Ghost Cat - Thelma's Dilemma (7 page)

Thelma was looking at the stuff on the
table.
A pumpkin in a can? I wonder how that works.

Soon the kitchen was filled with delicious
smells. Sarah was making not only pumpkin pies, but also pumpkin
cookies and bread.
All from those little cans with the pumpkins
on them, Amazing.

Thelma was waiting for Sarah to leave the
room so she could jump up and get cookies for her and Cooper. She
changed her mind when Sarah said “I am taking this pie over to Mrs.
Johnson’s house. I won’t be long.”

Thelma ran in front of the door and yelled
her little kitty head off. “Do you want to go with me and visit
Snowball?” Thelma jumped against the door. “Well, O.K., but I am
carrying the pie so you had better stick close to me or you will be
in big trouble, sister.”

Thelma walked besides Sarah to the house
next door. Seeing Thelma was with Sarah, Mrs. Johnson said “Oh,
maybe I should put Snowball in the other room first.”

Snowball, who had been standing next to Mrs.
Johnson, looked at Thelma at the door and both cats at the same
time tried to get to the other, but in a friendly way this time.
Neither one of them wanted Snowball to be behind closed doors where
they could not deal with each other.

“Looks like they made friends already, they
should be O.K. together. We just wanted to bring you over this pie
as a thank you for taking care of Gertie and Cooper yesterday.”

“Gertie.” Mrs. Johnson said. “That is an
unusual name for a cat.” Thelma could swear that she saw something
in Snowball’s eyes, but just for a moment. Something sad.

“Can you stay and have a cup of coffee with
me, Sarah?”

Sarah started to beg off, she was very busy
today. But she looked at Mrs. Johnson and realized that she was
lonely and really, in the big scheme of things, what difference
would 20 minutes make anyway?

“I think I can spare a few minutes.” Sarah
said smiling and placing the pie on the table.

“Oh good, it should take just a moment to
make a pot of coffee.” Mrs. Johnson said, looking happy and moving
a bit faster than Sarah had ever seen her move before.

When Snowball and Thelma saw that the pie
would be cut and served, both of them wanted to stick around for a
chance at a taste. They looked at each other, calling a silent
truce between the two, at least for the next several minutes.

“I didn’t know that you had gotten another
pet, Sarah. What made you get a cat? It seemed like she and Cooper
got along well, but wasn’t that taking a chance?” Mrs. Johnson
asked, pouring a big mug of coffee and placing it in front of
Sarah.

“She kind of found us. We went to Tennessee
for the funeral of a very dear old friend of ours. Her name was
Gertie and she was over one hundred years old.” Snowball jumped on
the table and sat right in front of Sarah, staring at her.

Mrs. Johnson put her back on the floor. “I
am so sorry, Sarah, what were you saying?”

Sarah cut the pie and served Mrs. Johnson a
piece and herself a smaller piece. “Gertie left us a trunk. We had
it on top of the van on the way home. That was when everyone had
that freak snowstorm a couple of weeks back.” Sarah said, pausing
to take a sip of coffee.

“I remember, hit several states.” Mrs.
Johnson said.

“We were on our way home when a truck
splashed a great deal of water onto the windshield, causing Jim to
swerve and the trunk to fall off.”

“I just wanted to leave it there. It had
started snowing hard by that time and I was anxious to get home.
Getting that trunk really took much longer than we had anticipated.
We did end up circling back and, although the trunk had damage, we
managed to get it secured back onto the roof and headed home. It
wasn’t until we got here that we looked at the trunk and found this
little white filthy and cold kitten. Suzanne named her Gertie after
the lady who gave us the trunk.”

Mrs. Johnson had a faraway look in her eyes.
She said nothing for a moment or two and Sarah had almost began to
worry that she had drifted off somewhere. “I knew a woman named
Gertie once. She was dating a man whose son I was in love
with.”

“Whatever happened to him?” Sarah asked,
hoping she was not over stepping their friendship.

“Oh. Well, his father went off to war and
never came back that I know of. Don felt such a responsibility for
Gertie for raising him that he refused to leave her.”

