I-Spy, Spook and Seek - a cozy ghost story

Blackie opened one eye. Yes, he was still curled up on the rattan seat of his favourite chair in the outside seating area of the café. No, there were no customers nearby to disturb his calm. So what had woken him?

He yawned and stretched, his back legs sticking off the side of the chair. Opening both eyes now, he looked towards the road beyond the café. Sunshine streamed down as an old lady dressed all in black made her way slowly past. Maybe it was simply time to wake up.

No. There it was again. That feeling. Someone, somewhere was scared. Blackie knew about scared. He’d once been grabbed and put in a sack. He also knew how to help.

Shaking himself fully awake, he jumped down from the chair and trotted out to the sun-drenched street. He looked each way and decided. It was coming from the village square. Ignoring the human who had bent down and was making kissing noises – why did they do that? – Blackie set off at a run.

It didn’t take long. The feeling was coming from the place on the corner. The one with the flowers growing up one side and the board, with pictures on, hanging above the door. Where the big-haired lady lived. The one with the fish. Melani the other humans called her.

The humans didn’t like cats in the place where they made the food hot, but this was an emergency. Blackie jumped up to the windowsill at the side of the building, then up to the top of the open window. His tail twitched as it balanced him, then he was down and onto the surface below. He ignored the fresh fish (well, he only gave it the briefest of sniffs), jumped to the floor and ran through the open door to where stairs led upwards.

He had never been up those stairs. The fish lady made it very clear he was unwelcome there. But this was an emergency and normal rules didn’t apply. He raced up the stairs and into a room with a large wooden table in the middle and chairs all around.

He was just in time. She was sitting on one of the chairs, a piece of paper clutched in her hand. The other hand dropped slowly toward the ground and Blackie darted underneath it as it fell. The lady’s fingers twitched once when they came into contact with his back, then scooped him up and pulled him into her chest. The sound of his purr mingled with the sound of her sobbing.

He never knew what caused a human’s distress, just that they needed his help. Like always, the feeling of fear seemed to dissipate as she stroked him, and Blackie purred contentedly. However a sadness continued to hang over her, and Blackie sensed it would take more than his comforting presence to make that go away.

Melani spoke as she stroked. Blackie didn’t catch many of the words. “Leave”, “last”, “go”. The words the humans spoke were mostly a jumble of sounds, except when they were really excited. Which usually happened when he was somewhere they didn’t want him to be.

“I forgot.”

Woah, that wasn’t Melani. He’d almost jumped out of her arms when he heard those words but had managed to stop himself just in time. He looked up, toward the voice. An old man stood in the corner of the room, watching them. His eyes looked like they might start to leak at any moment. He was clearly in distress, but Blackie knew his powers could not help this one.

“I should have taken it with me,” he said. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

As he spoke, Blackie felt Melani shiver. She carefully placed Blackie on the ground, got up and left the room. Left him alone with the man. Blackie gazed at him, unsure what to do. Ordinarily, he would have run away. But the man didn’t feel like a threat. Not like the confused and rambling beings (looking human, though somehow less than human) that sometimes appeared in the village. They never stayed long, but all the cats were relieved whenever one finally disappeared.

He took a tentative step toward the man. He wondered who he was and why he had appeared in the lady’s room.

“I’m Uncle Theo,” the man said.

That was odd. Almost like he’d read Blackie’s mind.

The man chuckled. “Yes, it felt a bit like that for me, too.”

Blackie sat down, lifted a paw and started washing his face. It was an old trick, but a good one. The man, Uncle Theo, wouldn’t have a clue how surprised he was. Sure enough, the man turned and started looking intently at a cupboard standing against the wall.

Once he’d calmed down a little, Blackie thought about what had just happened. Maybe this Uncle Theo could read his mind. After all, Blackie had understood every word he’d said. Maybe that was how this worked. It had never been that way with those other beings, but he’d certainly never tried to communicate with them. He wondered again why Uncle Theo was there.

“My will.”

Blackie stopped washing, one paw held motionless between ground and face. He had no idea what that was.

“It tells my family what to do with my property.”

Nope. He understood family well enough, but property?

“This taverna. Melani’s home. All of it.”

So property was buildings. Why not just say so.

“Not just buildings, and not every building. This building—never mind. There were four brothers, yes?”

Blackie simply looked at him. Was he not sure how many brothers he had?

The man sighed, then continued. “Our parents built this taverna. They left it to the four of us. But only Petros and I wanted it. So we ran it and shared the profits.”

