The Cat

All was quiet on Willowtree Lane except for the distant sounds of the children on their way to school. Bicycles and summer toys littered the yards awaiting their return. The flowers along the sidewalk gardens were giving out their last hurrah. White fluffy clouds moved lazily across the clear blue sky over the chimneys of the big old houses along the lane with their lofty elms. Suddenly the blue door at #502 swung open with a bang and out the door, over the porch, across the yard Jacob Albert Miller III streaked. His cap stuck on his head sideways with red hair sticking out in all directions; his shirt, hastily put on, stuck both in and out of his jeans and what looked suspiciously like a sling shot hung out of his back pocket. He leaped over the brick wall with ease and was down the street in a flash. Then the dust settled again, the door slowly bumped against the door jam of his house, and once again, all was quiet on Willowtree Lane.

The day then proceeded to pass by much as all of the other days had passed since Sunnyside Elementary school started back in August. In the big house across the way, Mr. George Goldsmith called to his dog, and gave her his egg yolk that Mrs. Mildred Goldsmith had fixed him for breakfast. He was a proud veteran of the big war and although retired considered himself to be “fit as a fiddle.” He had been an Army Ranger, you see. Mrs. Wilson down the block could be seen over her fence filling her bird feeders and dead-heading her flowers for the beautiful and fragrant sachets that she made each year for Christmas presents. Miss Polly Pinkston could be seen down in the next street in her Postman cart coming to deliver letters in all of the mail slots. The Tyson’s dog Ralph was tipping over trashcans as usual, nosing out the leftovers. Most everyone else on the block had already gone to work. Oh, except for #502. The silence was broken by the sound of a baby’s cry coming from that address because a little one had been born to this family just nine days ago.

Inside #502, Marybeth Miller pushed a stray lock back off of her forehead, jiggled the crying baby girl on her shoulder, stepped over 5-year old Stella’s doll castle, and shoved another load of clothes into the old washing machine. She heaved a sigh when it groaned to a start. Money was tight right now and a new washing machine just wasn’t in the budget. “Okay,” she thought wearily, “Now maybe for that cup of coffee.” She poured herself a cup and looked down at the pink baby in her arms. Chloe Ann was a sweet, beautiful, healthy, baby with big brown eyes and curly wisps of hair. She was snuggly and precious. But ….. so far did not like to sleep at night. “Oh well, this only lasts for a short time,” she told herself. Rondo, two years old and feeling it, on the other hand was wide awake and by the way, where was he….? CRASH! Oh, oh…… Let’s leave this happy scene and check out that strange sound outside.

Things seemed to have changed since we last checked in: The sky looked yellow and somewhat dark – the clear blue sky was gone and with it the fluffy clouds. The air had cooled and had a funny feel about it. Summer had vanished in just a blink of an eye. Disappeared! The wicked autumn wind had arrived – right on schedule - as it always did in October. It had come barreling in, blowing the heads off of the flowers, rocking the bird houses, scooting the trash down the lane and hooking it around the lampposts and flapping the unhooked garden gates. Summer toys seemed to gather in their yards in defense. It had come - the end of October. It was serious autumn now. VERY serious!

In the midst of the wind storm, something peculiar seemed to be happening down at the end of the lane. For around the corner glided a large fluffy gray tabby cat, a newcomer to Willowlane. It paused briefly, and looked around the street as though searching for a destination, then finding it, chose one side of the lane and appeared to head in that direction. Ralph, seeing a great opportunity, jumped up from his dog-nappy spot by the trash can and launched after his prey, tongue dangling, ears flapping, a gleeful look in his big dark eyes. Unconcerned, the big gray cat mildly turned her big yellow eyes on him just as he jumped towards her and with a lazy blink at her attacker, the big blond dog seemed to flip head over heels backwards, landing with a hard thump -- legs sprawled. Turning, the cat continued down Willowlane with her big fluffy, regal tail swishing behind. Ralph’s tail on the other hand was jammed between his legs, and with a definite hurtful whine, he slunk off towards home. Dog and tail were later found cowering under the Tyson’s porch and had to be coaxed out with a dog treat.

Inside #502 mom and babies snoozed their afternoon naps, not noticing the mail as it flew through the mail-drop in the blue door, landing on the floor and sliding under the couch on which they slept. A visitor with a fluffy tail and yellow eyes slipped silently through the slightly ajar, unlatched door and settled down on the white pillow in the blue checkered chair by the window to smooth her gray tabbiness. The school bell brought a change to the afternoon. It was 3:15 PM on the dot and soon the sound of children’s voices could be heard outside in the lane growing louder and louder through the wail of the wind as the children came skipping and running happily home to Willowtree Lane. A moment later Jake and his five year old sister, Stella, bounded through the front door, their noise waking the sleepers on the couch. Throwing down their back packs, they raced each other to the refrigerator and both started their search for after-school snacks. The visitor jumped from the pillow and slipped behind the chair. Mary Beth had awakened from a lovely dream of flowers in her Gram’s garden long ago -- and a song that she couldn’t quite remember.

Life had changed since baby Chloe had been born, as it always does when someone new moves in. For one thing, there’s never enough time to do everything that needs to be done. Schedules get mixed up, and …….. well, take a look. “MOM!! THERE’S NOTHING TO EAT!” It was no different in #502 Willowlane. Mr. Miller (Jacob Albert the II), the master of the house, (we’ll just call him Albert or dad) worked in the city and was usually kept late by his boss, Mr. Wedel, which made Albert miss his train and thereby making his arrival at the family home after 6 o’clock – that is if the trains were running on schedule. That had not changed.

Mrs. Miller (Mary Beth) had hired Lilly, an old school friend to manage her shop, “The Lemon Drop, A magical market place of herbs, tinctures, and soaps.” She was taking off a few weeks to baby her baby. Later she would take both little ones to the shop with her while she taught classes in tincture and soap-making. But for now…..well staying at home was turning out to be harder than she thought – what with two babies at home and two little school kids to manage. And without much sleep she was still falling behind. No snacks after school, for example, much to Jake and Stella’s chagrin. The wash had stopped in the middle of a cycle for some unknown reason and her project of tincture and soap-making still sat in the breakfast room half-done and shoved to one side – even though Lilly called to say they were running out at the shop and desperately needed more. Mr. Miller called to say the trains were running late so “Go ahead and start dinner without me my love.” (Dinner? Oh right!) AND that’s when she noticed - the diaper box was empty!

‘’What about my ballet lessons?” screeched Stella, “I am going to be late….AGAIN!”

Mary Beth wanted to sit down and have herself a good cry. But just then the doorbell rang (Albert must have fixed it..hmmm? Seriously?). Jake and Stella wrestled each other to get the door open and when they did….there on the porch was an amazing sight. An imposing old lady in a straw hat stood there holding a big carpet bag and wearing a big toothy smile. There was a pause and then out of her mouth boomed, “Mary Beth I am SO happy to see you!” And without waiting for an invitation, she marched across the threshold. “Stella you take my hat and Jake take my bag up to my room – the one at the end of the hall will do.” The children stopped still in amazement. “Hop to it!” she boomed. And then with a start, both children did exactly as they were told. Amazing!