“The Gertie we knew who died helped raise a
boy named Don whose father went away to war. But that was in
Tennessee.” Sarah said.

“So was I. I only moved here hoping that Don
would follow me, but he never did. Snowball made the trip with
me.”

Sarah and Mrs. Johnson looked at each other
at the same time. Thelma and Snowball looked at each other as well.
There was no sound in the house, everything was dead quiet and then
Mrs. Johnson started to cry. “I don’t suppose we could be talking
about the same family, do you, Sarah?”

“I don’t know. I am talking about Don Ellis
and Gertie Enchanter. I believe Don is about seventy seven years
old now.” Sarah said.

Mrs. Johnson started to cry harder now and
Sarah got up out of her chair and put her arms around the older
lady. “Mrs. Johnson, I am so very sorry, but if this is true and we
know the same people, you still have a chance to see Don
again.”

“Is that girl still around?” Mrs. Johnson
asked. “Girl?” Sarah said. “I don’t know who you mean, Don is an
only child as far as I know and he never married.”

“Never married.” Mrs. Johnson repeated. “How
well did you know him and Gertie?”

“Jim was transferred to Tennessee from his
work place. We were there about six years. Gertie lived in the
house next to us. We have only been back in Michigan for a little
over one year, we lived in Southgate for a little bit before buying
this house.”

Mrs. Johnson got up and poured them both
another cup of coffee. “There was a girl, her name was
Ophelia.”

Snowball started to yowl loudly as if she
were in pain. Sarah didn’t know what to do and Mrs. Johnson acted
as if she had not heard her.

“Ophelia was Gertie’s daughter.”

This surprised Sarah a great deal. “I never
knew that Gertie adopted a daughter, never heard one word about her
and Gertie herself never mentioned it either.”

More yowling from Snowball and this time
Sarah walked over and petted her on the head. Thelma stood there in
shock, just watching and listening.
Could this be the “O” that
Gertie wrote about in her journals?
Thinking back to the
wording of the journal, it did sound more like speaking of a
rebellious child. If this were true, then Ophelia was Thelma’s
cousin. Gertie had named her daughter after her mother, Gertie’s
sister.

Before she could think of what Jim would say
about it – Sarah told Mrs. Johnson about the ashes that Don has
said that Gertie wanted them to spread and how they were planning a
trip back to Tennessee within the next couple of weeks. She also
could not help herself when she told Mrs. Johnson that she was
welcome to join them so she could see Don again.

Mrs. Johnson looked at Sarah for a long
moment and then said. “Do you think it is possible that Don would
still remember me?”

Sarah said “Well, he never married and never
had children, so my guess is that maybe, just maybe, he was waiting
for you. What made you come to Michigan?”

“Foolish pride, like I said, I thought that
perhaps Don would follow me. Only he never did. I guess maybe that
was a good thing since she only just died. I could have been there
all this time fighting with Don about her. I can see where he would
be grateful, but to stay with her all of his life seems really
odd.” Mrs. Johnson added sadly.

“Don has his own residence, he did not live
with Gertie, at least not the six plus years that we were there. I
would imagine he would have inherited the house and whatever else
Gertie had since she is gone now. Although, there is the girl. She
was not at the memorial service, or if she was I didn’t know it and
no one introduced her to us.”

Thelma watched Snowball go into the basement
and she followed right behind her. When she was sure that the
ladies upstairs could not hear them, Thelma said “You are Ophelia,
aren’t you?”

“Yes. My mother is Gertie and now she is
dead.”

“What do you remember about your life with
her and how you came to live with Mrs. Johnson?” Thelma asked.

“My mother was very special. She fell in
love with the wrong man and let him ruin her life. He was not my
father, my father was like me, like us. My mother was afraid that
her lover, his name was John, she was afraid that John would leave
her if he knew about her powers. You see, my mother was about sixty
or so years older than John, but looked to be the same age. When he
went off to war I was glad, but then we got stuck with his son, a
kid named Donald.”

“You and Donald did not get along?”