More words that Blackie heard clearly but still didn’t understand. Maybe he’d fallen asleep and was dreaming all this. He wondered when the story would get to Melani.

“Ah, Melani. Petros’ eldest. She wanted the taverna too. Said it was in her blood. And she was right. She’s made this more successful than any of us imagined.”

Caught up in the story, Blackie had lost track of the sad feeling emanating from Melani. Suddenly it drew his attention like a barking dog. It was heading this way. He’d never been allowed in this room before and he wasn’t sure if Melani’s fear and sadness had changed that or not.

As the door flew open, Blackie decided to take no chances and sprang under the cupboard. He whipped his tail round his jet-black body and tucked the pure white tip under his tummy. Then he closed his eyes.

He heard his name, followed by those indistinct noises that all humans make. He knew if he kept his eyes closed, he was all but invisible in the dark space below the cupboard, but he also hoped Melani wouldn’t want to get down to floor level to check there.

“Melani, I’m so sorry,” said Uncle Theo. “I did write the will, just like we all agreed. My share of the taverna to you, everything else to Georgios and the girls. You have to believe me.”

But Melani just sighed and left the room again. Blackie crept out from under the cupboard as he felt her go. The man was sitting on the same chair Melani had been in when Blackie arrived. He looked up when Blackie appeared and his face went from sad to determined.

“If there’s no will, my share of the taverna will be split up between my children and Melani will lose control. There will be arguments and disagreements. It’s the last share and she’s waited so long. The will is here. We have to find it.”

Blackie felt his tail twitch. No cat likes being told what to do. Especially when he doesn’t understand what that is.

The man gave a little shake of his head. “A will is only a piece of paper. But you have to help me find it. I can’t do it alone, see?” He waved his hand up and down – both hand and arm going straight through the wooden table in front of him. Blackie had to admit he had a point.

“Think of Melani. She’s worked so hard. To lose control of the taverna after all these years.”

Blackie thought back to when he’d first arrived. The feel of Melani’s fear as she held him close to her chest. Then he thought of all the fish suppers he’d had at one or another of those tables outside. He still didn’t understand what this piece of paper could do but, if it would make Melani feel better, he was in. All Uncle Theo had to do was tell him where to look.

“Ah, yes. I’m afraid it’s not that easy. It’s been ten years since I was last here. Even if I could remember where I put it, it might not be there anymore.”

Blackie stared at him. Then stared some more. Uncle Theo started to look uncomfortable. Good. Maybe it would help him remember.

“There’s a plant in a pot by the kitchen door. It’s been there forever. I might have buried the will in there.”

Blackie cast his mind back to when he’d raced through the kitchen. There was no plant that he could remember.

“No, the other door. Come, I’ll show you.” The man sank straight through the floor.

Blackie, feeling rather disconcerted but willing to go with the flow, crept down the stairs, edged toward the door to the kitchen and peeked round it. Melani was busy at the big, metal table in the centre of the room. He took a tentative step inside and looked toward the opposite door. The way was clear as long as Melani didn’t look round. He entered the kitchen and crept along, keeping his body close to the wall. He was a silent shadow, and she never suspected a thing.

He stepped through the door and hesitated. To his left was the door to the road, across which was the area with tables where the people shared the food. The rest of the room contained three tables, none of which had the metal things the human used instead of teeth.

Suddenly he realised Uncle Theo was standing next to a large plant in a giant pot, a triumphant smile on his face. He nodded toward the plant and Blackie leapt nimbly up and into the pot.

He scraped at the dirt, but it was very hard. He scraped harder and a layer came loose and sprayed onto the floor. Blackie ignored it and scraped again. And again. Finally he’d emptied half the dirt all the way around the stem but there was no sign of any paper. He hopped out and gave his face a wash, then he looked up at Uncle Theo, who shrugged.

“It was worth a try. But, thinking about it, I wouldn’t have hidden it there. The ink would run whenever the plant was watered.”

Blackie understood hiding things – he often hid food so he could come eat it later – but he didn’t understand why Uncle Theo would hide something in his own home. Didn’t he trust his brother? Or Melani?

“Of course I trusted them. I didn’t really hide it, just put it somewhere safe.”

“BAD CAT!”

Blackie understood those words. As the man who carried the food across to the outside tables rushed toward him, Blackie did a neat 360 degree turn and fled back into the kitchen. He ignored Melani’s startled face, ran round the opposite side of the table then bounded up onto the work surface and through the open window.