Mary Beth was stunned into silence. To her knowledge, she had never seen this woman in her entire life. She briefly thought of asking her if she was Mary Poppins but when she opened her mouth, all she could think to say was, “Who are you?”

“Oh my my, didn’t you get my letter? I’m your Aunt Marge – your grandmother on your father’s side’s cousin! You probably don’t remember me. Oh, but I remember you, you little darling!” And with that she swept Chloe, who suddenly stopped fussing, out of her mother’s arms. Turning to Rondo who was sticking a dog biscuit in his mouth, Aunt Marge pointed her crooked finger straight at him and boomed “No!” He dropped it. “Now, isn’t it time for ballet? Hmmmm? Better jump to it! I’ll start dinner.” And carrying the baby in the crook of one arm, off she went towards the kitchen.

Later that night, while lying in bed, Mary Beth tried to explain all of the odd happenings to Albert. He asked her to try to remember when she had known Aunt Marge but try as hard as she could, she absolutely could not EVER remember her. She also couldn’t think of a good reason WHY she would ever leave Jacob, Rondo, and Chloe in the care of a complete stranger in order to take Stella to ballet. But she had just up and handed over Chloe and grabbed Stella and her ballet shoes and they were out the door and across town before she realized what she had done. Leaving Stella at dance class, she rushed back across town, with thoughts of headlines reading “Small children killed by babysitter” or “Taken….”

Screeching to a stop, she leaped out of her car and ran into the living room, tripping over the rug and coming to an abrupt stop. For there she was -- Aunt Marge -- in the big rocking chair with a happy baby and the other two playing quietly on the floor; something delicious was cooking on the stove. She had sighed a sign of relief, blew out some air and relaxed and then -- she did it again! She left everyone at home again and hurried back out the door to arrive just in time to pick up Stella at the ballet studio. Then realizing her gaff again – rushed back home!

Albert had arrived home that evening to a dining room where everyone was sitting around the table waiting for him. This was VERY unusual, since he was a little late. He had turned with surprise to meet Aunt Marge, who emerged from the kitchen carrying a big serving bowl filled with something that smelled delicious. He gave Mary Beth a puzzled look and then sat down to dinner – just as Aunt Marge had told him to. But it was later, after that wonderful chicken and dumplings dinner that Aunt Marge had made, that they found the mail under the couch and when they did, they found the letter telling them of her impending arrival. So they relaxed and reasoned that maybe it wasn’t that unusual and in fact, it had turned out okay – in fact, better than okay. “But wait,” Albert said as he jerked back awake. “I am still not sure. Not sure. We don’t know her and you have no living relatives who could verify her existence. The letter was postmarked somewhere in Idaho.”

And that wasn’t all that was odd about that night. It was also after dinner that they first discovered the CAT! It was an animal that somehow had gotten inside their house when they weren’t looking and didn’t seem to want to leave. No matter how many times they put it out, it always seemed to find its way back in. Jake and Stella and Gordo were over the moon about it and begged to keep it.

“Kids!,” Albert said. “This is somebody’s PET! We can’t keep it even if we wanted to! We’ll put it out on the steps and if it’s still here in the morning, we will try to find its owner.”

But just as he finished his speech, they all (cat included) took off up the stairs. “Oh no you don’t Miss Steria,” he said, thereby giving her the name that stuck. He swooped her up and sat her out on the porch, shooing her away. “Go back where you came from,” he said. But the cat just sat there staring at him with her big yellow eyes. “It was a pretty cat – that was true,” he thought to himself. “It was cold outside this evening – that was true. But all the same……. OUT!”

One person who definitely did not like the cat was Aunt Marge. She went into a sneezing fit every time it came near all evening. And it seemed to dislike her as well. And It seemed to get under her feet everywhere she went. “It has to go,” said Mary Beth, “There is no other way.” Just as she was about to drift off to sleep that night, Mary Beth thought of something else: “Another odd thing is: Just how did Aunt Marge know about our storage room at the end of the hall and how did she know the children’s names?”

But Albert had already started to snore. Snuggling Chloe Ann between them, she decided to sleep on it and worry about it in the morning. Mom and dad dropped into the deepest sleep that either of them had enjoyed in a long time. Baby also slept soundly, all night long.

The next morning they awoke to the smell of coffee, and there on the kitchen cabinet was everybody’s favorite breakfast – bacon and eggs, over-easy for mom, over-medium for dad and toast with marmalade and pancakes with blueberry syrup and fresh orange juice! Dad had time to eat and run for the train, Chloe Ann cooed in the bassinet, where she had miraculously been put while her parents slept. She was changed and dressed. Rondo sat in the high chair happily eating his oatmeal WITH raisins and Jake and Stella sat at their places at the table, all ready for school, eating their breakfasts WITHOUT fighting. “I can’t thank you enough….” began Mary Beth, but Aunt Marge shushed her.

“I am just glad that I got here when I did, you poor darling,” she said, raising her eyebrows meaningfully at Jake and Stella. But they didn’t notice because they were already out the door. But just before the door closed behind them, the big gray cat slipped silently back inside.

“Aunt Marge was amazing,” thought Mary Beth as she drank another cup of delicious coffee. When she had checked out the storage room earlier, she was surprised to see that it had already been changed into a cozy bedroom. Aunt Marge seemed to have a knack for putting everything right. She was always reaching into her big bag and bringing out just what she needed. “I don’t know why you came but I’m so glad you did,” Mary Beth told her.

As the days rolled by, Aunt Marge showered them with her cooking and baking. After-school snacks were always either cooling on the cookie rack or icing over in the refrigerator. The washing machine hummed away without a glitch for some odd reason. Mary Beth had finally given up on getting rid of Miss Steria, even though the cat certainly had it out for Aunt Marge. However, the old lady seemed able to fend for herself, she reasoned.

Mary Beth was sleeping like a rock these days, but then she began having the same dream night after night and it always was the same: She was in her grandmother’s garden and her grandmother seemed to be trying to tell her something. For some reason, it seemed she was thinking a lot about Gram. When she tried to explain it to Albert, he always told her it was good thing. “Things are going well. Just like when your Gram was alive. That’s got to be it. That and maybe Aunt Marge reminds you of her.” Then he would hurry off to catch the train. But there was something unsettling about it that she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

“Maybe tonight I’ll hear what she’s trying to tell me.” And then she leaped out of her soft bed, left arm wrapped around Chloe, and made a dash for the kitchen. These days she would come up short as everyone looked up from their breakfast or paper as if to say, “What…..? We went on without you,” (even though this wasn’t ever said out loud). Aunt Marge had everything covered.

“The red eyes! That’s what it is,” she thought later as she was driving home from the store. That dream – the one with Gram – always seems to end with two huge eyes – dark red and evil and they were staring right at her. But it would only last for a moment and then it was over but it left her eyes burning. She told Albert about it the next morning after having the dream again and his response was, “Everyone has weird dreams my love. Gotta go!” And then off he went to catch his train.

