The Cat That Went to Homecoming Read online

  “No! It’s not that,” I said, my eyes fixed on the carpet to avoid hers.

  “Then what is it, Ellen?” she demanded.

  I let out a deep sigh and plopped back onto the bed. How could I explain ‘what it is’ when I didn’t understand it myself. Jane was the nicest person I had ever met in my life. If I took money and a computer from her, and then failed, I would disappoint her.

  I was afraid I would disappoint her.

  Mom sat back on the edge of the bed and put her hand on my knee. “Ellen, talk to me,” she said. “What are you afraid of?”

  I looked her straight in the eyes and blurted it out. “I’m afraid I will disappoint her.” There, I said it.

  “Ellen, those that try and fail never disappoint. It’s the ones who don’t try at all that do,” Mom said.

  I saw Hershey peeking in the doorway at us, his tail curled downward in tension. I gave him eye contact and patted my lap to show him I needed him to come back. He did; he jumped onto my lap and head-butted my arm, telling me, “Pet me!”

  I looked at my mom and smiled. “Won’t he look handsome in his service animal vest?” I said.

  Mom clapped her hands and reached out to rub Hershey’s head, “Yes, he will!” Hershey rubbed his cheek against her hand in affection.

  Chapter Eight

  Jane and her husband, Stan, dropped off the laptop the following Saturday afternoon while Mom was at work. Earlier in the day, I had baked brownies so the three of us sat at the kitchen table with brownies and milk while Stan showed me how to use the laptop.

  Being that I had never used a laptop before, I did not know how it worked. I just assumed you clicked on an icon and was magically sent to the internet. That was not the case! Mrs. Spenser had her WIFI password encrypted, so Stan showed me how to add my computer to her network.

  “Be sure to keep the password written down and stored in a safe place. There will be times when you find yourself disconnected from the network and you will need to re-establish the connection.”

  I would not have known that. He suggested that I write it on a piece of paper and scotch tape it to the bottom of my laptop.

  Jane downloaded the online Pet Handler’s Course onto my computer using her credit card to pay the $70.00 fee, and right there my heart sank.

  “Jane, I don’t have $70.00 to pay you,” I meekly said. “I wasn’t expecting you to download this for me today.”

  “I’m downloading this for you as an advance on your salary. Once I walk you through this, we will set up a work schedule,” Jane said.

  Hershey jumped up onto the table and rubbed his cheek up against the computer screen.

  “Well, hello there, handsome,” Jane said as she stroked Hershey’s head. He head-butted her hand, wanting more attention, and Jane chuckled. “He certainly is a social butterfly, isn’t he?”

  Hershey found Jane’s glass of milk and gingerly stuck his paw into it. After licking the milk off of his paw, he must have realized that drinking the milk directly out of the glass would be more satisfying than dunking his paw in twenty times. He tried to stick his head in the glass, but the circumference of the glass was smaller than his head so this did not work.

  I knew what his next move would be because we had gone down this road before, so I swiped the glass up off the table and removed it. Hershey intended to knock it over to get the milk. I went to the cabinet and pulled a small dish out to pour the milk into and offered it to him.

  “You are able to predict Hershey’s moves before he does them. That is an important trait in an animal handler,” Jane said.

  Later that evening, as I read though the handler course material, I discovered that Hershey and I had many of the necessary traits. Well, at least Hershey did.

  Chapter Nine

  Summer in Wisconsin is a great time for those who have friends. Summerfest, known as “The World’s Largest Music Festival,” is eleven days of local and nationally known musicians playing on over 700 stages. The festival hosts food and shopping vendors, comedy acts, and fireworks displays that awe and amaze. Summerfest runs from late June through July fourth. I only knew this through the local news casts or from what I overheard at school. I, myself, had never attended Summerfest. I’d never been to a concert, roller skating, or bowling. I had, however, read every Judy Blume book ever written and seen every episode of Degrassi.