He was free. He ran up the side street and ducked under the broken door of an abandoned house. He only just managed it; he was almost too big. He had lived there as a kitten, but he was almost full grown now. And the rich pickings of both taverna and café meant he was filling out nicely.

He plonked himself down on the floor and looked around. He hadn’t been back here since the incident with the sack. It wasn’t a pleasant memory, but it led to him finding his home and for that he was grateful.

Bright eyes shone at him from the corner of the room, reflecting what little light entered from below the door. He approached slowly. None of his siblings would be here now but these might very well be his cousins or even nephews and nieces. A vague white shape detached itself from the many-eyed blob and met his approach. Blackie gave the kitten a lick and it started purring. Soon more kittens surrounded him, and he gave each a lick of greeting.

He had just started wondering why he never came back here when a set of razor-sharp claws smacked his ear. He spun round, ready to defend himself when he saw the female who had attacked him. She carried a lump of meat in her mouth but made no attempt to put it down or eat it. The kittens trotted over to her, all mewing excitedly. Blackie moved carefully away toward the door and slid back into the daylight outside.

He looked each way, but the street was empty. He wondered about Uncle Theo. Was he limited to the taverna building, or could he roam about the village at will?

“I don’t know about the whole village, but I’m here.”

Blackie jumped round, the hair all along his back standing on end and his tail spiking erect like a toilet brush. He yowled in annoyance then calmly sat down and started washing his back leg.

“I think I know where it is.”

Blackie ignored him and carried on washing.

“There’s a jar of lentils in the kitchen. They’ve not been touched for years. I’m sure I put the will in there.”

Both legs done, Blackie next concentrated on his ears. The one the female had scratched had a vague metallic taste but not enough to be worried about.

“Petros bought them for the vegetarians, but we never used them.”

Blackie stopped washing and finally looked at Uncle Theo. He was sure, was he?

“Yes. But we’ll have to wait until later this afternoon. After the lunch trade but before dinner.”

Deliberately keeping his mind blank, Blackie sauntered over to a shady spot under the bougainvillea that climbed up the taverna wall. Once there, he curled up and shut his eyes.

He was woken by an insistent hissing noise. Not a feline hiss, but a human one. He opened one eye. As he expected, he saw Uncle Theo stood bent down towards him.

“The kitchen is empty. We should do it now.”

Blackie got to his feet and sauntered slowly across to the kitchen window. Repeating his movements of that morning, he was soon standing on the kitchen work surface. To his disappointment, but not surprise, the fish had either been eaten or put away.

“Up there,” said Uncle Theo, appearing suddenly beside him and pointing to the very top of the shelves on the wall to his left.

Blackie looked. It was way too high for him to jump straight up. He would have to go from shelf to shelf. He walked along the worksurface and jumped nimbly onto the first one. Jars and boxes were lined up neatly, but Blackie didn’t need to navigate through them. The next shelf was not as big, so it was an easy task to hop up onto that one. The one above it was the same size, though, so it would be trickier to get up there.

He poked his head out and peered up as best he could. It would be a bit of a backwards jump. He braced himself. He almost jumped. He braced again. Then he leapt. His front paws made it onto the shelf, but his back legs didn’t. He scrabbled them furiously while digging his claws in and pulling himself up, tail whipping in a circle as he struggled to retain his balance. Finally a back foot made purchase, and he was there.

Which was more than could be said for the bag of white powdery stuff that had been sat on the shelf below. It had tumbled to the floor and burst open. Blackie realised that could have been him down there and a mew escaped him before he could stop it. Now was no time for self-pity. He had one more shelf to climb.

“Come along this way a bit. Then you’ll be right below the lentil jar.”

Blackie ignored the advice. He’d worked out his route before he started and, if his calculations were correct, there was a nice empty spot just above him. He leapt once again and scrabbled up. It was quicker this time, he knew what he needed to do.

Once up he looked along the shelf. What exactly did a lentil look like?

“There. The big one full of small orange things. You can’t miss it.”

Blackie looked. There were lots of jars. Most of the contents were white or grey. One at the end had green balls in. There was a large one with very small, grey lumps in, but another of similar size had only slightly larger grey things in.

“That one – the big one.”

The man pointed vaguely upwards. Blackie decided on a course of action and set off along the shelf, keeping close to the wall. One by one the jars crashed to the ground; each making a sound loud enough to wake the dead. When he got to the end, he stopped and looked down. Uncle Theo’s stricken face looked back up at him. There was no sign of any paper amongst the scattered contents and broken glass.