This night she slid down into sleep easily as she had been doing lately and found herself dreaming that she was sitting on the little bench under the huge tree-like trumpet vine with Gram. She could hear the voices of passersby calling out “Miss Susan Alice” (that was Gram), “May we pick some flowers?” It was a warm sunny day with a slight cool breeze just outside the kitchen door of Gram’s old house. There were usually kittens under her porch in the summer and when she was at Gram’s, they would sit on the bench watching the kittens while making trumpet vine dollies. A big pitcher of fresh lemonade with lemon slices would always sit on a small black wrought iron stand and they would drink their lemonade in beautiful glasses with red tulips painted on them. And behind the tree, the yard was always absolutely ablaze with flowers and butterflies. And Gram always let people pick a bouquet when they came by. It was heavenly.

Sometimes back then, she would fall asleep with her head on her Gram’s lap and listen to the same song that she always sang to her, “but for alwaaaays.” The dream began whooshing away. Her Gram’s voice changed its tone from the singing voice to a straight forward stern one that came as a whispered “ Mary Beth, baaack awaaaay” and then it faded away... Then there was a POP! The red eyes! They seemed inches away this time and their stare felt like red pokers piercing her eyes. The pain!

Then a soft buzzing in her ear, and she woke up to moonlight streaming through the window, icing the bed with stars. Jerking up off of the bed and turning to look back, she saw there on her pillow, right above the sleeping baby, Miss Steria -- and she was gazing straight at her with those big yellow eyes!

“Get out!” she screamed. Coming off of the bed and waking Chloe Ann and Albert, she took a swing at Miss Steria, missing the big cat, who dove off of the bed, streaked towards the door and disappeared into the hallway. Mary Beth was shaking with anger as she tried to untangle herself from the bed covers. She stopped short when she realized that somebody had been right outside their bedroom door and Miss Steria must have run into whoever it was as she escaped. There was a scream of pain and it sounded unfamiliar to Mary Beth. Then the walls began to shake as bodies were hurled against them. She could hear Miss Steria snarling at whoever it was, a cry, and then footsteps could be heard running down the hall. Mary Beth finally untangled herself and rushed into the hallway but …. nobody was there. It was empty! Not a noise could be heard. It was as if whoever it was had vanished into thin air. Albert was right behind her reaching for her. “Mary Beth, wake up! You’re dreaming. Nobody is here. You are fine. Come back to bed.”

“Didn’t you see the cat?” she blurted. “It was sitting almost on Chloe’s head!”

“No, of course not,” her husband said. “The cat wasn’t there. And look: Chloe, our sweet lamb has already gone back to sleep. Come on, let’s get some sleep.”

Mary Beth lay there, twisting and turning, her heartbeat finally started to slow down. And then as the moon went behind a cloud, she fell back into a deep slumber. But her dreams were troubling. She kept hearing bits of Gram’s song in the distance: “be loving youuuu,” and then seeing those terrifying red eyes. She felt weary when she pulled herself up to start the day.

Breakfast that morning was very quiet. She inspected the children, but nobody had scratches on them and they reported sleeping well. “Who was out in the hall last night after the lights were out?”she asked. “Anybody hear anything in the night?” Jake and Stella looked at each other and then each one got real busy eating their breakfast with their eyes down. Aunt Marge was busy at the stove flipping big fluffy pancakes and she seemed quiet as well. “How about you Aunt Marge, hear anything last night?”

Without turning around, she said, “Slept like a rock.” Albert gave her a meaningful look like “I told you so.” And then everyone was off and Mary Beth picked up a fussy Chloe and put Rondo’s shoe back on that was lying under the high chair and that’s when she came up with an idea. She brightened up. “This may turn into a wonderful day,” she thought, with a surge of renewed energy.

“Think I’ll take some product down to the shop, Aunt Marge.”

“Wonderful!” She responded with cheerfulness. “I’ll watch the kids; don’t you worry about a thing!”

Mary Beth took a nice hot shower and got ready to take a little couple of hours to herself. “Yay! I’ll stop by the Metropolitan Coffee Shop and have myself a caramel macchiato,” she said to herself. But just as she was about to leave, the toilet in the kitchen bathroom started making noise -- and all of a sudden the sewer backed up all over the bathroom and out into the kitchen. “OH NO!” The plumber didn’t get there until after lunch, and then it was time for the kids to come home from school. The day was gone. Mary Beth’s alone time had vanished.

“Looks like somebody flushed a shoe down,” reported the plumber, dangling a wet slipper by two fingers. It was one of Aunt Marge’s house slippers.

“That cat took it out of my room and did it ON PURPOSE!” cried Aunt Marge.

“Highly unlikely,” said Albert, later, under his breath to Mary Beth as they were heading up the stairs to bed. “It was more likely Rondo, but let’s keep that to ourselves, shall we? Wink.

That night in the hallway there WERE two little kids tiptoeing down the hall past their parent’s room to the stairs leading to the kitchen. It started when Jake tapped on the adjoining wall to Stella’s bedroom. But this night, he had had to sneak into her room and shake her hard to wake her. “Hey, wake up, stinky!” Stella sleepily slid down from her bed, wiping her eyes. “C’mon. Let’s go get cookies!” She brightened up. Her brother was good at coming up with nighttime adventures and she was always ready to go wherever he picked – except outside. He was the only one who ever went outside at night by himself. “Okay he whispered, “KEEP QUIET! I don’t know who mom heard last night, remembering her asking them that morning, but if it wasn’t us, who WAS it? Now just follow me.”

As they got close to the kitchen, they began to hear voices. Someone seemed to be giving orders and the other one was begging. They peeked around the door and were met with a strange sight. Aunt Marge seemed to be talking to someone. Peeking further around the corner they saw her standing at the sink looking into her big bag that was sitting on the counter. The weird thing was that she looked like she was actually talking to something in her carpet bag!

“I want to see closer,” whispered Stella. And before he could stop her, she had dropped quietly to the kitchen floor and was crawling along the back of the island and when she reached the small table, she watched and waited until she thought she was safe, and slid underneath. There was nothing left to do but follow her. Jake was bigger and a couple of times, he thought the floor creaked and when it did, he would freeze. They wanted to see whatever was in that bag -- and there was someone in that bag -- because there was definitely a voice coming out that was speaking in angry tones. Aunt Marge was begging and promising to do whatever “it” wanted and to give her more time.

“You will snatch that baby, Evilia (Aunt Marge was Evilia?). I need to harvest a new soul! Time is running out!” It sounded like whoever was in the bag was telling Aunt Marge to snatch Chloe so he could take the infant’s soul! Jake tried to hear more of what they were saying. He slid under the table with Stella and leaned in.

“Wait until they eat these muffins and they will sleep forever! Chloe Ann will be yours!” Aunt Marge cackled like a witch! Was that actually her? He wondered. Then she turned and started mixing something in a big mixing bowl and sprinkling it with some white powder out of a long glass vial. With a wicked cackle she gave a shake and the powder poured out of the lip of the vial in a heavy stream into the batter. Suddenly, out of the pantry, Miss Steria leaped - first up on the island and then sailed over the table where Jake and Stella were hiding - clear over to Aunt Marge, knocking the vial out of her hand and shattering it into a million pieces, with the white powder scattering all over the kitchen floor. Then turning to the bag, Miss Steria gave it one of her yellow eye blinks and the bag seemed to fly up into the air. But before it started to fall down there was a snarling roar and a black figure rose out of it and when it did, a vile stench filled the air.

