Chapter 4
Hello
Martha screamed. Everyone ran (or materialized) to the kitchen. An enormous cat, tail waving and single ear back, stood on the table snarling at Martha. Carolynn grabbed the children and pulled them back; the captain's face lit up as he cried, "Circe?"
The cat immediately quieted, gazed at him for a long moment, then slowly blinked. She jumped into his arms, her raspy purr filling the room. He buried his face in her fur, hiding his eyes from the family. Martha commented, "Oh wonderful. Is this ghost cat from hell going to haunt us too?"
Carolynn elbowed her, watching the tender hearted captain snuggling the behemoth. Candy, released from her mother's grip, reached out to pet the cat. The captain barked, "No, Candy!" Candy's hand passed right through Circe, and the cat never deigned to notice her.
Jonathon asked, "Can we keep her?"
Speechless for a moment, Carolynn then replied, "I don't think it's up to us."
The captain murmured to Circe, "Do you forgive me?" The cat began rubbing her head against his beard as he grinned, joyous in both the presence of his long lost friend and his ability to hold her in his arms.
Then her face slipped through his. "Daniel?" Carolynn asked, confused.
The cat began fading, becoming more and more transparent. "What's happening?" Candy demanded. When the cat disappeared, the captain looked up, stricken, and dematerialized himself.
He was gone for days, leaving Martha and Carolynn to answer the children's questions for which they were ill prepared. They did, however, find an occasional dead mole or bird in the house. Jonathon took the job of removing the creatures, claiming in the captain's absence, he was the man of the house. Candy claimed Circe was there still, lurking, leaving them gifts.
Then in the afternoon, Carolynn answered the door to find the captain standing on the doorstep. "Where have you been?" He laughed, taking her hand in his, and kissed it. "Daniel?"
"I followed her as far as I could go, and I've come home now." Carolynn didn't even notice when a gangly black cat slipped past them into Gull Cottage.