The town of Chapel never looked more beautiful. I'm standing on Chapel Hill and I could see everything. You know that saying: East, West, Home is best. How true. I'd been gone for years and now, to finally be home, how wonderful. It was so good to be home. Everything was just as I remembered. The house my father built with his own hands. The mill. The garden. The shed.
A woman walks out of the house. Yolanda, I presume. Her belly is bulging and a little boy is holding tightly to the hem of her skirt. Yolonda's different. More motherly. She looks up and over. She must see me because she starts to wave frantically and beckoning me forward. Maybe Yolanda isn't so bad after all.
Yolanda runs into the house and pulls out a man. At first a think it's Dominic but then, somehow, I realize it can't possibly be. It's just not Dominic. Doesn't feel like Dominic. Then I take a closer look and realize the woman is not Yolanda. I just know it isn't but it's not until the eleven, twelve-year-old runs out from behind the mill that I realize just who these people are. This is not Yolanda and Dominic's family. It is my family! The man is my father, the woman my mother. The boy hanging around my mother is Hector and the other boy is Dominic. And the baby, the unborn baby in my mother's belly, is me.
My mother and father call up to me. "Come daughter. Come, join us." I start to run down the hill, wanting to join this family I never knew. But then this fierce wind comes out of nowhere and blows me back, away from everyone. I can't go forward.
Then the clouds start to billow. I look up and the face of a cat, in the clouds, looks down at me, "Seraphina."
And I said, "Yes."
And the cat replied, "Wake up, Seraphina."
"But I am awake." Only I wasn't because it was all a dream, a silly dream.
I opened my eyes and nearly screamed. I didn't scream though, not like the first morning I woke up with that face glaring at me, just like it's been glaring every other morning.
"Puss," I told the Russian Blue, a bit too harshly, "Don't do that! I don't like waking up to find you in my face."
"How else then am I to wake you up come morning?"
"You could let me sleep."
"And waste the daylight? We mustn't. Must keep moving."
Whatever you say, oh noble feline."
Groggily, I got to my feet and stumbled around, trying to gather together my stuff, not that I had much. We had been travelling for about four days. Sometimes we manage to hitch a ride on a wagon but we mostly walked because Puss insisted we stick to back trails, in case Dominic came after us. I doubt it. He's probably glad just to get me out of his hair. Actually, I don't mind the walking but we're kind of running out of food. I had to skip breakfast, so I was a little crabby.
We walked in silence for a while. Puss isn't much of a talker. And when he does talk, he blatantly refuses to talk about his past. That made me a little uneasy but what could I do? Without Puss I would be on my own and I'm not ready for that.
"Puss, I want a bath." I said out of the blue. The silence was starting to get on my nerves. I almost miss Dominic's yelling, almost.
"If you wanted a bath, you should have told me when I asked you what you wanted."
"I didn't know I wanted a bath back then."
"That's not my problem."
"Puss."
"What?"
I grumbled. "You know, Puss, we're going to have to go into town, sooner or later. We have hardly any food left."
"Trust me."
"Puss." I tried to sound tough. I don't know if I succeeded.
"Okay, okay Seraphina. I will make you a promise. Tonight, not only will you have had your bath, but a full stomach and a bed to sleep in. How is that?"
"It sounds very nice."
"I thought so. Now, if you'll excuse me..." And off he ran into the undergrowth, out of sight.
Oh, I am really getting annoyed with that animal. How and when I let myself become dependent on a cat, I didn't know. I did know, however, that without Puss, I was lost in the forest, with no way out.
Not knowing what else to do, I sat down and had lunch. It was still early but I was hungry. I ate all the food and drank all the water, leaving nothing for Puss. Serves him right, I thought, for running off and leaving me behind. Besides, he's a cat and cats can hunt for themselves.
Puss considered himself a cat. He had explained that to me. He may have been human once but that had been a long time ago and he was a cat now, even though he could talk and sometimes walk upright for short periods of time, be it painfully. From the sharpness in Puss' voice as he told me this, I knew we weren't going to have this conversation often. In fact, Puss was reluctant to tell my anything of his past, not even his true name or where he came from. Why? I wondered, What was so horrible that he didn't want to tell me. Did it have something to do with his being changed into a cat? How had he ended up being changed into a cat, anyway? Some witch or warlock must have done it but for what reason? Even if you are evil, you don't change people into cats for fun, do you? Not that I had much experience with evil. As close as I've come are Yolanda and Dominic and they aren't actually evil, just mean.
I was so deep in thought that I didn't notice how quiet the forest had become. Where were the birds? The squirrels? The creatures in the bush? Even the black flies in the air and the earthworms in the ground had gone silent. The only sound was the wind stirring the trees and my own breathing. It was creepy.
I got to my feet, preparing to tun if necessary.
Oh, Puss, where are you?
Then I heard it, like distant thunder. Only it didn't rumbled off like thunder does. It drew nearer and I was about to run, when out of nowhere, Puss appeared.
"Stay," he told me, breathless, before running off, a streak of gray in the undergrowth.
Stay! He wanted me to STAY! He was crazy! He was insane! Where did he get off telling me to STAY while he ran away from Goddess only knows what? or maybe I was the insane one because I did stay. I hide behind a tree and I stayed to see what all the commotion was about, three wild boars chasing one tear streaked boy.
