexpected Call

  Ethan carried the bags of food out to the table in the screened porch. Maggie started to unpack and he commented on the quantity.

  “You can feed ten hungry people with all this. Are you sure you have enough?”

  “You can handle it,” she smiled.

  As it turned out, none of the humans was very hungry, and there was plenty of food left over, although neither of them offered any of the leftovers to me or Misty. Ethan helped Maggie clean up, tossing the plates in the bags the food came in, and casually telling her about his father’s visit.

  “Dad stopped by. He left about a half-hour before you got here,” he said, giving her a sidelong glance.

  “Oh, and what did he have to say?”

  “Not much. He got my message and just wanted to know what happened.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Yeah, and he asked me to have dinner with him but I told him that I had plans with you.”

  “I bet that went over big.”

  “Hey, I know you don’t like Dad, but he didn’t say anything at all about you,” he lied.

  Maggie retracted her claws. “I’m glad he came to see you,” she said, giving him a hug.

  Ethan reached for a can of soda, pulled the tab, and offered it to Maggie. She declined and he took a long swallow as they settled in on the patio chairs. Misty and I settled in too.

  Maggie moved the conversation to another subject, asking Ethan about his job, whether he had requested any time off. He said he had spoken to his boss and there would be no problem taking off whenever he needed to.

  “I got a message from Lea today.”

  “Are you surprised she called?”

  “Well, yeah. The last time I spoke to her, she told me that she never wanted to see or hear from me again as long as she lived.”

  “Did she say why she called?”

  “She said she heard about Mom and called to see how she was.” He stretched out in the porch recliner.

  “Don’t try to read too much into it, honey. Lea is a sweet girl and that’s just what I would expect from her.”

  “You don’t think I should call her back, then?”

  “I didn’t say that. Just don’t push ahead too fast, okay? She may have called simply to ask about your mom.”

  “Do you know what happened between us? Did Mom tell you?” he asked, sitting up sharply.

  “Not really. I just know you broke off with her and she wasn’t interested when you tried to get back with her. What I don’t understand is why you ended the relationship in the first place.”

  “When we started going together, she was funny and adventurous, willing to try anything, but as time went by, she got serious about everything and wasn’t fun to be around anymore. I thought it was because she didn’t care about me anymore.

  I knew I’d made a mistake the moment I told her I wanted to break it off, and I tried to get back with her about a week later,” Ethan continued. “I think her pride was hurt more than anything else was, and she wanted nothing to do with me. The last time I tried to see her, she wasn’t home; her roommate let me in, anyway. She told me Lea was seeing someone else, and sure, I could leave a note on her dresser. When I did, I saw another note that said, “Thanks for not waking me. See you tonight. Steve.”

  Steve was the guy we often met up with when we went out. She told me he was a longtime friend. Guess he was more than that. I don’t know what hurt more, the fact I loved her and lost her or the fact that she lied about Steve. Either way, I don’t know if I can talk to her without all that hurt coming back.”

  “I know what you mean, Ethan; I’ve had some experience with that myself.” Maggie smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

  If she was going to say any more about it, she didn’t get the chance. Someone was pounding on the door.

  “Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.”

 
; ––Anonymous

  CHAPTER TWELVE: Decision Time

  I ran ahead to see who was pounding on the door, and what was so urgent. I knew Ethan was in trouble as soon as he opened the door, and I saw Detective Smarts and his partner standing there with stern expressions on their faces. Maggie hurried to the door when Smarts asked Ethan to step off the porch. Ethan did as instructed and so did I.

  “What’s this all about? Do you have a suspect?”

  “We’re here to arrest you for the attempted murder of your mother, Alyx Hille.”

  Ethan laughed defiantly. Maggie’s hand flew to her mouth in a gesture of disbelief.

  Detective Albright read Ethan his rights. The laughing stopped once he was hand cuffed, his face devoid of any emotion, his eyes empty of feeling. I brushed against his legs offering him unconditional love and support. Ears back, tail bushed, doing my best to look as fierce as possible, I stalked over to Detective Smarts and snarled.