“Pee You!” whispered Stella, holding her nose.

Then the thing bent down towards Aunt Marge as she grabbed the bag -- and flames shot out of two big red eyes straight at her, scalding her face and singeing her hair. “Kill!!!” the monster commanded.

“Please Master…..” began Aunt Marge. But the stench had now descended to the floor and both children started choking. Stella rose up, bumping her head on the table, and then she did just what Jake was afraid she would do. She stood up from under the table. Aunt Marge jumped in surprise with a startled “Oh!”

And Stella, looking Aunt Marge straight in the eye said, with her hands on her hips, “You can’t have Chloe Ann! I’m telling mom!”

“This is not going to be good,” thought Jake from beneath the table.

“YOU!” roared Aunt Marge, and with that she yanked the little girl up off of the floor by the back of the head and lifted her up to eye level. “Going to tell Mom are you? We’ll fix that. We’ll fix that good!” With her free hand, the old women pried open the child’s mouth and grabbed her tongue. Stella put up a good fight. She kicked and pounded at Aunt Marge. But the old woman was too strong. Squeezing her tongue, she glared at Stella, eye to eye, and whispered in a voice that seemed to come from the depths of a cave, “After I am through with you Stella dear -- you will never talk again! Little girls who make threats to the magnificent Evila are never heard or seen again!”

While all of this was going on, Jake had slid out from under the table and taking a heavy skillet off of the stove, brought it back over his head and rushed at Aunt Marge, but before he could bring it down, a furry animal streaked by and attacked the old woman on the side of her head. Jake fell back in surprise. Miss Steria dropped to the floor and clamped her fangs hard around Aunt Marge’s bony ankle, causing the old woman to yell out in pain. And when she did, she loosened her grip on Stella, who then crashed to the floor. Aunt Marge was enraged. Both arms began swinging at everything she could reach, breathing hard and uttering some kind of language under her breath.

The carpet bag landed on the floor and the monster sunk back into it while sending off a new stream of the stench. Jake and Stella tore out for the back stairway at the far end of the kitchen, knocking aside stools and baskets in their way. Taking the stairs two at a time, the children raced up the back stairs, but only got half way up when they were blocked by Aunt Marge, who somehow had managed to around through the livingroom and up the front stairway in a flash.

“Who is downstairs? What in the devil is going on? What’s all that racket?” Their dad’s voice sounded from his bedroom door. Then they heard him moving around trying to find his slippers.

Aunt Marge yanked their faces toward her by pinching each of their chins between her bony fingers -- and looking directly into their eyes, said in a dark and evil voice, “Stella you will NEVER talk again, but if you find another way of repeating what you saw this night, I will take your soul!” Looking at Jake, she uttered, “Mind what I have said, boy, or the same will happen to you!

Both children trembled and Stella began crying while Jake angrily tried to pull away from her iron-clad grasp. “Let go of me you old…I’ll…..”

“AND mind my words my pretties OR I will put your mother and father in a dark and evil place FOREVER. Oh and I have delicious plans for Rondo!” Then she released their chins and disappeared into the darkness.

A voice boomed from the top of the stairs, “JAKE AND STELLA!” They jumped. ‘GET IN YOUR BEDS….NOW! What do you think you’re doing? It’s after midnight! You’ve got school in the morning!”

The kitchen was pretty quiet the next morning. Nobody spoke and the children picked at their oatmeal. Everyone seemed preoccupied with other things. Aunt Marge was wearing a bandana on her head and her face seemed to be glowing a bright red. “Oh, I’m just trying out some new face cream,” she said when asked about it. But she seemed off of her game this morning.

“Don’t worry about cleaning up Aunt Marge, I’ve got it this morning.” Mary Beth started clearing the table.

“Well then. Let me take the baby for you and we’ll have us a rock,” said Aunt Marge, reaching into her bag and bringing out a snow globe music box.

“Who has a snow globe at the ready?” chuckled Mary Beth to herself. Aunt Marge, with Chloe and Rondo toddling behind, headed for the living room and the big rocker. Gathering up the breakfast dishes and stacking them by the sink, Mary Beth thought about that night that she thought she saw Miss Steria on her pillow. She had been having one of those dreams right before that happened. “ I wish I could go back and hear what Gram wanted to tell me, “ she mused. And then, “It WAS that stupid cat who woke me up. I KNOW I saw her. I just know I did.”

Speaking of….she felt the cat rub against her leg and automatically bent over to give her a rub. That’s when she noticed some white stuff – like powder- on the floor, under the cabinet overhang. It was amazing how quickly things could get out of place. Just since Aunt Marge started cooking – and that was only a week ago…or so – things were rearranged in her own kitchen.

She needed to start taking charge again. It wasn’t fair to place so much responsibility onto Aunt Marge. No wonder there were spills here and there and that the dishes and glasses had been rearranged. She reached under to brush it and something sharp embedded itself in her fingers – glass! There were tiny pieces of glass under there too. But before she could do something about it, the front door opened and she could feel a draft around her ankles. Then the familiar voice of her best friend, Lois Tyson speaking to someone on the front porch.

“Wonderful,” she thought, and then “I wonder why she isn’t at work and who is she talking to? Must be Aunt Marge.” Hurrying to the livingroom, she was surprised to see both women on the front porch. Aunt Marge was all bundled up with the carpet bag gripped in one hand and pushing the pram across the porch with the other. It looked like Lois had come up the porch steps and had stopped her. “No, no, please don’t leave on my account,” she said to Aunt Marge. Then the visitor leaned into the pram. “Aww look at you Chloe Ann,” she cooed. You must be Aunt Marge. I can’t wait to get to know you!”

Mary Beth stepped out into the cold air on the porch, “Lois, I am so glad you’re here. How ARE you? Please come in and Aunt Marge, where do you think you’re going? It’s much too cold to take a walk. Come back in and meet Lois. Where’s Rondo?” Was Aunt Marge going on a walk without the toddler? Where WAS Rondo? And then she saw him curled up with Miss Steria, sucking his thumb and staring blankly at the TV screen. She would have to mention this to Aunt Marge later after their visitor left. Leaving Rondo without telling her – well leaving with Chloe and not telling her? What was that about? But of course, she asked herself, “Why wasn’t she, Mary Beth taking the children for walks? It was just that she was so tired all of the time….even with all of the sleep she had been getting. It was so annoying!

She was brought up with a start from her thoughts with by Lois shouting at Ralph, her friendly canine. Lois had brought Ralph! Oh dear! And he was being chased by Miss Steria around and around the room and through the kitchen, up the back stairway and down the front one again and again they raced.

Rondo was clapping his hands and squealing every time they ran by. Aunt Marge shoved Chloe in Mary Beth’s arms and fled up the stairs, carpet bag in hand, mumbling something about “out of control.” At last, it sounded like there was a scramble of the two animals and a yelp coming from the kitchen. There was a momentary silence. Miss Steria then pranced regally out of the kitchen with her big fluffy tail held high in the air and took her place on the white pillow on the blue and white checkered chair. Ralph could be heard by the thump of his tail under the stove in the kitchen. Mary Beth grabbed Miss Steria off of her throne and tossed her out on the front porch and shooed her away. And then turning to her guest, “So sorry….”

