Ghost Cat - Thelma's Dilemma (8 page)

From the voices they could hear, it sounded
as if Sarah were getting ready to leave. Ophelia and Thelma hugged
each other and smiled and then each turned around quickly and
became Gertie and Snowball again. They trotted up the stairs
together.

“There you two are. Gertie, we are leaving
now. Mrs. Johnson, I am so very thankful that we talked and that we
can be instrumental in getting you back to Don. I know a lot of
years have passed, but even if he does not remember you, although I
can’t imagine he wouldn’t, at least you will be able to see him
again and I know there is not enough time before we go to settle
things here, but you might want to think about finding a house down
there, if you want to move back.” Sarah said, hugging Mrs. Johnson
goodbye.

“You have certainly given me a great deal to
think about, Sarah. Thank you ever so much for the delicious
pumpkin pie. Bring Gertie over any time to play with Snowball.
Cooper too, the more the merrier.” She said, walking Sarah to the
door.

Sarah and Thelma walked back over to the
house. Sarah noticed the clock on the kitchen wall and said out
loud. “Oh no, look at the time!” She picked up her keys and purse
and walked out, locking the door behind her.

Thelma also looked at the clock. “Time to
get the girls from school. She won’t be gone long. Oh Cooper, I
wish you could talk and truly understand me. So much has happened
and I have so much to think about and to tell you. But for now,
cookies.” Thelma smiled, jumping up onto the table and knocking
down two pumpkin cookies with white icing on them, then she herself
enjoyed a couple.

“Cooper, Turns out, Snowball’s real name is
Ophelia and she is my cousin, Gertie’s daughter, can you imagine
that?” When Sarah and Jim go back to Tennessee to get and spread
Gertie’s ashes, I and Ophelia have to be in that car with them. It
is our only chance to get home.”

Thelma took a quick jump to the window to
make sure Sarah had not returned home. “Also turns out that Mrs.
Johnson isn’t a Mrs. After all and is the long lost love of Don,
Gertie’s sort-of son, so she is going to drive back with Jim and
Sarah and me and Ophelia. I will really miss you, Cooper, more than
you know.”

Cooper tilted his head and looked up at
Thelma. She thought he looked a bit sad. Maybe he did understand at
least part of what she was saying.

Everything was coming together. Thelma just
hoped that she and Ophelia would be able to get themselves into the
car before they left.
Oh, the ring!

Cooper barked and Thelma was angry at
herself for using her free time to eat cookies instead of looking
for the red ring. She needed time alone, and a lot of it. She
wanted to make sure she read everything in the journal. She also
wanted another look at the trunk since she knew that she would be
leaving soon. She also had to find a way to get to wherever Sarah
had left those documents and papers that were in the trunk. Thelma
hadn’t seen them in days.

Suzanne and Riley ran into the kitchen and
each grabbed a cookie. “These are really good mom.” Suzanne
said.

“I am glad you like them. Listen girls, if
you both would go to bed early tonight, I will make sure we wake up
early enough to go out to breakfast before I take you to school. Do
you think you would like that?”

“Daddy too?” Suzanne asked.

“Daddy starts work way too early. No, it
will just be a mother-daughter breakfast, O.K.?”

“Depends.” Said Riley, “Are you planning on
dumping us on someone when you go back to Tennessee? Is that what
this is all about?”

“Don’t be silly.” Sarah said. “Can’t we just
go out to eat and have a special breakfast once in a while?”

“I guess.”

Sarah straightened up the kitchen and made
spaghetti for dinner. She had originally planned on making a small
turkey, but she had spent way too much time with Mrs. Johnson to
get the turkey going on time. She had so much on her mind. What
were the odds of Don’s old girlfriend living next door to them here
in Michigan? The romantic in her was happy that they could play a
part in reuniting the two old lovebirds. The wife in her was not
sure how to tell her husband they would be taking Mrs. Johnson with
them.

Sarah helped the girls with their homework
and told her daughters to take their showers and watch TV until
their dad got home. She needed this night to go well if she had any
chance of getting Mrs. Johnson back with Don. When Jim called to
say he would be late, Sarah fed the girls their dinner, although
she decided to wait for Jim before she had her own.

