Alone (2 page)

He sauntered down the hall to the kitchen where he prepared breakfast. He made a cheese omelet and toast and fried a couple pieces of bacon. While this was cooking, he fixed a pot of strong coffee and poured a small glass of orange juice. He carried his food to the dining room, stopping to say hello to Jason, his Irish setter and Princess Snowball, his wife’s cat on the way. Jason was delighted to see him and whined and wagged as he approached. Both animals had beds in the laundry room. Jason’s was on the floor and Princess Snowball had a fluffy pillow on a shelf above the washing machine.

“Jason, old buddy. How are you doing, boy?” He said as he bent to ruffle the dog’s fur.

Jason responded with renewed whining and wagging. His body twisted first this way and then that. His rear end seemed out of synch with his front. His tail went one way while his head and shoulders went another. His joy and excitement at seeing Ralph filled the small room. Her majesty, Princess Snowball declined to acknowledge his presence as usual. She looked regally around the room, anywhere but at Ralph. He gave them each fresh food and clean water. Together the three of them ate breakfast and prepared to face the day.

When breakfast was finished, Ralph washed and dried the dishes he had dirtied. He returned the dishes to the cupboard. He watered his wife’s plants and then decided it was time to start his list of chores.

“Come on, Jason. Let’s go outside!” Ralph called as he opened the kitchen door into the yard.

Jason was a blur that brushed by and bounded into the yard. He raced around the house to see what new smells the morning brought. He barked joyfully to the air to announce his presence. Small woodland creatures, hearing the bark, froze and waited for the madly rushing dog to pass by. With a blur, he was gone and they slowly resumed their business. The bright summer sunshine was dappled across the yard. The sky was a brilliant blue with just a few wispy clouds dotted across it. Ralph breathed deeply of the fresh clean air and turned to look back into the house. He said ”Hey! Your Highness, are you coming out or not?”

Her majesty slowly and regally made her way across the kitchen, taking her time to show exactly who was the ruler of this kingdom and then pausing at the door to see if the grass was wet with dew. She slowly surveyed the yard outside as if she were looking to see if she would have an audience when she emerged. She saw no audience and she found that the grass was indeed wet with the dew. She decided that it would not be fitting someone of her stature to have wet paws. And with no one to enjoy her regal beauty, it wasn’t worth the trip outside. With a disdainful sniff, she retreated back to her royal pillow and curled up.

“It’s either go out now or spend the entire morning inside.” Ralph said, as he patiently held the door open.

Her majesty responded with a yawn and then promptly dismissed him as she began her daily cleansing.

“OK, but I’m not coming back until lunch.” Ralph said as he closed the door. “I swear that cat thinks the world was made for her pleasure.” He glanced back into the house.

Her highness had already dismissed him and decided that what she really needed was a nap. She stretched and arched her back and then settled down to get some beauty sleep. Ralph shook his head and walked out into the sunshine.

He had always been a dog person and could not understand why anyone would have a cat. Dogs loved you, cats tolerated you. He and the Princess had an uneasy truce. He stayed out of her way, gave her food and cleaned her litter box and she allowed him to reside in her royal palace. As long as he knew his place in the royal order of cats, she tolerated him. His wife adored the cat and laughed every time she snubbed Ralph. She then lavished loving praise on the cat. This just reinforced Snowball’s opinion of his status. Mandy had found the kitten several years ago while she was visiting Susan, a friend from church. Susan had suggested that Mandy might like a cat and had informed her that she just happened to have some kittens she was giving away. Together the two women had walked into the basement and as soon as Mandy saw the fluffy white ball of fur, she had fallen in love with it.

“Oh how adorable!” she exclaimed. She knelt down and picked up the small kitten. It mewed and sniffed her palm.

“Looks like you’ve found a friend.” Susan had said with a smile.

“She looks just like a snowball.” Mandy said.

From that time on the kitten had been called Snowball. Mandy had lavished the kitten with love. As the kitten matured, she became Mandy’s constant companion. She instantly disliked Jason and Ralph. When Ralph had tried to pet her, the small kitten had spat at him and then walked slowly away.

“Excuse me, your majesty.” Ralph had said. From that time on, the cat was called Princess Snowball.

