Ghost Leads The Way
This shortstory came about while doing some background for a new series. While I know there will be far more humor in the books, the poignant tale of how a cat helped an elderly woman gave me the groundwork for the paranormal detective he will become.
He turned off Main Street and walked into the park. A compulsion drew him, but in his short life he had learned to follow these impressions. A sharp wind ruffled the fur on his back and carried the scent of storm. He should be looking for shelter instead of walking calmly through the park. Others, both prey and predator, moved out of his way. Those who were neither, he ignored.
He turned onto the wide path, nearly deserted this late in the day, and raised his head as the scent of need teased his nose.
Confusion. Despair.
He slowed his pace to make sure of the source, but there was only the one forlorn figure sitting on the bench under the old oak. A woman, bent with age, radiated a soul-deep sense of lost. He went to her, speaking softly as if to a kitten, not approaching until acknowledged. His kind had exquisite manners, even when raised in the streets.
She turned to look at him, her fog of confusion lifting a bit. “Well, hello there.” She reached down and held her hand to him, open – in friendship. He politely sniffed her fingers in return.
The scent told him much. She was not from the streets, first of all, and was one whose reason ebbed and flowed as darkness sought to take hold of her mind. She didn’t belong here. He tried to tell her, but speaking to humans was not like speaking to his own kind.
He rubbed her hand, submitting to a gentle stroke down his back. It filled his thoughts with warmth, comfort.
Home.
“You must be lost too, kitty.” She shook her head in a decisive gesture. He sensed a momentary clearing of the fog shrouding her mind. “No, kitty is not right. You need a real name, handsome fellow that you are.” Her voice faded as her thoughts faltered.
He accepted the compliment and sought to keep her attention focused. He rubbed against her legs and then gave her a gentle nudge. There was another, younger, scent closely associated with her. He thought he could trace the scent backwards in time to lead her home. Besides, it would be nice to have a warm sleeping place out of the storm fast approaching.
Very gently indeed, he grasped her fingers in his jaw and gave a tug. A few steps in the right direction and he looked back over his shoulder and called. She gave him a puzzled look and he sighed. He had to repeat the message two more times before a glimmer of awareness reached her eyes. He stared deep into them, working to forge a bond for the first time in his young life. In her confused state, it was easier than he felt it should have been. With his tail up as a flag, he traced the way she had come and she followed, mesmerized by the waving tail.
He was appalled at the distance the Old One (a feline term of respect) had wandered before he found her. Several times, she had lost her focus and he had to go back for her, but she always came and seemed to be fixing him in her thoughts. He knew they were near when he scented the younger human she belonged with. There was a frantic taint to the man’s smell, urging him to hurry. The wind was picking up also, adding instinct to the impulse.
There were several humans milling around. He smelled concern, and extreme agitation in the young human. He led her up to the group and watched, slipping out of their sight.
“Gran! I was so worried about you. Come inside and warm up.” The young man gave her a hug, gentle even in his relief, and turned to the other humans, “Thank you, officers.”
“No problem, we’re glad she’s all right.” The one who seemed in charge leaned in to speak softly to the young man, “You are going to have to get help or find her a nursing home soon, for her own safety.”
“I know,” the young human replied.
The exchange jarred his senses and he shifted through the door, left ajar, to wait for them inside. This was his destination. He didn’t know why, exactly. That would come in time. He sat calmly atop the stair rail, pale gray tail decorously draped over his toes.
“Daniel, where is the cat who walked back with me? You didn’t scare him away did you?” Her words drifted through the door as they climbed the steps.
“Cat? I didn’t see any cat, Gran. Come inside and I’ll get you a nice cup of tea.”
When they pushed the door open, Daniel looked straight at him, astonishment saturating his scent. Gran came to greet him eagerly.
“Well, there you are, a fine ghost of a cat. That’s what I’ll call you, Ghost.” He squeezed his eyes in approval. He had always been proud of his stealth.
Ghost settled in to life with his humans easily. At first, it had taken some work on his part to teach Daniel about proper food. He had stared in shocked indignation at the hard, dry stuff that had been set before him at first. Even life on the streets had not made that seem edible. He knew where to find fresh fish scraps whenever he wanted them.
He also discovered that his stealth trick was much easier with only two sets of eyes to avoid, even in the smaller spaces. It amused him to surprise his humans with his sudden appearance. He enjoyed the practice and instinct told him the skill was important. Equally important in those first days was learning efficient communication. He understood manspeak, many felines did. Getting them to understand him was stretching his creativity. It became a new game to see just how much he could convey with gestures, sounds and subtle thought pressure.
His delight in trying new skills didn’t blind him to the problem the Old One posed. Daniel was gone for a time every day and then she either wandered around the rooms taking to the air, or sat in a chair for hours without moving, her mind blank but not asleep. He did what he could to try and keep her alert, but those times were becoming shorter.
He observed the Old One behaving strangely one day. When Daniel was away, she had taken a small, concealed thing and placed it in a drawer with others like it. As soon as he felt the sly, stealthy thoughts she let leak out, he worried. Ghost jumped on the bed beside the Old One and laid a gentle paw on her arm, mewing softly for attention. When she looked at him, he stared hard at her and then looked at the drawer with an emphatic, questioning yowl. She felt a spark of guilt, quickly lost in the dimness of her mind.
This required action, but he needed Daniel’s help. The Old One’s mind slipped into a deeper fog by the day. He sensed the things she was hiding were important and may even the reason for the fog growing so fast. Or they might be related to her growing weakness. Not knowing what else to do until Daniel returned, he settled on her lap and purred.
When he heard the steps approaching outside, Ghost sped to the inner door. As soon as Daniel entered, he yowled for attention.
“What is it, boy, are you hungry already?” Daniel asked, not really paying attention.
He yowled again and took two steps towards the Old One’s room. When his human followed with concern, he sped to the cabinet in question, relieved. The Old One was sleeping again and he tried not to wake her. It would be easier that way. Standing on his hind legs, he pawed the drawer open and sat to look at Daniel.
Concern flared sharply in Daniel’s mind as he looked in the drawer. Before he did anything else, he reached out to stroke Ghost down the length of his spine in gratitude.
“Thank you, Ghost. I don’t know how you knew about this, or to tell me about this, but thank you.” He turned back to the drawer and carefully gathered up all the things the Old One had been concealing. Once he had them all, he beckoned to Ghost.
“Let’s let her sleep and try to figure this out.”
After putting the things in box, his human sat in his chair, radiating a troubled spirit. Ghost stayed close to comfort and help when he was needed.
“First thing is to call her doctor, I guess.” Daniel picked up the phone and punched buttons. Ghost watched while his human explained things to the voice on the other end of the device, sometimes listening to that voice. His concern, no, sadness for what the other was saying seemed to saturate the air around him.
“All right, Doctor. I’ll make an appointment this afternoon. I really hate to do this, she has lived almost her whole life in this house.” He listened some more. “I know, I’ll have her moved by tomorrow if it’s possible.”
“Well, my friend, we are going to have to move Gran to a home. At once, the doctor said.” He picked up the phone again to make more calls.
Ghost went to keep watch on the Old One, feeling she should not be alone right now. He didn’t catch all the details of what his human had decided, but he did know the Old One was going away. He even understood why, but it would be different with her not here.
