The Cat That Went to Homecoming Read online

  “You’re welcome sweetheart, and please come see me again,” she said to Hershey.

  I hated to end our time together, but I knew it was necessary. I had to pry Hershey from her lap; he was not ready to leave.

  “I’m sorry that your time together has to end for today, but they will be back. Would you like a picture of Hershey?” Jane asked and Janet smiled.

  I reached into my bag to dig out a trading card for Janet.

  “Oh, isn’t this darling!” she cried when I gave it to her. “Ellen, thank you so much for coming to see me. I feel so much better now that I got to talk to someone who would understand.” I just smiled and nodded at her, then gave her a hug.

  “I will make arrangements to get here again soon, Janet,” I said before we left.

  Only after we put our seat belts on in the car did Jane speak. She turned to me and said, “Wow. I am impressed, Ellen. You have an old soul, you are mature beyond your years, and you are an asset to this type of work.”

  I was flattered, and proud of myself. “Jane, I was so nervous about today. I didn’t think I would know what to do or what to say, but something kicked in and took over.”

  “That is compassion, Ellen. Your heart took over when you saw the suffering of another person, and you gave her your time and attention. That is truly remarkable.”

  “Thank you, but…” I fumbled for something else to say because I was not good at accepting praise. In fact, it wasn’t often that I was praised by someone other than my mom. “Hershey deserves most of the credit. He was amazing.”

  “Accept compliments graciously, Ellen. I want you to remember this. When a person compliments you, it’s because you deserve it and you should not shift the attention to someone or something else. There is nothing wrong with modesty, but accept a compliment for what it is.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mom was at work when Jane dropped me off at home and I was a little bummed out. I was so excited and needed to talk to someone to share my great experience with, but who?

  Once his harness was removed, Hershey found a patch of sun across the living room floor to rest in. He deserved his time alone, my hard working little Hershey Kiss!

  I felt restless and really wanted some company, so I picked up my phone and scanned through my very small contact list to Brandon’s number. It was odd that Brandon was the one person that came to mind at that moment, but I felt I had more of a connection with him than anyone else.

  “Ellen,” Brandon said when he answered the phone. At first I was surprised he knew it was me, but then I realized that when a number you have listed in your contacts calls you, the name reads across the screen. That should tell you how many phone calls I’ve received in my life!

  “Hey, Brandon, are you busy?” I asked.

  “No, in fact I’m bored to death right now. I have the car though; do you want to do something?” he asked.

  “Sure!” I said. “What do you have in mind?”

  “We could go to the mall. I’ll call Cindy and see if she’s free, and then come pick you guys up.”

  “That sounds great.” I said, doing a mental tally of how much money I had to spend. “I’ll see you in a little while then.”

  Another first for me, shopping at the mall with friends! If this wasn’t the best summer of my life, then I couldn’t imagine what would be. I normally wouldn’t bother my mom while she was at work, but I thought maybe it would be best to let her know what I was doing in case I wasn’t back before she came home. I wasn’t very skilled at texting because the only time I ever texted was when I had to relay something to Mom while she was at work. It took several minutes for me to punch out ‘going to the mall with Cindy, see you sometime later today. I’ll have my phone with me. Love you.’ I omitted Brandon’s name so she wouldn’t be confused. After all, I had not told her about my new friends yet.

  I did a quick look in the mirror. The facial abrasion was healing well, but the scabbed over parts looked disgusting. It was shrinking in size, kind of puckered around the edges, but it didn’t hurt. I brushed my hair and decided to throw it in a ponytail. I looked my outfit over, and felt that if it was good enough to visit Janet in, then it was good enough to shop in. I was wearing khaki pants and a white shirt. I would have to get out the lint roller to get Hershey hairs off my clothes, and then I would be all set to go.

  I lifted my mattress and pulled thirty dollars out from my stash of savings. I had nothing in particular that I was saving for, and spending thirty wouldn’t hurt anything even if I was, so I just tucked the money into my front pocket and let the mattress down.