Suddenly, Blackie felt a wave of concern moving towards the room. He was momentarily caught motionless; his instinct to move toward the feeling and give comfort, warring with the instinct to flee the anger that would surely come his way. Then the door to the kitchen started to open and he was off.

Turning tail, he sped along the shelf and leapt straight from the end onto the central bar of the open window. His tail windmilled as he struggled to gain his balance, but then he abandoned the effort and jumped nimbly down to the street. His feet were running even before they hit the ground.

Blackie quickly decided to hide out at the café. Ben wouldn’t let any harm come to him, even if Melani guessed he was the culprit and came looking for him. Just to be sure, he leapt onto the nearest chair and curled up as if asleep. It wasn’t long before Ben came out with a tray of hot drink and sweet food. Blackie sat up, yawned and stretched convincingly. Sure enough, Ben came over to give him a stroke and a scratch under the chin – right in that hard-to-reach spot. Blackie purred; his alibi safely established.

It was several days before he saw Uncle Theo again. He was walking across the square when he felt the tug of sadness. Melani had not been to the café since the incident in the kitchen, which was unusual. She normally came often to drink one of the hot drinks and chat with Ben or her other friends.

He listened carefully. There was no anger mixed in with the sadness. Decision made, he changed direction and headed for the kitchen window. Fortunately the door to the stairs was open and Blackie quickly made his way through and up to the rooms above.

 He went through the room with the table and chairs and into one with a big, comfortable-looking bed in the middle. Melani lay there, unmoving. Blackie jumped up and put a tentative paw on her arm. There was no response, so he started purring loudly. Then he moved down to bump her hand with his head. That did the trick. She lifted her arm and stroked the length of his back. He pawed the bedcover until it seemed suitably comfortable then curled up against her side. She rolled over and curled her body around his. He closed his eyes and purred louder as he felt the sadness start to ebb away.

“I’ve remembered. I know where it is.”

Blackie jumped and spun at the same time, before leaping off the bed. Uncle Theo!

He resisted the urge to hiss and instead, sat down and gave the slightest flick of his tail to indicate his displeasure at being surprised. Melani sat up from the bed and reached down to pet him again, making cooing noises as she did so.

“Sorry. But I’ve remembered. It’s here. Under a loose floorboard.”

Blackie ignored him and leant into the stroking. He’d heard that claim before and had to forgo several fish suppers as a result.

“No, no, it’s true. Look.”

To Blackie’s surprise, Uncle Theo knelt down and ducked his head down below the floorboards. He looked very funny with just limbs and a body in sight.

“I can see it. It’s safe, I just can’t get it out.”

Blackie had a sudden image of himself wielding one of the iron bars the humans used when they built things.

“You don’t need that. It pivots up. You just need to push on the short end, and the other end pops up and reveals the will. Tarrah! And with Melani here, you don’t need to get it out, just draw her attention and she’ll see it. It’s perfect.”

Blackie wasn’t so sure about that, but he obediently left Melani’s ministrations and wandered over to where Uncle Theo indicated.

“You need to move the rug.”

Blackie could see that. He gave the rug an experimental shove. It folded up briefly and then fell back flat. But it had moved with relative ease. Blackie ran his paw along the floor. It was very smooth. He walked to the edge of the room and took a run up towards the edge of the rug. Before he arrived, he planted all four feet firmly. His body continued moving and slid effortlessly along the floor. When he arrived at the rug, his body pushed it until it was folded in on itself and the loose board was exposed.

If cats could smile, Blackie would have been grinning from ear to ear. That is until Melani made a tutting noise and carefully pushed the rug back down flat.

Undeterred, he tried the same manoeuvre with the same success, and the same failure. He tried a third time. Melani laughed as she replaced the rug. She must think it was a game. At least her sadness seemed to have gone for a while.

He decided to try a new tactic. Placing himself on the middle of the rug, he unsheathed his claws and carefully pulled the rug up and towards himself, one paw at a time. Yes! It always worked; the humans couldn’t resist. Melani made some concerned noises, then picked up the rug  and rolled it under the bed. The floorboard was free.

“Here, here.”

Blackie happily jumped onto the end Uncle Theo indicated. Nothing happened. He tried again. And again. Nothing. Except Melani seemed much happier now. She was laughing again.

“You’re too small. It needs something heavier.”

