Oops.I kept forgetting just how differently humans and cats viewed the world when it came to certain matters. Honestly, I should’ve known better on this one.
The coffee finished brewing, and I had to use a spoon to fish out the long, striped cat hair that had landed in my brew. I never should have initiated this conversation without a full cup of caffeine already buzzing through my system.
Unfortunately, since I’d started on this topic, I now needed to finish it. “It’s a minimally invasive surgery, especially for male cats.”
Merlin popped back onto his feet, but his hackles were still raised.“If it’s such an easy surgery, then why don’t you have it?”
“It’s not exactly the same for humans. Besides, I may want kids one day.”
Merlin became Halloween cat again. Yup, I definitely wasn’t winning any points with him this morning. “And you don’t think Luna and I would like to pass our love down to the next generation? Besides, if you’ll recall, I’m the last living descendant of the original Merlin. I can’t let such an important magical bloodline die with me.”
“But what about the shelter cats?” I whimpered pathetically.
“Look, heart to heart here. Luna has already lost her magic. Don’t take motherhood away from her, too.”
I raised an eyebrow, then took a careful sip from my mug. And still wound up with cat hair in my mouth.Gross!
The cat sighed.“Again your sense of morality confounds me. Still, if the shelter cats are so important to you, we’ll find a way to help them. There’s plenty of room in Nocturna. You get them here, and I can get them there.”
“You promise?” I took another swig of my morning java.
“If that’s what it takes to maintain peace in my home while also keeping my privates intact, then I agree.” He came to the edge of the counter with his tail raised amicably, and I patted him softly on the head.
“Thank you. While we’re talking openly about this, I do think you and Luna should wait to start your family.”
“Why? We’re already a bonded pair. Cats don’t need a piece of paper telling us what we know to be true in our hearts.”
“Be that as it may, we’re kind of dealing with a lot right now. With the ghost. And we both know Dash will be back before too long. It just doesn’t seem like the right time to bring a child—or, um, litter—into the world.”
“Fair point. Now are you done with this strange heart to heart? Because I am very, very done.”
I flushed.“Yes, sorry.”
“I mean, you didn’t even ask about the ghost. After all the work we put in. You went straight to talking about my privates.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. Now can we please stop talking about your privates?”
He shrugged.“If you don’t want to talk about something, then don’t start the conversation.”
“Sorry, sorry, sorry. Now tell me about the ghost,” I practically begged.
Merlin arched his back again, but this time in a stretch. He then jumped over to the table and waited for me to join him.“Well…” he began.
16
I hated when Merlin drew things out like this.“Well, what? Did we catch our ghost?” I demanded, and then realized something else strange about that morning. “Hey, where’s Luna by the way?”
I almost never saw the cats apart from one another. Each morning when I woke up, they were together and basking in the glow of their new love.
Merlin sniffed at the air before responding to my questions.“Luna is out on a morning stroll. She said she needed some time to herself. From the smell of it, she’s about two blocks out and making her return to us now.”
Time to herself? Hmm. Did this mean trouble in paradise? The cats had already gone from lovers to bitter rivals and back to lovers again. I was beginning to think I had the Ross and Rachel of felines on my hands. They better not plan on taking a break any time soon, because I was so not prepared to deal with that!
I kept this all to myself, of course. Merlin and I had just been discussing family planning, and that hadn’t gone over well. At all. I needed to resist the urge to play the role of therapist here. Those two were far more experienced in matters of the heart than I was, anyway.
When I didn’t say anything in response to his news of Luna, Merlin continued on. This time telling me about the ghost. “It didn’t come,” he said with a bored yawn. “Luna and I waited all night, and that rotten ghost didn’t even have the courtesy to drop in for a hello.”
I gripped both hands around my coffee mug and sighed.
“That’s a good thing, right? I mean, we don’t actually want the ghost to be here.”
“If it came here once, you can bet it will come again. By not returning last night, it’s just drawing things out for everyone, and that irritates me.” He flicked his tail to punctuate this remark.
“Maybe she knows we set a trap for her?” That would keep me away. Maybe it was stopping Virginia from returning as well.
“Maybe,” he answered pensively. “I don’t really know much about it. But I would assume she wouldn’t know about the potion until she began to materialize, and by then, it would be too late.” He had a point. There was so much we didn’t know when it came to our baby ghost, and that made this whole thing so much harder.
The cat door flapped open noisily, and Luna came trotting inside.
“How was your walk, my love?” Merlin asked, then hopped down from the table to rub his face against hers. It was the scene with the coffeemaker all over again. Well, at least Luna was already covered in cat hair.
“It was nice to get some fresh air while I thought about why Virginia failed to visit us again last night,” the white cat answered promptly.
Ah, so I’d been totally wrong about the whole trouble in paradise thing. I was glad I hadn’t pushed the issue. I really needed to butt out of my cats’ relationship and let them handle things for themselves. Lesson learned.
“You need to stop blaming yourself,” Merlin said softly.
They both jumped up on the table to reengage me in the discussion.
“Tell him, Gracie,” Luna begged, her blue eyes fraught with remorse. “Virginia was my familiar. I chose her. I failed to see that she had been corrupted. It’s all my fault.”
I reached out to stroke her back.“Merlin’s right. You really can’t blame yourself. Bad things happen to good people—um, cats—sometimes. That’s just the way of life.”
“Well, then life sucks,” she said with a sniff.
“Sometimes,” I agreed. “But you have a lot to be grateful for. Why, just this morning Merlin—” I stopped short. I was doing it again, interfering in their relationship. “Told me how lucky he is to have you.”
The Maine Coon winked at me, and Luna appeared to relax somewhat.
“What conclusions did you reach on your walk? Why didn’t Virginia visit us?” I prompted when I grew tired of the extended silence. That was the thing about talking with cats. They were huge fans of the dramatic pause. They also had no sense of urgency, meaning simple conversations could draw out for hours if I didn’t help to push them along.
“Maybe the ghost wasn’t Virginia,” Luna said. “Maybe it wasn’t even here for us at all, but rather for the house.”
“That’s an interesting theory,” I said slowly, even though I 100% disagreed with her assessment.
“If it’s Virginia, we’re prepared with our potion. If it’s not, then we have nothing to fear,” Merlin summarized.
“Yes, I suppose that’s right,” I said, taking another sip of my coffee. It was now dangerously close to room temperature, so I chugged it down fast and then rose to make a fresh cup.
“Anything else we should do about this now?” I asked while I sifted through my bucket of multi-flavored K-cups and selected a nice French roast.