Welcome to Shady Hills
A/N: Thank you so much for reading. This is my breakthrough back into writing on Tumblr. As a retired fangirl (you can read that work at @brianc521) I'm ready to go back to my days of creating little stories. Please let me know if there is any scenes you'd like to read.
Soft. Fuzzy. Grey.
His cute small ears pop up out of the hot pink hand towel he’s wrapped in. He’s squirming around in the older woman’s arms while he lets out the softest high pitched meow you’ve ever heard. The older woman hands him over to Sailor, trying to make sure she navigates his back feet trying to push they’re hands away. Sailor takes hold and just gushes over how he is the size of her hand. He’s got her wrapped around his tail already and he doesn’t even know it.
Sailors cheeks feel a pull. There’s a smile that’s been missing from her face pulling up at the corner of her lips. She looks at the older lady who’s just watching this encounter knowing that Sailor was the perfect owner for this newly available kitten. She’s half tempted to let Sailor have him for free. She can just tell, in a weird way, that this girl needs this kitten. But alas, bills won’t pay themselves.
“You said $50?” Sailor confirms, eyebrows scrunched as she digs a hand into the front pocket of her sweatshirt for the cash. “Here.” She says handing the older woman the money, who counts it discreetly as Sailor settles her new kitten against her chest. “Thank you so much, I love him.”
“He loves you.” The woman says, and with the way she says it you can tell she really means it. She takes a step up onto the curb of the sidewalk behind her as Sailor climbs into her pickup truck. The woman tilts her head and gives a gentle wave as Sailor smiles at her before putting the truck in reverse to leave.
In the truck that’s now turning right out of this woman's apartment complex and back onto the main road sits the redheaded girl, still wearing that smile. Her new kitten sits next to her on the bench seat of the cab scared out of his fur. He’s still wrapped in the dreadful pink towel still shivering from his quick bath.
“We’ll name you Odie,” Sailor giggles, reaching over to scratch the top of his head. He stares at her with his blue grey eyes, almost as if he understands her and wants to know more. “I know you’re not a dog,” She shakes her head as she focuses back on the road, “But Garfield back home is going to love you. He needs a sibling and I think you’ll be perfect.”
She suddenly then sees the smile on her face as she checks her rearview mirror. It took a moment for her brain to register that it’s still her in the mirror. It had been such a taxing previous year, and the start to this one isn’t looking much better.
Her Grandpa’s passing still sits heavy in her heart everyday. Each morning is the same battle of finding the will to get out of bed. From there it’s taking things minute by minute as she gets ready for the day ahead. Knowing that she’ll have to face Letta at the store and act as if nothing is wrong.
It doesn’t help her grief and sadness to watch Garfield. He knows Grandpa’s gone too. Which is why she thinks he’s so gloomy all the time. There might also be the fact that this is Garfield number three. She wonders if he knows, if the wisdom and knowledge of the other two was passed along and he knows that he’s not the original. That he’s just another because her Grandpa couldn’t let go of the name.
She didn’t have the heart to change his name either. She feels like he could, he’s still pretty young, just about a year old now. She just can’t bring herself to call him anything other than Garfield. So when she saw the listing on facebook, shared by an old schoolmate, for “Kittens available tonight!” She found herself cranking up the truck and taking the small drive for a cat for her cat. So rightfully, the name Odie comes as the companion to her Garfield.
Garfield was her favorite part of the paper when she was a child. She still gets the paper delivered to the house, and just recently she’d taken to being able to bring it in and set it at the same spot her Grandfather used to sit. She can still smell the distinct smell of newspaper, mixed with the scent of black coffee. Or feel the touch of the soft paper on her fingertips. Every morning it’s on the porch as it always is, but she hasn’t actually touched the paper itself since he passed, just the plastic bag it comes in. It shocks her still that it arrives, they printed his obituary over five months ago and it’s his subscription that is in use to have it delivered.
Every morning she can recall coming down the wooden steps of the home she shared with her Grandfather and occasionally her Mother. Only when her mom was in trouble or putting a facade on for a new boytoy about how great of a mother she is. Fateful and true, like her father with his paper at the kitchen table every morning, her mother would come around for a few days with endless promises that were always broken. In an attempt to impress her Grandfather in her young age she remembers the first morning she picked up the paper. It was a section he hadn’t gotten to yet, so she opened it up. It was almost as tall as she was and she couldn’t understand how grown ups read this whole thing so fast, until her eyes danced across the black and white letters and landed on the comic strip at the top. It became routine then. She’d sip her glass of milk at the same time he sipped his coffee and she’d giggle away at what Garfield had gotten up to that day while her Grandfather worried over the news on the front page.
Her love for Garfield continued to grow when she turned 8. Her Grandfather had rented the Garfield movie. Voiced by Bill Murray and accompanied by Brekin Meyer she fell more in love with that fat orange cat. Her Grandpa ended up just buying the movie from the local Blockbuster because he couldn’t dare ask her to give it back. It soothed her in the moments she needed.
Looking back now it feels silly. To think that movie, of all the movies in the world, was the one that soothed her on the nights where her mother caused her heartbreak.
The tale of her own Garfield goes like this. In an attempt to cheer her up after her mother had missed yet another fair, he took Sailor to the towns local market. They had walked up and down the streets of their small town, saying good morning and hello to their neighbors and friends. Eddie, her Grandfather, worked to try and keep her distracted as they passed a booth with a sign that read “Kittens for Sale!”. Sailor had seen that sign from the top of the block and was not about to miss out on the opportunity to see the kittens. She pulled on her Grandpa’s arm towards the both, begging to just take a quick look.