Blackie stared at him. Did the man really think he could find something heavier than himself and carry it up the stairs? No, this would take brains, not muscle.

He had it. It was a risky strategy, but it could just work. Or Melani might banish him for good.  He pushed that thought from his mind before Uncle Theo could react and turned back to the floor. He positioned himself carefully then, claws out, he stretched both front legs forward and spread his toes. Digging his claws into the wood, he carefully pulled one foot back – just a small way, enough to draw splinters, before releasing the claws from the wood. Then he did it again with the other foot.

He was about to repeat the action, but Melani was too quick for him. She darted forward. This was the moment of truth. Would she chase him out? Or would she stamp her foot at him? Maybe both. But if his calculations were correct, any foot stamping would be in just the right spot…

She did neither. She stepped just to the left of the necessary spot and then scooped him up and back onto the bed.

Blackie stood there, slightly dazed. He hadn’t expected that. His mind was momentarily blank. Then, before he could form a thought – or another plan – his eyes were caught by a ray of sunlight reflecting off of the bedside table. Not the table itself of course. A large, round, clear-glass ball sat there. In the middle, was a double spiral of blue and yellow, the brightly-coloured shapes swirling around each other. Blackie stared, fascinated as another ray of sunlight bounced off it. It looked heavy. Very heavy.

Quite calmly, he walked up to the table and stepped delicately onto it. Then he swiped the ball with his front paw. That’s when the fun really began.

Melani shrieked and threw herself onto the bed – arms outstretched as if to catch the ball. Blackie jumped off the table as she slid towards him and batted the ball in mid-air. He dropped between her arms and made it to the floor.

Unfortunately, Melani was still sliding across the bed, the covers acting like a cardboard box on a hillside slope. Her shriek became higher pitched still as the top half of her body started falling off the edge of the bed, towards the floor.

Blackie shot forward and out of her way. Without a backward glance (but with a heart full of concern) he batted the globe once more to correct its path as it slid along the floor, then turned in time to watch Melani do a forward roll off the bed and come to a halt flat on her back with her legs straight up against the wall, her wild hair covering her face and arms thrown wide.

Satisfied she wasn’t badly broken, he looked back toward the globe. It continued to roll slowly across the floor until it got to the loose floorboard. As it reached it, the board pivoted and the globe sank into the lower end, its momentum stopped by the ridge of the next board.

“Well I’ll be… You did it.”

Blackie sat down, lifted a paw and started licking it. He knew he looked unconcerned but, inside, he was elated. He really had done it. Now all that was needed was for Melani to look and see the paper.

As the thought finished, he heard deep-throated laughter coming from beside the bed. Melani blew upwards, causing her hair to spray up like a fountain then simply fall back onto her face. She laughed again and then rolled rather awkwardly onto her side as her legs slid down the wall. Then she continued over and onto her hands and feet. Blackie mewed and she obediently crawled on all fours towards him.

He had a momentary worry that she might do something much worse than pet him when she arrived, but he couldn’t feel any anger on her. That feeling didn’t draw him the way sadness or fear would, but he could always sense it when it was near.

Sure enough, she sat down beside him and started scratching under his chin. He purred in appreciation – that spot was so difficult to do alone – and then gradually moved round so that he was just past the raised floorboard.

The scratching stopped, and he opened his eyes just in time to see Melani pulling a piece of paper from beneath the floorboard. Then he felt her joy as she unfolded it and looked at the scratched markings.

“Thank you, Blackie. I couldn’t have done it without you.” The old man smiled down at him, a radiant grin on his face. Then he blew him a kiss with both hands and turned and walked slowly away. He grew less distinct as he walked, and Blackie was fairly sure he wouldn’t be seeing him again.

He was just trying to decide if he would miss him or not when he felt hands snake around his chest and lift him high up. Melani twirled them both around the room, singing as she went. Blackie started to feel a little sick. He loved making the humans feel better, but this was too much. He scrabbled free and jumped, landing on the rumpled covers of the bed.

Melani was talking to him. He didn’t understand it all, but the words “stupid”, “cat”, and “playing”, gave him a pretty good idea of what she was saying. Some people were incapable of appreciating the work of a genius, even when it unfolded right in front of them.

She did do good fish suppers, though, so he would forgive her – eventually. In the meantime, he sprang nimbly down from the bed, lifted his tail high and stalked out of the room. Time to go back to the café, where his talents were properly appreciated. And where there were no ghosts to disturb his slumbers!

~~ The End ~~

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