Shaking his head, he started across the yard. The garage door hinges were rusted and the door was getting hard to open. Fixing that was number 1 on his list. With a whistle, he started to work. He cleaned the rusty hinges with a steel brush and then applied a good coat of lubricant. As he worked, his mind drifted away and his hands moved surely from chore to chore.

CHAPTER TWO

It was about 11:30 and he had made good headway on his list. He was trying to finish the list early and then have some time to loaf and rest. Maybe do a little fishing by the end of the week. He had run across his old fishing pole as he cleaned the garage. He had taken the time to try a few practice casts and the thought of sitting on the bank, tossing a line into the water seemed like just the kind of relaxation he needed. He gathered his fishing gear and set it aside. He promised himself that he would put them to use by weeks end. He finished the garage and headed out to spend some time doing yard work. He had been weeding the front flower gardens when he gradually became aware of how quiet it was. The birds were singing, the bees busily moving from flower to flower. All the normal sounds of nature were there, but something was missing. Slowly, Ralph straightened from kneeling on the ground. He stretched his back and gave a mighty yawn. Jason, hearing the noise, ran around the house from the backyard to investigate. Seeing nothing special, he stopped for a few quick pats and then headed back around the house.

“You better not be doing any digging back there.” Ralph called after the departing dog. Jason had stopped and looked back sheepishly as if to say “Now you tell me.” He looked at Ralph for a moment and then trotted around the house.

Ralph had spent part of the morning filling in holes that Jason had dug. It seemed like every time Jason picked something up, it ended up buried in the yard. Ralph had rescued several army men from shallow graves. He stood, stretched and then cocked his head slightly to one side, straining to listen. It dawned on him that he could hear no sounds from his neighbors. Thinking back, he realized that he had not heard a single car drive by this morning. He heard no kids playing. This was the start of summer vacation, the neighborhood kids should be out in force. Usually he had troops running across his lawn as they went from adventure to adventure. They searched for treasure in his woods and fought pirates behind his house. Sometimes it seemed as if every kid in the neighborhood played in his yard. He knew that some of his neighbors did not like the children on their property and ran them off if they were caught. Some houses were strictly off limits, like old Mrs. Weavers’.

Jane Weavers was a retired school teacher. Her husband, Earl had been a bank president. Earl had passed away several years ago and since then it seemed as if Jane retreated more and more from the world. She had a regular lawn crew that came by once a week to take care of her property. Her yard was always spotless and woe to the child that was caught stepping onto it. Every parent in the area had been called at least once by the irritable Mrs. Weavers when their child had been caught crossing the yard. The kids all called her house the “Forbidden Zone” They took great pleasure in sneaking around it. Sometimes it seemed to Ralph that Jane also took pleasure in trying to catch the children. It was as if it gave her a reason to go on. If a child successfully negotiated the hedges, gardens and trees, that child was king of the neighborhood, at least until the next attempt. If Mrs. Weavers caught the sneak, then she fairly glowed. Each successful crossing increased her diligence and each capture strengthened the resolve of the children to be the next one to make it thru “The Forbidden Zone.” The children had quickly learned that Tuesday afternoon was when Mrs. Weaver had her hair done. She wore her hair in the same style she always had, teased upright above her head. The kids waited until her car left and then romped and played on the immaculate lawn. They were very careful not to walk into the flower beds and they never hurt anything. During the summers, they would pick wildflowers from a nearby field and pile them in front of Mrs. Weavers’ door as a sign that they had been in the “Forbidden Zone.” When she returned, the kids would scatter and she would glare around as she picked up the flowers and took them into her house. Ralph had seen her place the flowers in a vase and Ralph knew that she enjoyed the attention the children gave her.

However today, quiet covered the land. No epic battles were taking place and no princesses waited to be rescued from dragons. No council met to plan the next journey and no spies scurried around gathering information. Today, all was still.

He glanced uneasily around and then gazed up at the cloudless blue sky. Not a single contrail was visible. Come to think of it, he had not heard a single plane all day. Normally, the sounds of jets were an almost constant rumble in the sky. Small private planes buzzed by occasionally every day. It reminded him of the days following September 11, when all flights were grounded. A child of the sixties, he had never known a time when flight was a rare occurrence. He had grown up in the jet age and took it for granted. After September 11, the lack of planes in the air had provoked an uncomfortable crawling sensation in the hair on the back of his neck. It just didn’t feel normal for the sky to be so empty.

