My Grandmother was a Witch

Chapter 9

Kate had two days off and instead of spending them with Lanie, her dad, or going out on yet another of Lanie's dates, she had the car and was on her way to visit her grandmother. She had said she would always be there for her and Kate had news. Maybe not really big news but it was news and she wanted to share. Besides she missed her grandmother. She was literally the only person she could talk to about being a witch.

Kate parked where she always had and jogged to the front door. She unlocked the door and went inside. It looked just like it always had. "Grams!" Kate called out and watched her just sort of show up. "I have news, Grams." Kate was all smiles. She always felt great coming here. It was like the weight on her shoulders just disappeared.

Anna offered her first guess. "You got married?"

"NO! I'm not old enough to get married yet. My 22nd birthday is only coming up." Kate shot that one down.

Anna tried again. "You have a boyfriend that might be marriage material?"

"I'm starting to detect a theme here, Grams, and no, again. No boyfriend. Though I do have a really good girlfriend and before you start down that road, not that kind of girlfriend." Kate wagged her finger at her.

"I would never! …At least not now. One guess left. Let me see." Anna tapped her finger against her lips. "You look happy and sound excited so it's not that you met a Black Witch. You had to have succeeded in getting your dad to stop drinking so it's not that." Kate even shook her head at that one.

"No boyfriend so not pregnant. …I give up. Tell me." She couldn't think of anything worth guessing for this amount of happiness.

"I bought a condo using Mom's money. Almost all of Mom's money, actually, so it's a little scary. I even signed the papers. I just have to wait for them to move out, have it cleaned, and then inspect it to make sure the owner didn't damage something on the way out and it's mine!" Kate was actually really happy if not still a little scared.

"You're moving out of your parents' house. Congratulations!" Anna was thrilled for her and would hug her if she could. "So how long are you staying?"

"I have to go back tomorrow. I only have two days off of work and I'm in Vice now. I got a raise, Grams!" She was even used to her new paycheck so was feeling better about her choice of place to live.

"Vice? Isn't that you standing on a street corner pretending to be a prostitute?" Anna wasn't stupid.

"Sometimes." Kate rolled her eyes. "I don't really like that part much but we do other things and I'm learning. Alex, that's my boss, thinks if I can learn drugs, gangs, and robbery I might make it to captain of my own precinct one day. Can you believe it? Me a captain." Kate was actually a little giddy. Being here just made her feel so much better.

"So what comes after captain?" Anna queried.

"Above captain? Commissioner, I guess. Too early to think about that. I have to make homicide detective and figure out who killed Mom first. Then I'll figure out what comes next. …Still no horses, I suppose?" Kate knew the answer but she asked anyway.

"None, sorry. You realize it's going to snow soon and is probably cold in here," Anna warned her.

"I brought snow chains so I'm good and you still have lots of wood. Speaking of which I need to move some wood in here and get the fireplaces started or I'm going to freeze tonight." Kate headed for the door to go outside and carry in firewood for the fireplaces.

_/\_

"This is the life, Grams." Kate tried to lean into her but felt nothing.

"It's good to have you home, Katie. Now if you had brought a boyfriend with you it might be better." Anna had a wicked look on her face as she teased her.

"Grams! Enough with the boyfriends. I've got time." Kate turned her head and glared at her.

Anna acquiesced. "Fine but only for now. So tell me all about this Lanie, your best friend." She wanted to know all she could.

_/\_

Kate was sleeping downstairs on the sleeper sofa. It was her bed so she was sleeping on it. Besides the fireplace kept her tootsies nice and warm. Except for the moment so she was up adding wood to the fireplace.

"It's snowing, Katie," Anna informed her since she didn't actually sleep any longer.

"Really!" Kate moved to the window and looked outside. "That's a lot of heavy snow, Grams." Now Kate ran to the front door and opened it. The cold hit her but she wanted to see her car. "I might be in trouble." She was going to have to sweep the snow off first followed by trying to get the chains on the front tires.

_/\_

Kate was cooking breakfast and watching it snow. It just wouldn't stop. "My cell phone doesn't even work out here so there's no one to call." She had to leave today and was wondering just when she should try it.

After eating her breakfast she made a decision. She was going to need those snow chains so they might as well go on now. When she finally reached the Interstate or a clear road she would take them off.

Thankfully she had come at least a little prepared for this. Still she'd never done this herself. Lay them out and roll the car onto them and secure them in place. It certainly sounded simple enough.

_/\_

"I'm freezing, I'm freezing!" Kate put her hands above the fire in the fire place. If she got them any closer they would catch on fire. "I can't even feel my fingers."