When they walked up to the booth Kristen gave them a sympathetic smile as she rounded the table to greet them. Kristen was the local veterinarian. She had lived in Shady Hills just as long as Eddie had. She was close with his late wife and a good family friend.
“Good morning Ed, hi Sailor.” She said, “Hey Sailor, I’ve got some eight week old kittens in that pen over there. Why don’t you go say hi, they need a good playin’.” She pointed to the end of her booth where one of the nurses from her clinic was filling up water dishes.
Eddie watched as Sailor went rushing off the kittens, he smiled as she was careful to not step on them. He then looked back to Kristen who again, held the same sympathetic look on her face as did everyone else this morning. It was a look Sailor was noticing, now at the age of 10. She had overheard the whispers in Ronnie’s coffee shop when they stopped for a drink. Everyone in town, including her, knew that it was her mother who had spent the night in the drunk tank at the jail. Which told her that the phone call that they had gotten in the middle of the night was probably her mother. Which meant she was calling to be bailed out, and when Grandpa said the last time was the last time, he meant it since the call went unanswered.
“How’s the morning Krissie?” Eddie asked, looking back over to Sailor for a moment.
“I’m guessing mines better than yours,” Kristen sighed, bumping her shoulder into Eddie’s. “Hannah make it home this morning?” She asked in a lower tone.
“I’m not sure,” Eddie gruffed out, “She’s an adult. She makes the decisions in her life, she has to deal with the consequences. Bailing her out only tells her that it’s not a big deal to go to jail. So she wasted her call on me.”
Kristen just stared at Eddie before responding. She was trying to be sensitive to the subject but could tell it was taking a toll on Eddie. It can’t be easy having to allow your child to fail for their well being. “You’re right, but it’s not fair what she’s doing to you.”
“No no,” Eddie shook his head. “It has nothing to do with me. It’s not fair what she’s doing to Sailor. That’s her mother you know? She doesn’t get another one. She’s just stuck with this old man of hers who doesn’t get around as good as he used to.” He shrugged looking down at himself. “And you know, she’s sad all the time. I worry about her not smiling enough. So I try like hell to get her attitude lifted back up but there is only so much I can do.”
“You’re doing fantastic,” Kristen puts a hand to his shoulder, “She’d be proud of you, you know.” She had that knowing look in her eye. Kristen was one of the few left in town that knew of Martha. Martha was a doting mother who was a part of the PTA and helped lead the HOA of the neighborhood. She was loved and cherished by this community. So when a drunk driver took her from Eddie and Hannah, and the town. Everything was in a standstill, shut down, for three days.
“I hope so.” Eddie choked out. Still to this day speaking of Martha is a sore subject.
“Hey Grandpa!” Sailor called out, waving him over. “Come look.”
Eddie shot Kristen a look. He knew that that meant she found a kitten she liked and that he’d most likely be making a stop on the way home to pick up litter and a scoop. He nodded at Kristen and headed over to the pen where Sailor was seated in the corner.
He stopped short when she looked up with a smile. The brightest smile he’d seen on her face in months, maybe even a year. She looked like her Mom. Like her Grandma and it made his heart swell. She looked down into her lap and that’s when he noticed. There, curled up in a ball and purring away, was an orange cat.
“He looks like Garfield!” She softly exclaimed.
And that’s how the tale of the Garfields started.
Looking over now, blinking out of her memory from her first cat, she sees her brand new kitten now sleeping in the towel. She’s not far from home, and since he now looks so cozy she decides to take a detour. She just wants to drive by the store to make sure everything is okay. The alarm system is still sitting in a box on her desk, yet to be installed, so she likes to take the extra two minutes and thirty eight seconds to drive by the store on her way home.
Not that she’s worried about intruders or robberies. Shady Hills is a small community that looks after each other. Her grandparents had lived here as kids, got married and had kids here. Had grandkids here. Everyone knew her and they knew what she looked like when she got braces and her first zit in the same week.
She rounds the corner and hums along to the radio, softly, to make sure she doesn’t wake Odie. Slowing a few miles, she starts to pass the store. Everything looks just as she left it the day before. Except for the yellow paper taped to the front door. She knew that was from Ken. She rolled her eyes, Ken should know that she’s closed on Sunday’s.
Ken’s her attorney, who’s working with her in this small battle against her mother. It’s ridiculous that at the age of 25 she’s fighting with her mother like this. It’s her mothers doing, that’s caused all this drama. Hannah Hartley, now Hannah Wellington was fit to be tied that her father left all of his assets to her daughter. To Hannah, Sailor was ‘just a child’ and ‘couldn’t handle the responsibility’. When in reality everyone knows Hannah just wants the money to drink away.
Sailor blinks out of the thought, pushing it out of her mind. Nope. Sunday’s were her day off. From everything, including her feelings towards her mother. As she goes to speed back up the road she notices that the shop across the street from the store has its lights on. Which was odd because Sal from Sal’s Bait and Tackle had been gone months before her Grandfather. Neither of his sons wanted to take over the store, so it had been shut down. It was an empty memory to this town as it sit in the dark. She stares into the window as a younger man walks by carrying a box. He’s new, not someone she’s seen before. He has dark hair tucked under a backwards baseball cap and a red and black flannel on. He’s wearing cargo shorts and work boots, which is an odd combination she thinks to herself.
She notices, finally, how creepy she must look when his eyes cut over to her through the window. It’s then that she speeds up and curses herself for how odd the whole moment was.
Odie lets out a soft meow and she nods to him. “I know Buddy, we’re almost home.”
She looks into her rearview mirror and catches a glimpse of the glow in the street from Sal’s. It seems she has a new neighbor across the street.
And he’s kind of cute. Before she knows it, she’s smiling about that too.