  My doorbell rang. It was Cindy. “Hey, Brandon called and he’s on his way to pick us up. I told him I’d wait here with you. Is that okay?” she asked.

  “Yes, yes, please come in.” I closed the door behind her and led her into the living room where Hershey was reclining in his patch of sun.

  “Aw, he’s so darn cute,” Cindy said as she squatted to pet Hershey.

  “He had a big day today, we did our first visitation.”

  I told her about the morning, leaving out who the woman was that we visited and focused only on how well we handled it because Janet deserved her privacy.

  “I was so nervous at first, but once we entered the room, something else took over. Jane said it was compassion that took over. I don’t know how to explain it, but all my anxiety washed away the moment we walked through the door.”

  “That is exactly what happens to me when I’m at the food pantry. So many people our age would not get it, they are too wrapped up in themselves.” Cindy said. “Ellen, what you are doing is very cool. I think it’s amazing that people can use their pets to bring joy to others. You have worked pretty hard at this and it shows. I’m proud of you.”

  That made me smile; she said she was proud of me. Cindy really was a good friend. The regret I should have felt for turning away from her was never able to surface because she harbored no ill feelings towards me. Our friendship seemed to pick up where it left off.

  “I’ll be right back,” I said, and I went to my desk to get a trading card for her.

  “Oh, my gosh, this is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!” she said. “Hershey, you have your own card!” Hershey looked at her with his head cocked to the side, and then he stood up to stretch out his legs and rubbed his cheeks against her knees. She gave his head a stroke then stood up when we heard a car horn blow outside.

  “Brandon’s here,” she said, “are you ready to go?”

  “Yes, I am,” I said.

  “But, where’s your purse?” she asked.

  I didn’t have a purse; I’d never needed one before.

  “I don’t have one Cindy, but I have money in my pocket.” She looked surprised, yet not surprised, at the same time.

  “Okay, then let’s hit the mall!” she said.

  The ride to the mall was fun but very loud. Brandon loved to crank his stereo to the max! My ears were still ringing when we walked through the entrance, and then I was hit with what was to me the signature scent of the mall, cinnamon rolls! Immediately my mouth started to water. Whenever Mom and I came here shopping, I would smell the cinnamon rolls and wish I could have one, but we never went to the food court. I was hoping that today, my friends and I would sit in the food court and I would get myself one of those sinful rolls.

  We did a lot of window shopping, stopping to look at outfits on mannequins and commenting on whether we’d be caught dead in them or not. Brandon had a shoe fetish. We had to go into every shoe store and look at all the gym shoes. He tried on a pair that cost $120, and I could not get over the price. What would make someone pay that much money for a pair of shoes?

  “I’m going to buy these with my first paycheck.” he declared.

  “That’s great, Brandon, but first you need a job,” Cindy joked.

  “Ha, ha,” he joked back.

  We walked past a drug store and I stopped in front of it. Brandon and Cindy kept walking, but turned to
look back at me when I didn’t respond to something they said.

  “What’s up, Ellen?” Cindy asked.

  “Cindy, do you think you could help me pick out some makeup?”

  I had decided it was about time I tried wearing makeup. Perhaps I should invest in a purse as well!

  “Sure!” Cindy seemed excited at the idea, but Brandon groaned.

  “That’s my cue! I’ll meet you guys later. I’m going to look at the shoes at Foot Locker,” he said as he walked off.

  Cindy ushered me straight to the makeup aisles. She studied my face for a moment, and started to pull items off the rack.

  “Purple hues would look great with your dark hair and brown eyes,” she said. “And your skin is so flawless that you don’t need any cover up. I would suggest an eye liner, mascara, and some eye shadow.” I tallied up the prices in my head, darn near $20 for makeup! Are you kidding me?