“We barely knew each other. I had many
powers and used them to trick him and hurt him. Mother and I were
fighting a lot. I kept running away. I had always heard of a place
where people like us belonged. Our last name is Enchanter and there
is a village somewhere named Enchanted where my mother’s people are
from. I kept wanting to go there. But mother said that it was not
Don’s destiny to go there and that she would not leave Tennessee
because she wanted to wait for John. She never believed that he
would be gone forever.”

“When did you leave your mother’s house for
good?” Thelma asked, feeling very sorry for this young kitten.

“Well, that was a fluke really. Adela had
come to say goodbye. That is Mrs. Johnson’s first name. She is not
really a Mrs. since she never married, but that is what people call
her anyway. She came to tell Don that she was leaving the state for
good, apparently hoping that he would beg her to stay or go with
her.”

Snowball started to sniff loudly. “I admit
that I turned myself into cat form – I am actually a very beautiful
redheaded young lady. I jumped into her car because I wanted to
tear up the seats or something. I hated her because she wasn’t able
to convince Don to leave with her. I wanted to scare her or mess up
her car – something – anything – that would send her back into the
house running to Don to try again to get him to leave.”

“You wanted your mother all to yourself.”
Thelma stated.

“Of course I did. I thought that if Don left
with Adela, then mother would have no reminder of John and nothing
to obligate herself to wait for him. I wanted her to take me to
Enchanted. But she would never tell me where it was, not
exactly.”

Ophelia was quite for a moment and then
continued. “I was still in Adela’s car when she came back to it. I
jumped into the back seat and she took off. What could I do? I had
to go along, the windows were up and I had no way out. I was stuck
like this, in cat form I mean. Adela never leaves the house, well,
rarely. I therefore, rarely get to become myself again.”

“Things are not as bad as you think they
are, Ophelia. You heard Sarah telling Mrs. Johnson about the trunk
and how it fell off into the expressway?”

“Yes, but that has nothing to do with me.
Oh, wait, yes, that would be my mother’s trunk. Does that family
still have it?”

“Yes, I didn’t think of that. More to the
point, I found myself on that same expressway that day and I
crawled into the trunk to get warm. Now I know that there is a
reason for my being here.” Thelma said.

“To talk to me?”

“Much more than that. Ophelia – my name is
Thelma. Thelma Enchanter. Luna is my sister and Gertie was my aunt.
That would make us cousins.”

A very thick wall of dark blue smoke formed
almost instantly. Thelma had to shield her eyes as she spun around,
creating the much lighter blue mist that she produced.

When the blue settled, there stood two
women. Ophelia had very long dark red hair and indeed, she was
quite beautiful. “I can see my mother in you.” She said and started
to cry all over again. Gertie hugged her.

“I can help you get back home and if you
like, you can come back to Enchanted with me to live.”

Ophelia’s eyes were as big as saucers. “You
really live in Enchanted and would take me there? How? When?”

“That has been a real dilemma for me. You
see dear, I did not know why I was here. I knew there had to be a
purpose, there always is. Your mother left a journal in the trunk,
along with a lot of papers and blankets. There is also some jewelry
in there.” Thelma said, looking at Ophelia expectantly.

“Is there a bright red ring in there?”

“Yes, along with a poem about how to use it.
Apparently, it has powers of some sort. Listen, we don’t have a lot
of time here. Sarah has asked Adela to drive back to Gertie’s house
with them. Jim and Sarah are going to go because Gertie’s last
wishes were that her ashes be spread in a certain location.”

“What location?”

“I do not know for one hundred percent sure,
but my guess is right at the exit on the expressway where you enter
Enchanted. If you and I can find a way to be there at that time, we
can take off and get back to Enchanted!”

“That is a lot of ‘ifs’” Ophelia said.

“I took your mother’s journal and have been
reading it. She mentions you in it and I can tell that your mother
loved you a lot. I will finish reading it cover to cover to make
sure I don’t miss anything, then I will leave it somewhere Sarah
will see it and hopefully read it. What we can’t communicate to
them ourselves, hopefully Gertie’s written words will be able
to.”

“Sarah goes out a lot, I can see her from
the window, but we have to find a way to get Adela to go out too,
we will need time to talk and plan more.”