Sarah went over in her mind how she would
tell her husband the latest news. Jim was a good man and a good
husband and father, but he had his limits. She had been the one to
push him to go to Gertie’s memorial in the first place. She was
hoping that Jim would see this trip with Mrs. Johnson as something
that was meant to be.

Jim got home a few minutes after seven from
work. He was not in a good mood. “Something is going on at work,
just rumors, but not looking good.” He said, almost the moment he
came in the door. “Sorry to be late, had another meeting that ran
over.” Suzanne and Riley ran into the kitchen. “Hi dad, bye dad.”
They said, each grabbing a cookie and then running back
upstairs.

“It is fine, Jim, the girls already ate and
we have spaghetti for dinner, so it’s not like dinner was ruined.
You sound really worried about your job. You don’t think we would
be transferred back to Tennessee, do you?”

“Oh no, nothing like that. There is talk of
layoffs though. I don’t think I would be on the list of people who
might have to go, but then too, you never know what is going on
with corporate politics.”

Sarah ate dinner with Jim. “I have pumpkin
pie for desert. I made cookies and pumpkin bread today too.”

“Sounds wonderful. Do we have any whipped
cream to top it off with? I have been meaning to put a few things
on the grocery list, but I forget.” Jim said.

Thelma heard and rushed into the kitchen.
“Meow” she said, rubbing against Jim’s leg, trying to distract them
from talk of the grocery list. It worked.

“Hello there, Gertie. She has gotten used to
us, huh? I don’t think she has come up to me before. I am just glad
she gets along with Cooper, because Cooper comes first, but I would
hate to have to give this little fur ball up now.”

“She is a good cat. She really got along
well with Mrs. Johnson’s cat Snowball. In fact, we spent a good
portion of the early afternoon over there. We took her a pie and
stayed to talk. I am very glad that we did.”

When Jim didn’t respond, Sarah said “When
you are done with the pie, why don’t we sit by the fire with a
glass of wine? It might help you relax some. The girls had a busy
day themselves and already had their baths, so they should be going
to bed soon.”

“I admit, a quite night sounds wonderful
after the day I had. I look forward to an evening with you, the
fireplace, and a glass of wine. No corporate BS or problems for me
to fix.” Jim smiled and Sarah felt just a tinge of regret about
what she was about to unload on her husband.

They sat in front of the fire with their
wine. Cooper and Thelma at their feet. Sarah snuggled up to her
husband. “I found out some very interesting things at Mrs.
Johnson’s today, Jim.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. She is actually from Tennessee
herself.”

“Small world. I imagine many people came to
Detroit for the automotive jobs once the plants were hiring. Did
her husband used to work at Ford or General Motors?”

“She never married. She was in love with a
man in Tennessee who would not commit fully to her because he was
taking care of the lady who raised him.” Sarah said, not looking at
her husband.

“How did she end up in Michigan, then?”

“She left there hoping that the man, his
name is Don by the way. She was hoping that Don would come to find
her, but he never did. Mrs. Johnson said that Snowball, her cat,
came to Michigan with her. She lost touch with the man she loves
after that. Jim, it is the strangest thing, but the man she loves
is Don Ellis.”

It took Jim a few beats to register exactly
what his wife just said. He had been enjoying the wine and warmth
from his wife and the fire. It finally dawned on him. “Gertie’s
son, Don?”

“Don, the boy Gertie helped raise, yes.”

Jim thought about that for a little bit.
“And all that just came up in your conversation over a piece of
pumpkin pie?”

“We were having pie and coffee, but it came
up when Mrs. Johnson asked me about Gertie. What made us decide to
get a pet cat? When I mentioned Gertie’s name, Mrs. Johnson said
that she had been in love with a man whose father loved a woman
named Gertie.”

“It is not such a common name now, but isn’t
‘Gertrude’ one of those old style names like Dorothy or Helen or
Prudence or something? That really is a big coincidence. So, she
didn’t know that Gertie had died?”

“No, I never mentioned it to her when we
left. I had just told her that we were leaving town for a couple of
days so she could keep an eye on the house for us.”