  She suggested I buy a tweezers and said she would show me how to pluck my eyebrows to enhance my eyes. She also grabbed a bottle of pale pink nail polish. “I think nails painted a subtle color look best,” she said.

  I went with her suggestions and we headed for the checkout line. We giggled like little girls at the outrageous rag magazine headlines. I was so content and having such a great time that I didn’t pay attention to who was around, but as the line got shorter and we got closer to the clerk, I realized what a mistake I had made. Darcel was the checkout clerk.

  “Um, Cindy, let’s put this stuff back and I’ll go somewhere else at another time to get it,” I said, trying to escape the inevitable.

  “What? No! Why?” she asked before she saw Darcel. When she saw her, a look of awareness crossed her face.

  “Oh, I see,” she said, and she leaned close to me. “Didn’t you just stand up to her last week? If I’m not mistaken, you told her she had just started world war three.” She was right; I did do all of that. But that was during a moment of inner strength that I did not have anymore.

  “Ellen, she is at work, and she would lose her job if she did anything to offend a customer.” She winked at me. “You could really mess with her right now.”

  Despite how cowardly I felt, I remained in line until we were next.

  “Did you find everything okay?” Darcel asked without even looking up. She didn’t seem to really want to be at work, she looked bored and uninterested.

  “Yes we did,” Cindy blurted in reply, and the sound of her voice made Darcel look up. The shock on her face was priceless. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She looked from Cindy to me, and then began scanning my items while an angry red blush came over her cheeks. After she totaled my items, she had the nerve to snidely ask me, “Would you like a candy bar today?”

  Maybe it was her job to push products on customers, maybe it was a remark aimed at me specifically. I wasn’t sure which it was. All I was sure of was that I had declared war and I had to follow through with my threat.

  “No, thank you. Chocolate gives you pimples, but I’m sure you already know that,” I said.

  Darcel blushed even deeper and heatedly announced my total. Knowing I had won this round, I grinned and handed over the money. Once she gave me my change, I told her, “Have a nice day.” She ignored me.

  Cindy was laughing like a banshee as we exited the store. “That was awesome, Ellen!” she said, but inside I felt guilty. I wasn’t proud of what I had done. I kind of wanted to go back in and apologize, but I couldn’t. Cindy thought it was hysterical. When we met up with Brandon, she told him what had happened and he high-fived me.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The last month of summer was a busy month for me. Hershey and I visited Janet weekly and she and I had many long talks. She shared some of her life story with me, and her life had been difficult. She reminded me of my mom, a single mother raising her child and doing the best she could with the little she had. She was not able to go to college after high school, so she worked in factories most of her life.

  “Ellen,” she said, “make sure you get a college education. It is so important to have a job you like and a college degree is the only way to achieve it. Driving a bus or working at McDonalds will not pay the bills.”

  I told her that I had not even thought about what I wanted to do with my life yet. All I really knew was that I loved animals.

  “You’re going to be a junior next year, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Junior year is an important year. You will need to look into scholarships and colleges. Sit down with your guidance counselor and get some advice from him or her.”

  Janet’s nurses told me that her mood had improved dramatically since Hershey and I started visiting her. She seemed to have a renewed desire to recover quickly, which made me feel like I was doing the right thing.

  Brandon, Cindy, Sarah, Margaret, and I had spent a lot of time together as well. Brandon got a job, of all places, at a shoe store! When he and I weren’t working, we would go to movies, to the lakefront, or to the mall. I eventually bought myself a purse and Brandon got his $120 shoes!

  There were a few times when Cindy and the others weren’t available, leaving me alone with Brandon. Those were my favorite times. I was still attracted to Brandon, but our friendship was so special that I was content pushing my romantic feelings aside. It was better to have him in my life as a friend than to admire him from afar and never get to know the wonderful person inside of him.

  One afternoon in late August, we were floating on air mattresses in Cindy’s pool and sunning ourselves. Looking up at the clouds was so peaceful. It cleared my mind and made me think about the future.