“I shouldn’t have brought….”

Both women started at once and then again and then…”Let’s have coffee!” from Mary Beth, and they both went in to the kitchen table and settled Chloe Ann in her basket. Rondo was placed in the high chair and cookies were passed out. (Thank heavens for Aunt Marge’s baking). Lois passed on the cookies because she was not feeling well this morning. She had brought exciting news to tell her friend: She and Hubert were expecting a baby! Hugs and squeals from Mary Beth. Morning sickness was the reason that she was at home from work this morning, she told Mary Beth. But she couldn’t wait to tell her so as soon as her stomach had settled down at home she had put on her jacket, grabbed Ralph and zipped over.

“By the way, do you have any of your fantastic tinctures that would work on this morning sickness? I’m telling you, it’s the WORST!”

But before Mary Beth could answer, Aunt Marge appeared at the kitchen door and joined in on the excitement. “Oh, I just love babies,” she cooed. Her whole demeanor had changed. “Do tell me, WHEN is this precious lamb going to be born?” But before Lois could tell her, they were interrupted by the buzzing of Mary Beth’s phone, notifying her that Sunnyside Elementary School was on the phone.

“That was Stella’s Kindergarten teacher – something’s wrong with her tongue and I need to go get her.”

Aunt Marge opened her mouth but Lois spoke first. “Oh I would love to watch Chloe Ann and Rondo while you’re gone!” she exclaimed. “It will give me practice for when our baby comes. PLUS I can get to know Aunt Marge better, right?” Aunt Marge closed her mouth.

All the way over to Sunnyside School, Mary Beth’s mind was racing. “What on earth could be wrong with her tongue?” Mary Beth’s brain was on overdrive. “Could she have bitten it? Did they give her something too hot to drink?” Stella’s teacher Miss Glenda was waiting with Stella by the door and holding her hand her out to the car and leaned in as she helped her belt into her car seat. The teacher confirmed that something WAS wrong with Stella’s tongue. In fact it was so swollen that Stella couldn’t talk, so at first it was hard to realize that the little girl was trying to get her attention.

“The school nurse says it may be a virus – they are always going around. You know how it is”, she said with an apologetic look on her face. “Now you get well soon Stella girl, you hear me?” Stella nodded slowly with tears sliding down her little pink cheeks as her teacher closed the door and waved at her through the window.

“Does it hurt Stellabella?” asked Mary Beth, as she pulled out of the school parking lot. “Oh right! You can’t talk. Annnnd you can’t spell yet, so right. This is going to be tricky. I will call Dr. Gomez as soon as we get home. You’re going to be just fine (I hope).”

Lois was happily rocking Chloe Ann in the big chair in the living room and singing a lovely lullaby when they came in the room. Handing her over to her mom, she called Ralph, who reluctantly left his hiding place. “Come on, sport, we’ve got to leave so everybody can get back to normal.” (Normal? What was that, wondered Mary Beth.) Later when she called the doctor, she found out that Dr. Gomez was out of the office and would be until the end of the week. The nurse told her to have Stella try to drink through a straw and as soon as she knew something, she would get back to her.

“I don’t know but I’m sure it’s alright,” the nurse said, and hung up before Mary Beth could ask any questions.

Aunt Marge mixed up a concoction in the blender for Stella, who refused to drink it. And then they were all so drowsy after lunch. Mary Beth and the children cuddled up on her big, old bed and took a nap. The afternoon passed by under the roof at #502. Everyone was asleep, except for an old woman who was busy in her room and a yellow-eyed tabby who lay on her belly, peeking under the door watching her.

Jake ran in from school slamming the door. But instead of his usual race to the kitchen for snacks, he started looking for his sister. Once he found her, he tapped her on her shoulder to wake her up and said in a whisper “Stella, Stella.” And when she blinked open her eyes, he asked, “I heard at school that …..” but he couldn’t finish. Then all she could do was cry. Her tongue was too swollen to talk. “Oh, no! Mom, do something, he wailed!”

“I’ve never seen you so concerned for Stella before,” his mother said, while rubbing his back. But Jake was crying, too.

“I think she’s allergic to the cat. I’ve seen this before and I’m telling you THAT CAT needs to go!” Aunt Marge said, from the door, and she looked straight at Jake, who turned white, took in a breath, and started hiccoughing.

“Well, that sounds logical enough to me, “said Mary Beth. “I agree, the cat needs to go, but nobody has answered our flyers that we nailed up all over the neighborhood and I hate to just take it to the pound. You never know if they will find a family or not….”

“Oh stand up for yourself girl!” bellowed Aunt Marge, and then she dialed it back down to her sweet voice. “I think it would make a lovely pet for another family – maybe some older person who is lonely or….”

But no one was listening, dad was home! Early! Everybody rushed down to greet him. “How’s my little princess, he said, picking up Stella and holding her close. “Open up and let me see that tongue. Does it hurt?” She shook her head but then changed it to a yes nod. “MB she doesn’t feel hot – have you taken her temp? Hmm no temp, huh?”

Aunt Marge thinks she allergic to the cat,” said Mary Beth.

“Well we’ll just see what Dr. Gomez says, dad said, while holding Stella in his arms. “He always knows what’s wrong. When did you say he would be back?” That night’s dinner was a beef stew with thick brown gravy, but Jake said he didn’t feel like eating, which was very strange. “Does your tongue hurt, too?” said dad.

“NOOO!” shouted Jake and he ran from the table.

“What’s got into him?” Albert said to his wife.

“Stella’s tongue ailment has scared him for some reason. He’s probably afraid he will get it. And that was exactly what was on his 10-year old mind that night. He waited until he could hear his parents’ breathing after lights out and he crept into their room, dragging one of his blankets, and slept at the foot of their bed. Stella also wanted to sleep in their room and as soon as she drank her dinner through a straw at her dad’s insistence, and took her bath, she was put on a cot next to mom, in case she had trouble in the night.

Mary Beth, on the other hand, went to sleep peacefully with the sounds of her family’s breathing in their sleep. But it didn’t stay peaceful. For the dream came and this time she was again in her Gram’s garden but this time her grandmother looked at her with alarm. She leaned closer and said words that sounded like “Verena…..back away….back away. She whispered it over and over again. Mary Beth strained to understand her and only caught pieces – “baack awaaay,” and then the dream was gone and the red eyes were back. And this time they shot hot sparks into her eyes and she awoke in a cold sweat.

She picked her way across the room and out into the hall trying to shake off the after-effects of the dream. Down at the end of the hallway, she could see a light under Aunt Marge’s door, and she thought she could hear her talking to someone, or maybe that was her radio. Someone laughed a high-pitched, gleeful cackle, and then as she walked near the room, the light went out and all was silent. Aunt Marge must be talking in her sleep, she thought, She is amazing -- moving in with people she doesn’t know like us – even if we are relatives – and doing all of the work she does around here. Mary Beth felt better just knowing that she was being watched over by her aunt, and crawled back into her bed and went to sleep. And this time, she slept like a log.

Out in the hall the next morning as she started down to breakfast with the babies, she was surprised to hear Jake whispering to Stella. She followed the sound and found them in a little nook under the attic stairs. They jumped when they saw her. They were both bent over a scrap of tablet paper. “What are you guys doing in here?” she asked. They both held their fingers up to their noses to shush her but it was too late.