“Good thing she moved to Michigan then, she
would have had a heck of a long wait if she would have hung around
there waiting for Don to leave Gertie I guess. But wait, Don didn’t
actually live with Gertie did he? I mean, I would see him over
there cutting the grass or whatever, but he had his own place. Oh
well, that would have been when they were much younger anyway, I
suppose.”

Sarah looked at her husband. “Come to think
of it, no, she said that her cat, Snowball, came with her from
Tennessee. Snowball looks like more of a kitten to me than an old
cat. Gertie looks much older than Snowball does.”

Thelma’s tail beat the carpet a few times
hearing that.

“Cats only live like what – twenty-twenty
five years? I don’t know, we always had dogs, but Mrs. Johnson is
in her eighties, isn’t she?” Jim asked.

“No, she is in her seventies. But you are
right about the cat, maybe Mrs. Johnson’s mind is starting to go. I
feel sorry for her, Jim. This might be her one and only chance to
reunite with Don.”

“What might?”

“Hum?”

“You said this might be her one and only
chance to reunite with Don. Sarah, you didn’t tell her that she
could go with us back to Tennessee, did you?”

“It might have come up.”

“Why would you do that? You don’t even know
Mrs. Johnson that well, what is her first name? I bet you do not
even know. How do we know what kind of relationship she had with
Don Ellis? There is a chance that it might not even be the same Don
Ellis, or even that she remembers the name correctly. What if he
does not even remember her? His mind does not seem to be all that
sharp. Darn it, Sarah!”

“I just got caught up in the moment, Jim.
You would have too, she was actually crying when she was talking
about Don and how much she loved him.”

“I’m about to cry myself!” Jim said, anger
in his voice.

“How much trouble can one more person in the
van be, Jim?”

“I’ll tell you how much trouble. This won’t
be the quick there and back trip that we were planning, Sarah. At
the very least with the kids and weather being good, packing food
in the car and not stopping except for gas, that is still well over
nine hour drive one way. Mrs. Johnson is in her eighties,
seventies, whatever. You can’t expect her to just sit there, and in
the backseat of a van yet, if she can even get her old self into
the backseat of the van, for all of those hours. She will need to
stop several times. We will have to spend the night in a hotel at
lease for one, maybe two or three nights, and that is extra time
and expense and Lord only knows what we are supposed to do with
Gertie’s ashes! I was only kidding about dumping them off
somewhere, but with Mrs. Johnson with us, even that would not be an
option.”

Jim paused and looked at Sarah. She had her
head down. “I know you meant well, Sarah, and since you already
asked her, I guess we will have to take her, but you can’t expect
me to be happy about this. It just puts more of a strain on all of
us. Someone will have to watch Suzanne and Riley longer now and get
them back and forth to school, and what are we supposed to do with
the animals? I was thinking Mrs. Johnson could let Cooper out for
us, but what now?”

“I realize now how much I am asking of you,
Jim. I’m sorry, but I do still feel it is the right thing to do. I
don’t know what to do about the girls. Jennifer is still managing
her friend’s clothing store and we can’t expect Bob and Barbara to
watch them, even though Bob is retired now. I’m sorry I got us into
this mess, Jim. I just don’t see any way out of it now.
Unless……”

“Unless what?”

“Unless you would be willing to go by
yourself to pick up and spread the ashes while I stay here with the
girls and the pets.”

Jim did not answer. He walked into the
kitchen and poured himself another glass of wine, turned on the
television, and did not speak to Sarah for the rest of the
evening.

Jim felt calmer when he woke up the next
morning. He had had such a bad day at work yesterday. Coming home
after that long day at work, looking forward to a nice, quiet
evening with nothing that needed his immediate attention only to
find himself set up for more troubles had really set him off.

He would just have to take the time off of
work and make this trip happen. Sarah didn’t ask for much and this
seemed to mean a lot to her. Since he was always at work by six
a.m., Jim usually got breakfast through McDonald’s drive through
window. This morning he made a full pot of coffee for Sarah. It
would be almost two hours old by the time she woke up, but he hoped
she would see it as the peace offering it was.