Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

A New Friend

Elmwood Springs, Missouri

1978

The next day, Aunt Elner’s friend, Merle, brought over a couple of old mattresses and a hideous brown sofa that Dena had bought at the Goodwill store out on the highway just so she’d have something to sleep on and sit on until she figured out what all she wanted to put in the house. She borrowed some sheets and a few pillows from Norma’s linen closet. After Merle left, Dena walked down to the grocery store and bought coffee, cream, milk, eggs, and a few frozen dinners, and came home and wandered around the house. Beverly had left her a coffee pot, a box of cornflakes, and some bananas. Dena found a bucket and Octagon soap under the sink and started cleaning the venetian blinds. They were in perfect shape and still had the original plastic bell-like pulls on the ends of their thick cords. While she was cleaning, she looked up and saw a black-and-white cat sitting in the window glaring at her. Dena walked to the front door and opened it and the cat shot by her into the house, like a person trying to get the best seat in a crowded bus. There was a green, tin wastebasket with a picture of a cocker spaniel on it in the living room that had tipped over, and the cat ran over and curled up inside of it and went right to sleep, highly indignant that it had to wait so long to get in the house. Dena was a little afraid of it and left it alone.

A few minutes past three, Dena heard a knock on her door. “Yoo-hoo.” Dena saw a tiny woman of about sixty-five standing at the door. “I’m Tot, your next-door neighbor. I’m not going to bother you. I’m just going to drop this off and run. I know you are busy.”

Dena opened the screen door. “I’m not busy. Was just doing a little cleaning; please come in.”

“Well, I’ll just stick this in the kitchen for you. I figured you might not want to go out so I brought you this just to have in case you get hungry. I know you have a bad stomach so I made you a cream-chicken-noodle ring. If you need anything, anything at all, just holler.” Tot was in the kitchen by now and was putting the food in the refrigerator. “Just heat it up a little when you’re hungry. I’m not going to bother you, I promise, but I just wanted you to know that we’re right next door.” As she walked back through the house she looked in the living room. “Oh, I see B.T. is here.” She laughed. “That’s one of my crazy cats. I hope she’s not a bother. She doesn’t like everybody but she seems to have taken a liking to you. That’s good luck, you know, but if she gets in your way just throw her out. But I can tell you right now it won’t do a bit of good. I hope you like this house, it’s a friendly old place.” Tot was at the door. “I just hated to see it standing here empty. Anna Lee and her husband had to move to Arizona.”

Finally Dena got a word in. “Yes, I heard.”

“All the neighbors are thrilled you are here and we’re not going to bother you. You don’t remember me but I remember you when you were just a tiny thing. Well, come over if you need anything.”

Dena watched as Tot walked back to her house. Then she went into the sunroom and went back to the blinds. She opened them and she could see the outline of the round rug that used to be on the floor and evidently a sofa. At about six-thirty, she was tired. She went out in the yard and sat in the swing and watched the sun go down over the field. When she came back in, she remembered the casserole, turned on the oven and heated it up, and ate almost the entire thing.

As she sat at the table she noticed how quiet it was in the kitchen. All she could hear was the ticking of the clock on the stove. When she felt something under the table brush against her leg, she almost jumped out of her skin. She looked down and saw the cat, rubbing back and forth on her leg, looking up at her and meowing. Dena said, “Good God, cat—you better go home.” She went to the back door and opened it. “Go on, kitty, go on home, go on …” The cat just looked at her. Dena stood there with the door open but the cat would not budge. Finally, Dena closed the door and sat back down and tried to finish eating but the cat kept staring at her and meowing so Dena gave the cat what was left. After the cat ate, Dena opened the door again. “Don’t you have to go to the bathroom or something?” But the cat cleaned its paws and ignored her.

Dena walked around the house turning on all the lights. The four milk-glass shades of the little brass chandelier in the dining room had turned slightly yellow with age and gave off the most beautiful glow. The dining room had a bay window with white sheer swag curtains that looked pretty at night. She walked from room to room thinking about furniture she might put in them. It was so quiet. After a while she went out on the front porch and sat in the swing. The cat appeared at the front door and pushed her way out and went down the stairs and into the yard. A few minutes later the cat came back and sat on the porch with Dena. It was a warm and balmy evening but a small breeze kept the air moving and she could smell the flowers that were just starting to bloom on the side of the house. A few cars drove by; other than that, there was no activity.

At about eleven o’clock she and the cat went inside. She went in the bathroom and ran the water for a bath. The deep white tub had a round white rubber stopper on a beaded metal chain. It took a long time to fill up and when she got in and sat down, the water was almost up to her neck and she had to laugh. It was like getting into a small swimming pool. After her bath she went into the bedroom and took her nightgown out of the chest of drawers. It had picked up just a slight aroma of talcum powder. She bent down to pull her bed covers back. The cat jumped up on the bed and crawled under the sheet. A minute later, she felt something pushing at her arm and heard the cat purring away, happy and contented to have her for a bed partner. She reached over and petted it. She had not slept with a cat since that night so many years ago at her mother’s friend Christine’s apartment, when Christine’s cat, Milton, had slept beside her in the living room. It felt good.