Aunt Marge looked over their mother’s shoulder. “Breakfast! Get going Jake. Cat got your tongue, Stella?” she said with a little laugh and headed down the main staircase. Mary Beth and Stella watched her back and then looked at each other. Stella had turned white. Aunt Marge had a weird sense of humor for sure. She reached down for the note they had been writing and put the scrap of paper in her pocket to look at later.

Late in the morning, a call came in on Mary Beth’s phone from Lois. It seemed that Ralph could not wake up after he got home from their house yesterday and they took him to the vet last night. It turned out that he had some kind of sleeping chemical in his system but it was so rare that they were having trouble isolating it. “He got it either in your house or mine OR in our yard yesterday we think. We scoured the yard this morning before we both left for work and couldn’t find anything. Just thought I would tell you in case he got into something at your house. He was starting to get around when we left.”

“He must have picked it up outside somewhere. We don’t have sleeping draughts here in the house,” Mary Beth told her. This morning was starting out good. The sun was shining outside, Rondo was playing merrily at her feet, Stella was sitting on a kitchen stool, drawing in her sketch book while trying to ice her tongue with cold water, and the washing machine that had miraculously started working last week was washing away. It wasn’t until she heard Mrs. Pinkston put the mail through the mail slot that she remembered Chloe Ann upstairs in her crib. That baby had been sleeping for a while – a long while. She hurried upstairs to the nursery. As she walked down the hall, she could smell an odd odor. And it seemed to be coming from the nursery. As she entered the nursery she saw Aunt Marge with her back to her, leaning over the baby crib waving a sheaf of some kind of weed and speaking in a soft sing-songy voice. The smell was intoxicating – pleasant but twangy and it was coming from the sheaf of leaves. “What are you doing?”

Startled, Aunt Marge whirled around -- and quickly holding the weeds behind her back, she said, “Why, I’m just singing a lullaby to…..”But she was stopped in mid-sentence as from under the baby blanket in the crib came the cat, who sprang at the old woman in attack mode, sinking her claws into her back and sending her falling forward into Mary Beth who, in turn, staggered back against the door jamb. It was so startling that it took a moment for Mary Beth to realize what was happening. Aunt Marge shook the cat off and, grabbing her, she threw Miss Steria against the crib with such amazing strength that the picture fell off of the wall. Through all of this, Chloe Ann didn’t make a sound, but just blinked her big eyes and smiled a sweet smile. Mary Beth rushed past the old woman and scooped up the baby. Miss Steria was not through with her attack, it seemed. With a yowl that was strangely familiar, thought Mary Beth later, the cat charged Aunt Marge again. This time the old lady took flight out of the bedroom door and down the hall. Her screams could be heard as she started down the front stairs and then there was a loud noise and sounds of her hitting the stairs as she fell and then….quiet.

With the baby in her arms, who seemed unusually dreamy, and running to the top of the stairs, what met her eyes was a terrifying sight. Aunt Marge was lying on the rug at the foot of the stairs and Miss Steria was on top of her, yowling. She raced down the stairs and knocked Miss Steria away from Aunt Marge.

“Marge!” she cried. “Are you all right?” Aunt Marge rolled over, sat up and grabbed her ankle and began screeching unintelligible sounds, clearly angry, glaring at at Miss Steria. Stella and Rondo sat scrunched together at the top of the stairs. The ambulance drivers had to fight Aunt Marge all of the way to the emergency vehicle. She didn’t think she needed to go ANYWHERE! And they finally bandaged her ankle and gave in and let her stay at home. Mary Beth searched for the cat. This time it very definitely had to go.

Aunt Marge insisted on fixing dinner even though Mary Beth begged her to sit down and take the load off of her ankle. But to no avail. The old woman limped straight to the kitchen and started cooking. And when Albert got home from work, he found them all sitting around the big table with a big lasagna in the middle of the table. Stella had what looked like a milk shake in front of her and as soon as he took off his coat and put down his briefcase and sat down at the head of the table, they all prepared to dig in.

Just then they heard the front door fly open with a crash, the candles on the table began to flicker, almost blowing out and to their utter amazement, Miss Steria raced into the dining room. She seemed to fly through the air, landing right into the middle of the lasagna! And that wasn’t all. She began digging in the pasta as though it was her litter box! Everyone started grabbing for her and shouting at her and in the turmoil everything on the table was knocked over. The cat squatted and everyone yelled. Jake yelled “Gross! I’m going to be sick!” Dad took a swing at Miss Steria again and the big gray cat jumped out of the pasta and leaped off of the table, knocking over Stella’s shake on her way, and sprinted out the door into the night and was gone.

“That does it! It’s going to be pizza night!” announced dad, and he started tapping the number into his phone.

“I make a lovely pizza. Cancel the order!” commanded Aunt Marge. Too late. The pizza was on its way. And dad took control, start to finish, of the pizza as it came in the door and until it was completely gone.

“Aunt Marge, this is your night off! For heaven’s sake, put your feet up, rest that ankle and have some pizza. It’s the least we can do,” he said. But she refused and hobbled up the stairs with a scowl plastered on her face. “That woman,” said Mary Beth through bites, “She just DOESN’T know when to stop. She’s amazing – AND with her ankle in a sling.”

That was the first night in a couple of weeks that Aunt Marge had not cooked. And although the food she made was delicious, still it was nice to be back to normal and just eat take-out -- and they all helped with the cleanup. Stella nodded her head when asked if she felt better and her tongue did look smaller…..didn’t it? They all cozied up on or around the big bed again. But everyone had trouble going to sleep this night – maybe it was the trauma of Aunt Marge falling down the stairs or the Miss Steria pooping in the lasagna incident that caused their anxiety. Who knew? Rondo wouldn’t stay in bed and kept getting into stuff and Chloe Ann was fussy – not dreamy any longer.

But Mary Beth had no trouble falling asleep. And instantly she found herself back in Gram’s garden. The dream seemed so much clearer than before. Back in the flowers, she could see her grandmother wearing a big straw hat, bending over her flowers. She could smell the sweet smell of roses and gardinias and feel the warmth of the sun on the back of her neck. She saw her Gram turn around as though in slow motion to face her. In one hand, she held a basket full of purple flowers. Holding one out to Mary Beth, she spoke in that familiar voice that was music to her ears and her words seem to float out in slow motion, “verbeeeeena.” A cloud of petals began to float toward her as the whole scene became a whirl wind.

“Stop! Come back Gram. I need you,” cried Mary Beth. But the dream was gone and in its place were the horrible red eyes -- and they darted out at her stabbing her and she woke up.

“Mom, wake up! There’s something we HAVE to TELL you!” they whispered. They were crouched down by Mary Beth’s side of the bed. Mary Beth looked at the clock. It was 2 a.m. “What is it? Stella, can you talk now?”

“Listen mom, please please listen. We have something to tell you.”

“Albert rolled over behind her raising his head above her shoulder. “Calm down Jake, we are listening.”