A cold chill crept down his back and goose bumps prickled his arms. Maybe something had happened. He looked at his watch, decided it was close enough to lunch time to take a break, and started across the yard toward the house. He gave a sharp whistle and Jason bounded around the house to meet him. Together they went inside.

“Something doesn’t feel right out there.” Ralph said as he and Jason walked into the house.

Princess Snowball, from her royal bed, glared at them as if to say “How dare you awaken me.” She gave a yawn, stretched and then decided she needed a nap. In the kitchen, he added a little food into Jason’s bowl and checked her majesty’s dish. Jason gobbled his food and in seconds the dish was clean.

That was another of the differences between cats and dogs, Ralph thought. Dogs inhaled their food, regularly swallowing it in large chunks. Cats, on the other hand, ate sparingly and several times through out the day. At first, Jason had taken to eating all of the cat’s food and then eating all of his. The Princess had quickly stopped this by waiting in ambush near her food dish. She patiently waited until Jason romped into the room and headed straight for her bowl. When he bent his head to eat, she had sprung from her hiding place and landed squarely atop Jason’s head. The dog had given a cry of terror and tore thru the house. The cat had simply extended her claws, gotten a good grip and hung on. Jason yelps of fear had continued until Ralph had stopped his frantic running. As soon as her mount had stopped, her Highness had vaulted down from her steed and regally walked away. Jason, panting from fear had watched until the cat left the room. From that day on, he left her food alone. Ralph chuckled as he remembered the sight of the terrified dog, with the cat perched atop his head, tearing through the house as if he was being chased by a monster.

Ralph leaned over the sink and washed his hands. “Water pressure’s down a little.” He mumbled to himself. He made a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches, put a few pickles on the plate and headed into the living room. “Jason, let’s see what is happening in the world today.” he said as he turned on the TV. Sitting in his accustomed spot on the couch, he began to eat.

An old movie was playing when the picture came on; Ralph punched the channel number for a 24 hour news station into the remote. The picture changed to an empty desk on a set he recognized. No sound came from the TV. He laughed uneasily.

“Boy!” he said aloud. “Someone really messed up; they’ve got the camera on, but no one’s there.”

He waited, wondering how long it would take before someone realized their mistake. He assumed that a news story was supposed to be playing and the reporter had gone for coffee or a bathroom break. The local station was not nearly as sophisticated as the big national stations, and frequently made mistakes. He had seen this same type of error several times. He finished one sandwich and still the picture hadn’t changed. Again, goose bumps leapt across his arm. Something was going on here. He raised the remote and began flipping channels.

After 5 minutes of TV surfing, he had found that several stations were off the air, some were simply blank screens and a few were showing movie marathons. He turned the TV off and sat in the empty room. The second sandwich lay before him but the first was turning into a lump in his stomach. He glanced down at it, but he had lost his appetite. He held the sandwich out to Jason who gobbled it up with relish and looked around for anything else to eat.

“Jason, old boy.” he said at last “Now would be a good time to head to the hardware store and maybe pick up some groceries on the way home. How do you feel about a ride?” he said as he rose from the couch and carried his now empty plate into the kitchen.

Jason’s ears had perked up as soon as Ralph had began speaking and when he heard the word ride, he had jumped to his feet and pranced about in excitement. He gave several excited barks. Jason loved riding in cars and would jump in any chance he got. The water and electric company had soon realized that they needed to make sure their doors were closed when they came to read the meter. If they left the door open and walked to read the meter, when they returned to their truck, Jason would be waiting in the passenger seat, ready for a ride. Mandy had told him that Jason seemed to know when it was time for them, because he would lay under some bushes by the drive and wait. As soon as the meter reader left his or her vehicle, Jason would check the doors and if he found an open one, he was inside in a flash. One young girl had, upon returning to her vehicle discovered Jason and froze in terror. She had turned and ran for the house, where she began pounding on the front door, calling for help. Mandy, racing thru the house had listened to the crying girl and then trying her best to hide a smile, had walked over to the idling truck. There on the passenger seat, tongue hanging out, eyes shining in anticipation, sat Jason. She had gotten him out of the truck and that was the last time she saw that particular girl.