Back when I had lived in the village, me and my friends use to go out into the nearby forests to play. There were boars in those forests. My Aunt would always remind us to beware of those boars, especially when there were piglets, as boars can be awfully protective of their young. This boy apparently had never been given that advice or hadn't heeded it. Which basically meant I would have to rescue him, caring foolish person I am.
My first step would be getting his attention and have me run to me. That turned out to be harder than I thought because when I called the kid over he ran AWAY from my, the idiot. I ran after them, taking a short cut so I ended up ahead of them. I got to wait all of five seconds before the boy ran past me. I grabbed him from behind. He started yelling. "Don't take me home! I don't want to go home!"
"What are you talking about?" I didn't have time to wait for answer and started pushing the kid up the nearest sturdiest tree. "Climb."
Luckily both the kid and I can climb pretty well, so we get out of goring range before the boars reach us. Unluckily, my pack slipped off my back and since it has my scent, the boars figure it must be me. I have to turn my head away from the destruction of my only belongings in the world.
To keep myself and the boy, who looked pretty scared, and tried to start up a conversation. And, to my credit, didn't use the words 'idiot', 'crazy', 'idiot', 'foolish' or 'idiot' once. "What's your name, kid?"
"Poki?"
Poki? I had a cat named Poki once. Then again I had a cat name Alexander Graham Bell and another named Cleopatra, so I guess that doesn't mean much.
"So, um...Poki, why aren't you home."
"I ran away."
"Oh, that makes two of us."
Poki looks at me with a sort of awe. "You ran away? You're not here to take me home."
"Of course no-" Suddenly, Poki scream as the tree starts to wave back and forth. The boars have gotten tired of tearing apart my pack and they're converging on the tree. Luckily it's a sturdy old tree and isn't about to yield to a bunch of boars. The boars realize this and start digging underneath, trying to tumble us from under. Hopefully they'll get bored before the roots give out.
And to add to this fun, that black cloud I saw earlier has decided to open up and rain. I started to curse. I cursed the boars. I cursed Poki for getting the boars mad. I cursed Puss for leading me out here. I cursed Dominic for trying to sell me off. I cursed my father for dying and my mother for having bore me. The I felt guilty about cursing the dead. And I realized I couldn't curse the boars for being boars and, no matter what Poki had done, he didn't deserve to be gored to death. And I felt bad about cursing a creature already cursed. So, I cursed Dominic. If I had the power of a witch, Dominic would have died several painful deaths, much, much worse than choking on chicken bones.
All through the rainstorm, the boars kept up their digging, trying to unearth the tree and get us down. No lightening but a thunder clap. Great, just great.
"Look!" Poki squealed, pointing down.
My gaze followed his grimy finger to the ground where the leader of the boars lay screaming in agony and the other two were racing off into the forest.
Another thunderclap and the screaming boar fell silent. Poki and I watched as a party of five men, in hunting garb, came into view. They must have all been cut from the same piece of cloth, except one had one of those new shooting contraptions.
"Papa!" Poki squealed, clambering down and flinging himself around the man with the firing stick, apparently forgetting he had previously runaway.
I, too, came down from the tree and, trying not to wince too much, began to go through the remains of my belongings. There was no doubt that the sack, sturdy thing that it was, wasn't damaged. My food bag was a different story, not that it mattered. It wasn't like I had any food to put into it. The bottle of ink I had brought had shattered, ink soaking into the blank parchment. All my quills were broken, omit one. My knife and dishes were still intact but I had only one set of clothing now. But what really choked me was the destruction of the one storybook I had brought with me. The cover and about the first ten pages had been ripped away, never to be seen again. The rest of it was torn, dirty and water stained but I couldn't throw it away. It had been a gift from my father, when I first pronounced proudly to him that I could read. He had taken me to the shoemaker, who was also a bookbinder, and had let me choose anyone I wanted. I choose the prettiest book in the shop. Completely illustrated, it must have cost a small fortune. I held the battered book to my chest and tried not to cry.
Someone lightly draped a cloak over my shoulders and gently urged me to my feet, while someone else picked up my back and bedraggled belongings. Suddenly, I felt very tired, very drained. I could hardly keep my eyes open. Someone allowed me to lean on them but, after I had almost walked into a tree, the man decided it would be safer and quicker if he just carried me. I didn't protest, too tired.
Ahead. 'Papa' was telling Poki how 'Nana' had had a vision where a gray cat had come and said where to find Poki. I couldn't help but smile. Of course
We made it to Poki's family's homestead just as the storm cleared and the man who was carrying me asked if I could stand. I said yes and he gently lowered me to the ground. I witnesses a tearful reunion between Poki and his mother. I felt my heart swell.
"Seraphina?"
Puss, of course. I thought of all the horrible things I had wanted to do to Puss and realized I just didn't have the strength. I kneeled down in the mud and scratched Puss behind the ear. He purred.
"Young lady." I looked up. It was the first time Poki's Papa had addressed me. "I understand you saved my son's life. We don't have enough gold to repay you, even if we sold everything we owned. But how does a bath, a meal and a place to sleep sound?"
I looked to my companion and learned that cat's, or at least Puss, can wink.
To be continued...
Notes: I leave for a month long road trip in little over a week. I don't know when I'll have access to the internet or even a computer. So, I have no idea when I'll get the next part up. I was hoping to post the next chapter before we leave but, in case I don't get the time, I just wanted to tell everyone what became of me -Catalyst
