Ghost Cat - Thelma's Dilemma (13 page)

Jim pulled over to
the side of the expressway and got out, telling everyone else to
stay inside. He looked around and checked his map. He fooled around
with his cell phone for a moment and then got back into the car and
drove another 20 feet and then stopped the car again. “This is it.”
He announced.

Sarah and Jim got
out of the van, told the girls to stay inside and then Sarah asked
Mrs. Johnson if she felt the need to stretch her legs or anything.
Adela said “Just throw the old witch away and I will be ready to go
home.”

Cooper jumped out of
the car and Thelma and Ophelia slid out of the tarp and down the
backside of the van to the ground.

“I guess we should
say some words, Jim.” Sarah said.

“
Oh trust me,
I have plenty of words to say about this trip!” Jim said, putting
down the urn with the ashes in it on a rock.

“
But still, it
is not Gertie’s fault, well, yeah, maybe it is, making us guardians
of first the trunk and then the ashes. Why didn’t Donald give us
the urn when we were here the first time? Why wait until weeks
later and then make us come back here for the urn?” Sarah asked,
pulling her coat up around her ears to ward off some of the heavy
snow which was coming down hard.

“
I asked
Donald that when I talked to him yesterday morning on the phone. He
said that is the way Gertie told him to do it. I know she was a
nice lady, Sarah, and I know that the girls really liked her, but
apparently she was batshit crazy!”

“
She was one
hundred and three years old, Jim, we will be a bit confused
ourselves if we get to live that long.”

It was then
that everything seemed to happen at once. The sun was shining
brightly although the snow was coming down hard.
A horrible gust of wind came out of nowhere and
Jim grabbed Sarah and held her head to his chest to ward off the
strong wind and biting ice rain. Everything looked blue and then
for a second Jim thought he saw a flash of red. Sarah and Jim
closed their eyes tightly. In the van, Mrs. Johnson had fallen
asleep and Riley had put her earphones on her head and was playing
a video game on her kindle. Only Suzanne was watching everything
that was taking place outside the van.

The boulders
opened and Thelma and Ophelia, in human form now, ran for the
opening. Cooper barked and when Thelma turned around to make sure
he did not follow them, Cooper nudged the urn hard with his nose
and knocked it off of the rock
, making it roll down the hill, right to Thelma’s feet. She
smiled and waved and then the scene changed as suddenly as it had
when the gust of wind first started blowing.

Jim guided Sarah
back to the van and Cooper jumped in. The temperature outside of
the van had made them so cold that all they could think about was
to put their hands up to the warmth of the heater.

Riley finally
looked up from her video game. “Can we go home now?”
she asked.

“
Most
definitely!” Sarah and Jim said in unison
; neither one even thinking about how they had just
left the urn on the rock. They were totally exhausted and their new
and only mission now was to get home safely.

Only Cooper
and Suzanne were looking out the window at the area they were now
leaving. Suzanne had a little tear in her eye and as she looked at
her little puppy, she could see one on his cheek as well. “Bye-bye”
she said.

I
thank you for spending this time with my favorite characters. I
also hope you have enjoyed reading Ghost Cat and will leave a
review on Amazon
or where purchased.

Please check out my website
http://www.carolcolbert.com