  “Ms. Broeck, that cat is a menace and he’s not on a leash. Please take him inside or I’ll have to call Animal Control.”

  Maggie didn’t comply right away; she placed a comforting hand on Ethan’s arm before Detective Smarts led him to the squad car.

  “Don’t worry, Ethan; I’ll call a lawyer and get you out as soon as possible, and I’ll take care of things around here and with Alyx until you get back,” Maggie said.

  “Thanks, Maggie,” was all he said.

  As soon as the police had driven away with Ethan, Maggie sat heavily on the bench in the foyer, and I found a spot next to her. She buried her face in my abundant fur. I didn’t mind; she needed a hug.

  “You’re lucky you’re a cat and don’t understand what’s going on,” she whispered. “Alyx in a coma, now Ethan arrested for attempted murder; what am I going to do?”

  She stood abruptly. “I know one thing I’m going to do. Alyx isn’t going to like it when she finds out, but it’s for the best. His father has had a free ride for too long, if you ask me. It’s time for Bob Hille to get involved in his son’s life, whether he likes it or not.”

  I also made a decision. I’m no detective, but my human family was in trouble and I was the only one who could get to the truth. Based on a hunch, I decided to conduct my own investigation. I knew there was no way Ethan had anything to do with hurting Alyx, and I was going to prove it.

  The fact that Pooky had run away bothered me. I couldn’t think of any reason why she would do that––unless she saw something that might have panicked her. Maybe, I thought, Misty saw or heard something I missed. But first, I needed a snack; the shredded chicken Maggie had left on two paper plates in the dining room would do just fine.

  When we were alone, Misty bombarded me with questions, some of which I couldn’t answer such as why they took Ethan away, where did they take him, and when was he coming back. I didn’t want to scare her, but I was just as bewildered by the events as she was.

  As a rule, cats don’t talk but have always been able to communicate with each other, and rumor has it that some uncommon cats have the ability to communicate the same way with humans. I told Misty I had something important to discuss with her and guided her to the dining room. I jumped up on the maple dining room table surrounded by four birdcage-back chairs all refinished by Alyx. I circled the centerpiece, a large white pitcher filled with wilted, yellow roses from the yard. I accepted that what had happened was beyond my control, and explained that if Ethan went to prison it wouldn’t only ruin his life, it could damage Alyx to a point from which she might never recover. We had to help Ethan. Misty didn’t see what we, being just cats, could possibly do to help since we weren’t’ even allowed to go outside.

  I thought I had been patient enough with her. I jumped off the table with fur flying; landing softly on all fours, nose to nose. There was history to prove that the Egyptians once worshipped cats as gods. True, as Misty said, that was thirty-five hundred years ago in Egypt, give or take a few hundred years, and cats didn’t have that kind of power any more but as individuals, cats still had humans in their service. Misty argued the point using Pooky as an example, how her humans abandoned her in the woods, miles from home.

  Contrary to popular wisdom, a cat’s brain is structurally similar to the human brain, and I could process vital information as quickly as any animal, the only difference being that what I considered vital was not necessarily what a human would consider vital. So sometime later, safe under Alyx’s bed, I did some thinking.

  From the beginning, the other two felines looked to me to explain things that they didn’t understand and generally went along with what I said, not only because I was bigger and stronger––my sixteen-pound size did help––but because I seemed to have greater knowledge of the laws, rules, and regulations that governed humans.

  My decision to prove Ethan innocent didn’t surprise me when I thought about what my mother had told me when she learned that I was adopting Alyx and leaving soon. There wasn’t much she could tell me about my father. All she knew about him was that he came from a long line of great tabbies and that made me a pedigreed cat. The M on my forehead was proof of it. Unfortunately, not having the mark herself, she didn’t know exactly what it meant. My feeling was that it was just a legend, but then again, who knows?

  I fell asleep with that last thought in mind and woke up hours later to Misty’s wet licks on my face, the earlier disagreement forgotten. I crawled out from under the bed on my belly, stretched front to back, sat back and washed my face. Misty helped by grooming my left ear. I sauntered to the food bowl with Misty trotting at my side. I wasn’t happy to see an almost empty bowl but I didn’t worry. Maggie had told Ethan she would take care of us, and I was sure she would, mostly because that’s what Alyx would want her to do, but also because she was getting to know our personalities and I sensed she was starting to like us.