  During the first week of July, I had been in Jane’s employ for a month. I had already paid her back the $70.00 I owed her and had stashed away $130.00. I was on my hands and knees tugging out dandelions and creeping Charlie with my IPod blaring Maroon Five. I had heard that they were headlining on the main stage at Summerfest on the Fourth of July. Boy, wouldn’t it be awesome if I took Mom to the concert? She and I were both huge fans of Maroon Five, and I think we’d beat each other up to gain the attention of their lead singer! I needed about a hundred bucks to pay Pet Partners, but I would get paid again before that fee was due, so I technically could afford to splurge.

  I just wasn’t sure I could muster up the courage to go. It was a very crowded event; the main stage alone held up to 23,000 people! I looked over at Hershey. Jane had strung a clothesline run for me to clip to his leash so he could come to work with me, and he would spend the four hours we were there, sunning himself or helping himself to her wild herbs and grasses.

  “Hersh, what do you think? Should I go to the concert?” Hershey stopped gnawing on the mint sprig in his mouth and stared at me. Then he dropped it and stalked me, pouncing onto my hands in the dirt. What a little devil!

  “I take it that’s a yes,” I said as my hand wrestled with him. OUCH! He got my hand in the famous Hershey choke-hold, his hind claws digging into my forearm while he gnawed on my palm.

  “Take that, Hersh!” I said as my hand wrestled him to the ground and held him in submission.

  Mom was more than overjoyed at my proposal! She did have to do some begging to get a coworker to pick up her hours that night, but in the end, we spent the Fourth of July at Summerfest!

  We arrived at the main gate three hours before Maroon Five was scheduled to play. Mom had been to Summerfest in the past, and she wanted me to experience the foods and sights of “The Big Gig.” Her favorite food vendor was a locally run steak house with a restaurant located on the north end of the Summerfest grounds. This was where we decided to eat dinner.

  Unfortunately for me, it was THE most popular food vendor at Summerfest. As we stood in line, the next to be seated, I heard a painfully familiar voice behind.

  “Isn’t that Ellen?” I didn’t have to look to know it was John Peck, but I did turn to see him standing there with Darcel Simmons. She had one arm draped over his shoulders and one around his waist, and it looked as if he was holding her up. Was she drunk?

  “Look, she’s here with her MOM! Oh, my God, that’s hilarious!” Darcel squealed, laughing like a hyena.

  I did not want my mom to hear them so I prayed silently, Please Lord, let them take us to a table quickly. The steak house was packed to capacity, so, sadly for Darcel, the wait to be seated would be long enough for her to experience my mom in Tigress mode. At first, I didn’t think Mom had heard Darcel because she never turned to look behind us, but it soon became clear that she had.

  My mom was not unattractive; in fact, some women in the neighborhood didn’t like their husbands to even look her way. When she was all dressed up, she looked like a movie star!

  She used her femininity to grab the attention of a security guard in close proximity to us. She motioned him over and he strolled to us with a hopeful smile.

  “Can I help you with something, Miss?” He asked her.

  “Yes, you can.” She gave him a flirty smile, and then turned to point out John and Darcel, “Do you see those two kids back there?” He nodded. “They are being very disruptive and I can’t be certain, but I think they’re drunk.”

  He looked a bit disappointed, but replied, “Oh I see. I’ll check them out. Thank you for bringing t
his to my attention.”

  Mom pulled out the charm once again, “I was happy to do it, especially since it meant seeing you up close.” Then she winked at him.

  I knew Mom drank a wine cooler earlier, but she couldn’t possibly be drunk! I wondered just where Sexy Mom had been hiding all this time, and I hoped that one day I could be like that.

  The security guard blushed then straightened himself out. He walked over to Darcel and John and had a heated conversation which ended in Darcel ranting at the top of her lungs, and extra security being called in to help remove the two of them.

  While the shouting match was taking place, it was our turn to be seated. As we walked to our table, Mom turned around, smiled, waved good bye to Darcel and John then blew them a kiss.

  Ouch! This was going to hurt me in the later rounds, but for tonight, I would just savor the sweet satisfaction of knowing Darcel the Dreadful was unhappy!