Big brother gave Stella a look and she took her finger and zipped up her lips. In the moonlight their little faces were white as snow and their eyes were as big as saucers. Jake told them the whole story about night in the kitchen and Aunt Marge and the monster in her bag. His words tumbled out in between sobs. “And they said that they were going to take Chloe’s SOUL.”

“What?” Both parents leaned in closer.

“Stella told her she was going to tell and Aunt Marge…” began Jake.

“And she hurt my tongue….” whispered Stella, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

When they were finished, both children collapsed into silent sobbing. Mary Beth could hardly breathe. “What have I done? How could I let a monster into my house with everyone I love inside? I believed her!” Then she put her arms around the sobbing children and, sobbing herself, hugged them to her. Dad enfolded the lot and they all remained there until Rondo broke the silence with a little baby grunt.

“You can’t tell ANYBODY mom – Promise, promise! Please mom and dad, please!”

“But why can Stella talk NOW?” asked mom and dad together.

“Stella can talk because we DIDN’T eat the food that Aunt Marge made last night because Miss Steria pooped in it,” said Jake. “Aunt Marge is POISONING us – we saw her putting white powder in the muffins before Miss Steria knocked it out of her hand. You’ve got to believe us! Miss Steria isn’t bad – she is trying to save us!”

“White powder under the cabinet…..hmmmm?? That must be why Ralph went to sleep and couldn’t wake up,” reasoned Mary Beth. “He got into it when he was in the kitchen. And I’ve been trying to get rid of that cat ever since she came into this house. What’s wrong with me? “

That’s why I am so groggy in the morning,” said Albert thinking of all the times he had dozed off unexpectantly on the train and in his office at work – not to mention the deep sleeping every night.

“That night that Miss Steria woke me up on my pillow – she was trying to tell me that someone – Aunt Marge – was outside in the hallway and I thought she was trying to hurt Chloe Ann and I threw her out! She was trying SAVE Chloe Ann.“

“The night that you saw Aunt Marge talking to the monster in her carpet bag was the night that you, (looking at Jake and Stella) were making all that ruckus on the back stairway, right?!” Albert grabbed his forehead in disbelief. Both children soberly nodded. “I should have come down and checked out what was going on! What kind of a dad am I? I just went back to bed!”

“And Aunt Marge is always trying to get alone with Chloe Ann. She was waving mugwart over her cradle when Miss Steria attacked her. I couldn’t place it at the time but now I remember that smell. Mugwart will settle you down and make you feel dreamy. She was going to slip my baby out without us knowing it by putting her to sleep! Oh when I get my hands on her….! Miss Steria was actually hiding in Chloe Ann’s crib and attacked Aunt Marge. I thought the cat had gone mad but now……”

“But Mom Miss Steria was guarding us. She caused Aunt Marge to fall down the stairs – I know because I saw her trip her,” added Stella.

“And she would have left with Chloe that day that Lois just happened to come over to visit. She was leaving with our baby! Oh dear! What would have happened if Lois had not come at just the right time?” cried Mary Beth.

“Boy, Miss Steria made sure that we didn’t eat that lasagna – there must have been some real potent stuff laced into that dish! And as I remember, she dumped over your shake, am I right?” he said, looking at Stella. Everyone laughed softly, thinking of that night that the cat pooped in the lasagna.

“Miss Steria WAS the one who dropped Aunt Marge’s slipper down the toilet that day,” added Mary Beth. “She did not want me to leave Chloe Ann with that witch! And I was feeling sorry for myself because I didn’t get a morning out. Oh my, my…..”

“Aunt Marge told Stella that she would never talk again….” began Jake.

“….and she hurt my tongue – BAD!,” sniffed Stella. Mary Beth pulled her close.

“It was pretty cagey of Aunt Marge – Stella doesn’t know how to read very many words – OR write them, so without her tongue – HOW was she going to tell us?”

“That what we were doing in the closet mom; we were going to draw a picture to try to tell you but Aunt Marge showed up behind you and we had to stop.”

“I still have it,” their mom said, “But all that was on it was a big bag with a face……Oh, I get it! That was Aunt Marge’s carpet bag with that thing that’s inside…..”said Mary Beth, as her voice cracked.

They all sat there full of terror and shock. “Now see here, my love,” said Albert. “You had no way of knowing that Aunt Marge was evil. None of us did. She just showed up when you were recovering from birthing Chloe Ann and needed some help around here. If anybody’s at fault it’s me. I should have taken more of the chores over. I should have listened to you and believed you, my sweet wife -- I was just trying to do well at work and impress my boss and maybe get a raise because we are so stretched…..” And then he took a breath and looked at his family all sitting there watching him. “But hey! That’s all in the past. Look at us. We are all here. We are going to fight back, right gang?”

And all of their faces broke into relief. Putting his clenched fist in the middle of the circle, he looked each member of his family in their faces (except for Rondo and Chloe who were sleeping peacefully in their blankets), and with a voice full of determination, he said, “Come on, gang, this calls for action!” And in the next breath, “Let’s huddle.” They all piled their fists on top of each others. “Now, how are we going to get Aunt Marge and her carpet bag friend out of our house and keep Chloe Ann and everybody safe?” Everyone went to work, putting their heads together and trying come up with a way to get Aunt Marge and the demon out of the house without having her put some kind of evil spell on them.

That’s when Mary Beth remembered her last dream. Gram was sending flower petals to her over time and the look in her eyes had an urgency to them. What was the name of that flower? She couldn’t quite put her mind around it and then….. Suddenly Mary Beth put her hand over her heart and her eyes filled with tears. “Oh Gram, you sweet thing. You told me that you would never leave me. And you didn’t! Guys - I think I’ve got it!” Dropping to the floor and crawling under her bed clear to the back, she pulled out a small floral box with a gold clasp with a lock. Then pulling up the gold chain with the locket and the key from around her neck, she opened the clasp. This is my very special box that Gram gave me when I was a little girl – at maybe age 4? I put all of my special things in it and kept it in my special drawer at Gram’s house. After she died, I opened that little drawer and it was still there.”

Opening the lid and pulling away lace handkerchiefs and sachets and an assortment of bracelets and rings, she retrieved a small bottle with a glass stopper. When she held it up to the moonlight the liquid within was a beautiful bluish purple.

“Okay, said Mary Beth, “this is what we are going to do.” With their heads together they huddled in a circle, each one coming up with a new idea until mom and daughter fell into an exhausted asleep. Dad and Jake, on the other hand, had a lot to do before the sun came up. Albert began writing notes on the backs of envelopes and scraps of paper that he found in his bedside table. Then he handed each note to his son and gave him specific instructions. “Alright, soldier, now scoot and don’t make a sound. Be back here and on your cot in 20 minutes. I know you can do it, because I know about your nightly outings.” Jake looked sheepish for a moment and then standing at attention, he said, “Hoo-rah, sir!”

Twelve and a half minutes later, Jake was snuggled down under his covers – he had followed his orders to the letter and fulfilled his nighttime duty. Now for some rest. Tomorrow was on the way.

“Okay, troops, are you ready?” whispered Albert under his breath. It was 5 a.m. – an hour before their usual get-up time. They all nodded yes and stood at attention inside the bedroom door. Trying not to awaken Aunt Marge, they quietly got dressed and assembled back in mom and dad’s bedroom. They stood in a line.