Everything was going perfectly right up to the point where she had to secure the chains. Her big thick mitten gloves, while keeping her hands warm, just weren't up to the job so she had to take them off. That was when the trouble had started.

"It was just two chains," Kate moaned and kept trying to warm up her frozen fingers.

"You should probably start back now, honey. The snow up here can get rather deep and that dirt road is going to be a challenge." It looked like wet snow to her which meant it was going to stick to everything.

"Just as soon as I can get my fingers to work again," Kate told her.

_/\_

"It was really kind of you to come all this way, Katie. I've enjoyed your company." Anna was going to be all alone again but she would live. Well, you know what she meant.

"I missed you, Grams." Kate did her best to hug her given that she couldn't touch her.

"Don't forget to bring your boyfriend up here for me to meet. When you finally get one, of course." She wanted to see him. Judge for herself.

"I'll keep that in mind, Grams. You're sure you're all right up here?" There was literally no one up here but her.

"I'll be fine. Just remember if you ever need me I'll be here, Katie. I'll always be here. Always." She had no where else to be. She wasn't trapped here. She could choose to move on like her daughter had. This was her choice. Being a witch helped with that.

"Thanks, Grams." Kate made one last tour of the place. She hadn't even gone upstairs since getting here but she did it all the same. Checking every window, checking for roof leaks.

Back downstairs she checked to make sure she had cleaned up from breakfast. Checked everything was all locked up and not leaking anywhere. It really was a sound little house.

Kate gave her one last wave and then closed and locked the door. She went out to her already running car and slowly drove away. She was thinking this dirt road was going to be her only challenge.

_/\_

That road was actually her only challenge. Until it wasn't. The two lane road she was on wasn't plowed. For the most part she was the only car on it and in some places the very first car. She was crawling along between 25 and 30 all the way.

Then she found one of those little gas stations and pulled in and filled up just in case.

"Where you going?" the lady behind the counter asked her as she paid for her gas.

"The city. I still have a ways to go," Kate told her.

"Just be careful and remember that bridges freeze long before the road does." She gave her a piece of advice and watched her leave. She had made it into work but knew business was going to be bad today.

_/\_

They hadn't plowed or even tried to plow the access road to the Interstate so going up it was a challenge and then once on it for a while Kate decided that taking the chains off might be best.

She found getting them off was a lot easier than putting the damn things on. Still she drove slowly till she reached the outskirts of the city and that's when she finally began seeing more cars.

Driving through the city to reach home was like driving through a ghost town. She saw almost no one and while there was less snow here it had still snowed here.

That was when she made a choice. She knew of a little mom and pop grocery and stopped right out front. She looked to see if they were open. When she saw movement she decided that they were and got out to go inside.

Once inside, however, it was a completely different story. They were being robbed. One was holding a gun on the clerk who happened to be the store owner. While the other was gathering food.

Naturally opening the door got the attention of the guy with the gun who pointed it at her and yelled at her. Then he pointed it at the clerk who he thought had moved and might have a gun behind that counter.

Kate was still deciding just what to do because he kept yelling and changing his mind who to point his gun at. This was supposed to be an easy snatch and grab. Now it wasn't.

Kate had finally gotten her hand into her coat pocked and wrapped around her wand. She might not have a gun but she wasn't completely defenseless.

The gun was pointed at the clerk and she could see the other guy walking this way loaded down with items from the store. So she very quickly pulled out her wand and fired it at him and then aimed for the guy with the food. Neither of them moved till the police showed up when Kate released them.

Kate and the clerk made up a story to tell the police and Kate got to go home with a paper bag full of groceries free of charge. The clerk was sure he was dead till she came along. He didn't know what she'd done and didn't want to know. He was alive and his store was still in one piece.

_/\_

Kate was going to have to make two trips and she was still working the key into the lock when it suddenly opened, scaring her to death. As if one scare hadn't been enough.

"KATIE!" Jim wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. He knew she had taken the car and where she had planned to go. He had thought it was a little late in the year for this but she had insisted that she needed to get away. HIS DAUGHTER WAS ALIVE!

"Hi, Dad." Kate didn't get it but she liked it. "I got groceries." He needed to let go of her so she could put them away and go back out to the car and get her bag.

_/\_

Kate was telling him all about her trip. Save for her seeing her dead grandma and the encounter at the grocery store. He would just worry and besides she was fine.

Now she was standing there letting her dad look her hands over after she had complained so much about how frozen her fingers had been after putting on the snow chains.