  “You bitch,” I heard Darcel shout, but Mom never turned back again.

  “Ellen, just wait till you try their baby back ribs. They are melt-in-your-mouth wonderful,” Mom said and kept walking to the table without a care in the world.

  The ribs were indeed wonderful, but very expensive. I argued with Mom over the menu, wanting to order the cheapest thing I could find, whether I liked what it was or not, but she would not allow me to do that.

  “We are not going to worry about money tonight.” she said, “Trust me on this. We will be fine.”

  I watched my mom eat her meal in her delicate, lady like manner and wondered why it was me sitting across from her. She obviously had a way with men, so why was she single?

  “Mom,” I asked, “why don’t you ever go out on dates anymore?’

  She looked at me and cocked her head to one shoulder. “I just don’t want to.” She said in a tone that said ‘don’t push this.’

  I wanted to push it! I needed to understand why someone as beautiful as her was alone. I thought only girls like me were lonely.

  “I’d bet the security guard would like to take you out,” I said slyly.

  Mom laughed and put her fork down. “Come on Ellen! He’s at least ten years younger than me.” She laughed a little more and looked over at him. He smiled back at her, making her look down at the table.

  “Oh brother,” she mumbled, “I might have made a mistake.”

  I laughed and had to cover my mouth. Then she looked at me and we both burst into laughter.

  After our laughter calmed, Mom wiped her mouth and put her napkin down. “I’m going to use the ladies room. Do you want to come along?” she asked.

  “No, I’ll wait here for you, if that’s okay. Besides, I want to finish my soda.”

  “I’ll be back in a little bit. As crowded as it is tonight, I’m sure there are lines a mile long to get to the restrooms.”

  Mom went off in the direction of the restroom, and I waited until she was out of sight before I dug in my purse for a pen and paper. I wanted to slip the security guard my mom’s phone number, but then thought better of it. I didn’t want to make my mom mad.

  We made our way through the crowd to the main stage and took our seats. It was packed to capacity, mostly young women all dressed to catch attention. I thought they were rather silly, I mean, if any girl actually thought the lead singer would notice her in this crowd, she would have to be one very conceited person!

  This was my first live concert and for the first time in my life my excitement seemed to override my anxiety. I was so eager for the show to start that I was chewing my nails. I wasn’t the least bit concerned about bumping into anyone I knew, and didn’t notice Cindy Haskel pass by.

  Apparently she noticed me because she stopped and squeezed through the aisle of people to reach me.

  “Ellen!” she said and reached out to hug me. I was shocked by this and stiffened up. It must have felt to her as if she were hugging a surf board!

  “Hi Mrs. Jones, it’s nice to see you again.” Cindy politely acknowledged my Mom.

  “Well, hi, Cindy, I haven’t seen you in years!” Mom said to Cindy, offering her a hug that was not stiff like mine had been.

  “I’m just heading to the snack stand for some nachos, but on my way back, why don’t I grab you two and bring you to our seats? Two people in our group didn’t show up so we have two extra seats, and we are much closer to the stage than you are.”

  “That sounds great!” Mom replied for us. This terrified me. I thought I knew who the two missing people were, but who else was in that group? I didn’t think I could go through with this.

  “Okay, see you guys in a little bit,” Cindy said as she made her way out of our row.

  I waited until she was out of earshot then scolded my mom. “Why did you agree to sit with them? I can’t do it! I don’t even know who else is with her.”

  “Yes, you can,” Mom said, “and it doesn’t matter who is with her. Loosen up Ellen and let yourself go. Have a good time.”

  Deep inside I knew it wouldn’t matter if I was opposed to this or not, Mom was going to make me go sit with Cindy and her group of friends. I already knew they were going to laugh at me for being at a concert with my mom. I knew they would be looking at my clothes and shoes. They would wait until we were gone to start bashing me because they wouldn’t dare do it in front of my mom, but it would happen. And just wait until they found out who was responsible for Darcel and John’s eviction from the grounds! Oh, I was doomed.