  “Do you guys have any ideas about what you’re going to do after high school?” I asked.

  “No, not really,” Brandon said, “but I do like the idea of becoming a police officer or a fire fighter.”

  “I think you’d look hot in a uniform Brandon,” Cindy joked.

  Brandon tilted his head to the side, pretending to consider the idea, “Hmmm,” he said, “maybe that is the route I should take.”

  “I’m thinking about teaching,” Cindy said. “Definitely not high school-aged kids, but I do think teaching is my calling in life.”

  “Kids are annoying!” Brandon said.

  “You’re annoying!” Cindy replied as she splashed water at him.

  “If you find a big kid like me annoying, how will you deal with little kids?” he asked.

  “Oh, just shut up!” she said. “What about you Ellen?”

  “Well, I’ve been thinking about that for a while now. Someone I’m very fond of told me that now’s the time for me to start planning for a future career.” I said.

  “And just what is it you want to do?” Brandon asked.

  “The more I think about it, the more I realize that I enjoy animals more than people, no offense to you guys. I’ve never had any good experiences with people, aside from the two of you. Animals are not judgmental and they give their love unconditionally. I know I don’t have the means to go to veterinary school, but I might look into other avenues in the field. The woman I work with is actually a veterinary technologist, and I would like to talk to her about it.”

  “Well, I think that’s a great job for you, Ellen,” Cindy said. “You are so good with Hershey.”

  “Yes, Ellen, you have a passion for animals,” Brandon said. “I would definitely trust any of my pets in your care.”

  We got off of the serious subject of our distant futures and started discussing the more immediate future. Brandon and Cindy really wanted to go skating that night. I tried in vain to persuade them into another direction. I did not want to go roller skating because the roller rink was the biggest hangout for kids our age and I did not fit in, nor had I ever worn roller skates before. I kept envisioning myself falling flat on my already beaten face and I could hear the peals of laughter. The mere thought of it put me in panic mode.

  Brandon got off his air mattress and announced that he was going home to take a
shower and change clothes. Cindy agreed and hopped off her mattress. I froze in place, trying to come up with an excuse.

  “Why don’t you guys just go without me? I have to do some training with Hershey tonight.” Lame! I knew it was a bad excuse, but it was all I could come up in the millisecond I had to think.

  “Oh, come on, Ellen! You can train Hershey tomorrow. We want you to come along,” Cindy scolded me.

  “I’m going to be at your house in an hour and a half whether you’re ready or not, so it’s in your best interest to get ready!” Brandon said. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

  “I can walk, Brandon, I only live a few blocks away!” I said in annoyance.

  “I’m going in your direction, anyway, so let me drive you the few blocks to your house.” he said in a stern tone.

  “Whatever,” I said, rolling my eyes and climbing out of the pool.

  Brandon drove me to my house and pulled in my driveway, but before I could hop out of the car he said, “Ellen, I haven’t been to the skating rink in years. The last time I was there I was verbally attacked by a group of guys calling me ‘the queer boy.’ I went berserk and broke one guy’s nose. My parents got sued over that.” He looked remorseful. “I don’t know what your fear is, but my friendship with you and Cindy has given me the self-esteem and strength to stand up to my bullies, hopefully without resorting to physical violence. I would like to think our friendship has done that for you as well.”

  “So tonight is a test?” I asked him.

  “No, tonight is just a night of friends going out and spending time doing something fun together,” he replied.

  I put my hand on his knee and said, “Okay, pick me up in an hour or so. I’ll be ready.”

  His eyes were trained on my hand on his knee, and when he looked up at me, he smiled with his eyes twinkling. He put his hand on top of mine. “Thank you, Ellen. I promise you this will be fun.”

  Fun for who? I thought as I opened the car door.

  When I walked through the door, Mom was standing in the kitchen holding Hershey in her arms. He jumped out of her hold and raced to me when he saw me. He rubbed my legs and meowed at me.