"No damage that I can see. Next time go up in summer," Jim said. "Just not during a rain storm. You thought snow was bad, try it in mud."

"I think I learned my lesson, Dad. So how is it here?" Kate rubbed her hands together simply because of the memory of them being frozen.

"A little touch of snow and this city shuts down. You actually found a grocery store that was open." That in of itself was a shock.

Kate shrugged. "It was this little mom and pop place I know of not far from here. I think they live upstairs so they were open. Didn't have to actually go anywhere."

"That's good because the news is talking about more snow tonight. You might want to call before trying to make it into work tomorrow," Jim offered knowing that he was going to do the same.

_/\_

"What are you doing?" Jim was eating a nice cold bowl of cereal and watched his daughter come out wearing her officer's uniform instead of clothes.

"Captain Montgomery needs officers in patrol cars. Since I used to be one and I can reach the precinct easily enough since the trains are running, I got tagged to ride shotgun.

"I'll be fine, Dad. It's not like I haven't done this before. Just a little rusty maybe." Kate put on the coat she had that said POLICE all over it and went to the door. "I should be back in time to make dinner." And she was gone.

_/\_

Jim watched his daughter come through the door and put her back against the door.

"This city has gone nuts, Dad. Completely nuts. A couple of inches of snow, that's melting by the way, and this city goes to hell." Kate just stood there and relaxed. She was home and safe.

"But you're okay?" Jim got up and looked her over.

"I actually fired my weapon. I didn't shoot anyone but I had to actually fire my weapon. Now Internal Affairs has it. I'm suspended with pay till they clear me. This place is nuts, Dad. Really nuts." Kate found herself being hugged and she finally melted and let him and hugged him back.

"I need a shower and I need to do laundry. I'm a mess." Kate freed herself and went to her bedroom to strip down and grab a towel and then headed for the bathroom.

_/\_

"Have you eaten?" Kate was out dry, dressed, and on her way to the kitchen.

"You said you'd be back in time to cook so I waited." Jim joined her in the kitchen. "Now tell me everything. There are times when your job scares me, Katie."

"I wasn't a big fan of today either, Dad, but I was needed." They were seriously short staffed today so she was needed.

_/\_

Jim had rented a truck and gone over to get Lanie to help move all of Kate's bedroom down to the truck. For now she was stuck sleeping in her twin bed. Maybe later she could afford to get a bigger bed.

Then drove them over to her new place. "Eagle Warehouse and Storage Company." Jim saw that the building still had the old sign on the building.

Since she was on the top floor they used the elevator. The empty even of drawers dresser went up first and once it was in place Jim looked around and started with the bathroom. "This is really nice, Katie." It was pretty standard and it was all tile. It wasn't big by any means but it was nice.

"Closet, closet, closet, storage, still another closet. And what's with the two doors?" There was a closet between them and that was it.

"I have no idea," Kate admitted.

"THAT'S A CLOCK!" Jim saw the attraction of this place. Plus the wood floors and exposed brick walls. "You have forced air!" To him that meant she also had A/C for summer.

"Isn't it cool?" Lanie loved this room. "If it came with a second bedroom I would be her roommate already." Lanie loved her space.

The kitchen was all white and the upper cabinets all had glass fronts. He found lots of pantry space though he thought the sink faced the wrong direction. It was up against the wall instead of facing the clock with that view of the bridge.

"So what's the plan?" Jim was curious. The living room was big and it, like the bedroom, had this massive skylight in the center.

"I need room for my books so maybe bookcases along this wall here. I'd like nice tall ones but that will have to wait. Then if that Habitat place still has that sectional it can go here with just enough space to reach the bookcase and then under the clock a bit.

"What I really need is some lighting. This place has none. So tables and lamps might have to be first. They also had this really nice rug that can go in the middle. But I'm not sure. I don't want this place to get dark on me so I may have to keep looking for that.

"The big plan is to find a big armoire to go in that corner since that's where the only TV outlet is located and put a TV inside it. Just open it up and watch TV. Then close it when I just want to read," Kate explained.

"Let's get the rest of your stuff then we can break our backs moving Lanie followed by lunch. And then we'll meet this guy you shanghaied from work to load this sectional of yours. Followed by a chiropractor since I'm going to need one." Jim was sure he was going to be an invalid after moving these two.

"You're sure you couldn't talk him into movie, Lanie, and not just this sectional?" Jim asked her and put his hand on his back since he just knew he was going to be in pain later.

Hearing these two laugh at him wasn't helping any. But he had to admit Katie had really found something nice. Too bad it was in Brooklyn.