  My one last hope was that Cindy would regret her offer, and just bypass us on her way back to her seat. Not so. She came back with nachos in hand and motioned for us to follow her.

  Mom and I made our way out of the row, Mom looking happy and confident, me with a heart pounding so hard I was sure it could be seen through my shirt.

  Cindy led us to her row of seats, which were definitely better seats than ours were. I scanned the row for familiar faces to prepare myself, but I did not recognize anyone. I felt a slight flitter of hope. We followed Cindy through the row to three empty seats. I saw a boy and two girls around my age sitting in the seats next to ours, but thankfully, I did not know any of them.

  Cindy introduced Mom and me to her friends. It turned out that Cindy’s friends were members of her church youth group, and they all volunteered together at a local food pantry. She introduced us to Brandon, Sarah, and Margaret.

  “Since Karen and Billy can’t make it, would it be okay with you guys if I invited my friend Ellen and her mom to join us?” Cindy asked the group

  “Sure,” they all said in unison.

  So, it wasn’t Darcel and John that were the original seat owners. Whew! I felt much better.

  Mom introduced herself. “Hi, guys. I’m Ellen’s Mom, Mrs. Jones, but please, call me Kayla so I don’t feel so old and out of place.”

  “You don’t look old to me.” Brandon said as he shook my mom’s hand.

  Mom even had a way with the young men!

  Mom smiled at him, and turned to me. “Ellen, aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” Awkward! Thanks Mom!

  I stepped forward and offered a weak wave to the three of them, “Hi, I’m Ellen.”

  All three of them introduced themselves to me, Brandon being the only one to shake my hand.

  Mom made me sit next to Brandon, probably some secret conspiracy on her part! We had a good half-hour before the show was scheduled to start, so Mom engaged the group in conversation. She asked about their volunteer work, and listened to them talk. Then she blurted out, “Ellen is working on her own volunteer project, aren’t you honey?” I blushed and wanted to slide down into the seat and hide.

  “Ellen, what are you working on?” Cindy asked.

  “I’m working on becoming a therapy animal handler.” I said so quietly that Brandon asked me to repeat myself.

  “Oh, so that’s why you’ve been walking Hershey on a leash,” Cindy said.

  “What do you do as a therapy animal handler?” Brandon asked. I had no idea why, but I suddenly felt
a confidence that I had never experienced before. Maybe it was because a boy was paying attention to me, or maybe it was because I was proud of my work with Hershey. Either way, it didn’t matter. I started to talk about my training and what animal therapy is about. All four of my peers seemed very interested in what I had to say. Mom just sat back and quietly listened to our conversation. I think she may have been proud of herself for turning the attention onto me!

  The concert was awesome and my mom was a hit with Cindy’s friends. She danced and sang through every song. She stood on her chair and danced, she danced on the ground, and she grabbed Cindy and danced! I was timid because I had never danced in front of people before and I had a difficult time working myself up to do it. Every time Mom tried to dance with me, I’d back away and shake my head ‘no’. She’d frown, but then latch onto someone else.

  About halfway through the concert, I looked at the five of them dancing and carrying on and realized I wanted to be a part of that. I worked up enough courage to stand amongst them and move from side to side. Then I watched Mom’s hip movements and tried to imitate her. Eventually I was having so much fun that I found myself laughing, singing, and dancing with no inhibitions. There were several times that I had to pull up my jeans because they were slipping down over my hips.

  At one point, Brandon took my hand and asked for a dance. I was so stunned that I couldn’t move! He did not seem to notice, he just led the dance and I meekly followed his lead, never looking him in the eye. Oh my God, I thought as I felt his hand on my waist, can he feel my fat roll?

  I gradually started to relax, and actually found myself looking at Brandon and smiling. He was smiling back at me.

  When the concert was over, I was bummed. It had been the best night of my life and I didn’t want it to end! The six of us left the main stage area and walked through the festival grounds together in some kind of post-concert euphoria. As we made our way to the main gate, we sang and skipped and laughed. We ladies all had our comments on how sexy the lead singer was, while all Brandon would say was “Give me a break!”