  On Monday morning, the lawn service people were busy at their work, making the usual racket associated with lawnmowers, trimmers, and leaf blowers. The commotion outside kept Misty and me on the alert inside as we ran from one side of the house to the other side.

  I wasn’t expecting Maggie so early and didn’t hear her car pull up, so I was somewhat unnerved when I heard the key slide in the lock. Maggie had lied; she had let Ethan assume that she didn’t have a key when she did. I wasn’t so sure I should trust her anymore and I deliberately took my time responding when she called.

  The expression on Maggie’s face was one of guilt when Misty and I showed up without Pooky, and she finally realized that Pooky was missing.

  She began a search of the house; Misty following her around, helping her look in and under things. By the time she finished searching the house, the lawn service people had left. Maggie refilled the food and water bowls and went outside, a bag of cat treats in her hand. I hoped Pooky had not been terrorized out of the yard, if she still happened to be there, when the noisemakers arrived earlier in the day.

  Mrs. Leary was sitting on her porch waving to Maggie, “Hold on a minute, dear, I want to talk to you,” shouted Mrs. Leary walking across the lawn towards her.

  “It’s a shame about Ethan,” she said. “I do hope he didn’t have anything to do with what happened to his mother. Of course, no one in the neighborhood believes he did.”

  “Well, let’s hope the jury believes it too or he’s looking at possibly spending the rest of his life in jail.”

  “What about Alyx, how is she?”

  “She’s the same. Her doctor is still hopeful she’ll wake up soon.”

  “I hope you’ll let me know when she does; I’d like to send her a card.”

  “That’s very thoughtful of you. I’ll be here every day and have a lot going on. I’ll try to remember to tell you, but feel free to ask me when you see me.”

  Maggie walked around the house once and went back to ask Mrs. Leary if she had seen Pooky––a longhaired, domestic black cat with different color eyes.

  “Isn’t that the stray that was going door to
door begging for food a while back? The one that charmed Alyx into taking her in?”

  “Yes, that’s the one. Have you seen her?”

  Mrs. Leary said she hadn’t seen that particular cat in the yard but would be glad to keep an eye out for her.

  I had given a lot of thought to Pooky’s disappearance. I didn’t know exactly why she ran away but I was convinced she knew something important. I thought I had caught a glimpse of her the previous day, and in the early hours of the morning, I formulated a plan. However, I needed Maggie’s help to carry it out, and since I couldn’t directly communicate what I wanted her to do, I had to rely on my knowledge of human behavior.

  I wasn’t surprised when Maggie came back inside with the treats but no Pooky. Something had made Pooky leave the safety of home and she wasn’t going to be enticed by a few treats. I sniffed the treat Maggie offered from the bag in her hand, savored it in my mouth, and thought it was disgusting. Misty agreed and tried to bury it.

  “I take it you don’t like it,” Maggie said, amused. “Let’s see what else we can find.”

  She threw the treats in the trash and looked in the pantry for something else; my loud purring guiding her to pick just what we wanted.

  Snack time over, Misty and I complied with Maggie’s wish to play by chasing after the paper wads she tossed at us. Misty dragged her string over to play tug-of-war, and I joined in the game, pulling at the string, occasionally swatting at Misty until she decided she didn’t want to share anymore and took it away.

  Misty was obsessed with a thick, long shoelace from one of Ethan’s athletic shoes. He had given her the shoelace after unsuccessfully trying to keep her away from his shoes. She would not let it out of her sight; if she wasn’t laying on it, she was dragging it with her. She loved to play tug-of war. Sometimes she tossed it in the air, pouncing on it when it came down. When it fell on her, draping itself around her neck, she went about her business of keeping track of everyone, perfectly happy with it that way.

  When she was really bored, she pretended she wasn’t the one flicking the tip of her tail and would try to catch the rascal, rolling head over tail all over the floor, and I usually ended up playing a game of hide-and-seek with her––I hid and then attacked her as she walked by.