“Stella, remember - you will guard Rondo ALL DAY. Act like you still can’t talk. You know what to do with the toys, right? And stay close to mom. Jake, just to review, did you hand out those notes to our designated contacts?” A yes nod from Jake. “Wait for my signal and then meet at our rendezvous. Got it?” Another nod from Jake. “I will call the school and tell them you’re sick today. Now kids, I am telling a little white lie today because it’s an emergency. Never tell a lie EXCEPT in an emergency, got it?” Two nods.

“Okay, here we go. Remember DO NOT eat ANYTHING that Aunt Marge makes. Remember our plan and follow it! – This could mean Chloe’s life or death!” Everyone’s face told him that they knew the importance of what he was saying. “Now stand up so your mother can sprinkle you.” Mary Beth place a drop of the blue liquid out of the bottle onto each person’s head and then onto the palm of each hand.

“Rub it in,” she said. “That’s the way. I hope that lasts.”

“Okay troops, let’s do this!” This was going to be a big day. Stella, still mumbling as though her tongue was still swollen and she couldn’t talk, took Rondo by the hand and started down to breakfast. When they all got to the kitchen, Aunt Marge was already there, cooking up a storm, and she seemed to be in a foul mood. She turned with a glare at everyone – “It’s about time” she growled, even though they were slightly earlier than usual. Then she softened up and, turning to Mary Beth, “We are out of eggs! Better get to the store this morning – I’ll take care of Chloe Ann and try to get some order around here!”

“You’re looking much better, Aunt Marge,” commented Albert, ignoring her tone. “And don’t worry about the eggs, dear heart (this to his wife), I will pick them up on the way home tonight.” Turning to Aunt Marge, “You don’t have to worry yourself about Chloe Ann.” Startled, Aunt Marge dropped her spatula and as she reached for it, she tripped over Miss Steria, catching her sleeve in the burner flame. Letting out a screech, she began racing around the kitchen waving her arm and screaming in pain. Everyone jumped up from the table but it was Albert who finally caught up with her and put out the fire. Taking her by the shoulders and guiding her into the small kitchen bathroom, he looked back at the crew, and said with a wink, “Okay, guys, finish your breakfast and get going! You have a busy day ahead of you,”

That’s when everything started happening. First the phone rang. It was Hubert Tyler, Lois’ husband. It seemed that Lois was having a terrible go of it this morning with severe morning sickness and desperately needed some of Mary Beth’s peppermint tincture to quiet the nausea – and could she have it immediately? “Come around to the back door, Hubert, and I’ll give it to you.”

Dad grabbed his briefcase that was somewhat puffed out and smelled suspiciously like eggs, oatmeal, and bacon and dashed out the front door. Jake took out for the front door, Rondo threw his oatmeal on the floor, Aunt Marge charged back into the room slipping on the oatmeal and grabbing the cabinet to keep from falling down, and Stella took Rondo down from his highchair and headed for the living room toy box.

That’s when the back door bell rang. Aunt Marge made a grab at Chloe Ann but Mary Beth swept the baby out of her bassinet. “Relax, Aunt Marge, I’ve got this,” she said, giving her a radiant smile. Hurrying out the kitchen door and through the breakfast nook, she scooped up her bottles of peppermint tinctures and then she slipped out through the passageway to the back door. From the kitchen she could be heard talking to Hubert Tyler with words of caring for his wife. “Here’s the tincture. It worked wonders for me and I’m sure It will work for Lois. Tell her to call me if she has any questions.”

While this was going on, in the kitchen, Aunt Marge was acting strangely. “I am warning you,” came a snarling voice from the carpet bag. “If I don’t have the babe by nightfall, you will be sent to the master.”

“Please, please…..,” groveled Aunt Marge.

“STOP SNIVELING AND DO IT!”

“Are you talking to someone?” asked Mary Beth as she returned to the kitchen, holding Chloe tight, and starting up the back stairway.

“No, of course not. Why don’t you sit down and have a cup of my delicious coffee…..wait, where are you going?”

But mom and baby disappeared up the stairway, leaving Aunt Marge standing there holding the cup of coffee. This was very unusual. Mary Beth usually liked to sit and chat and drink her coffee – her coffee with Aunt Marge’s “special” ingredient in it that is. It always calmed her down for the day (naturally heh, heh) and by the afternoon, after two cups of coffee and lunch, Mary Beth, Rondo, AND Chloe were out like lights.

This was the time that Aunt Marge and the master made preparations for setting up a horrible “accident” that would end in the whole house burning down with everyone – everyone that is, BUT herself, the Master, and the babe. Everyone else INCLUDING that cat would burn to a crisp. Just thinking about it brought an evil smile to Aunt Marge’s face. “Oh if they only knew,” she mused, “this is their last day on earth! Heh, heh” The Master shot stench out of the bag, which brought her back to the present. “Okay, Mary Beth,” she thought with great pleasure, “you will now find out who Aunt Marge REALLY is! Your dear old Gram chased me out of her gardens and banned me from earth in her time but that time is OVER and its payback time, Susan Alice!”

“What is keeping them?” the old hag thought. Mom and baby had stayed upstairs for a while – too long. Aunt Marge waited for them to come back down and finally decided to go up herself and see what was going on. Everyone was acting a little strange this morning, now that she thought about it. Surely those brats knew what was best for them and hadn’t told their parents about…. Then picking up the carpet bag, she started up the front stairway but was stopped by the bell -- the front doorbell that is. First there was a bell, than a knock and then the sound of Polly Pinkston’s voice, “Special Delivery for Mary Beth Miller.”

Irritated, Aunt Marge turned around and walked down the stairs. Sitting down her carpet bag and yanking the door open, Aunt Marge held out her hands for the package. “What are you doing here so early? Give it to me. I’ll take it to her,” she grumbled.

“I said Special Delivery to MARY BETH MILLER!” stated Miss Pinkston in a voice that very much sounded like an order – not like Miss Pinkston at all. “I am a U. S. Postal carrier and we have rules and regulations!”

“That’s okay, Polly, I’m here now,” said Mary Beth, as she reached around Aunt Marge, grabbed the box and turned and ran up the stairs. “I think I hear Chloe Ann,” she called over her shoulder. Her footsteps could be heard as she hurried along the upstairs hallway.

Aunt Marge whipped around to follow her, stepped on one of Rondo’s toys and skated across the floor on her way to doing the splits. “Clean this up NOW, Stella,“ she growled under her breath as she pulled her legs together and, leaning on the rocker, pulled herself up to standing position. Rondo squealed with baby laughter and patted his little chubby hands together.

“Stella, bring Rondo upstairs and leave Aunt Marge alone for awhile, okay?” called their mother. The little girl took her brother’s hand and climbed the front stairs.

“Good riddance,” thought Aunt Marge. Just then, a crash was heard and the sound of a toy box being emptied on the back stairway reverberated until the last toy hit the bottom step. Aunt Marge put down the bag and hurried into the kitchen. Hmmm? That little deed had effectively blocked the stairway. “Is something going on here?” thought the old woman, with her first real sense of worry. Hurrying around to the front stairway, she was met by Miss Steria lounging on the stairway halfway up with her tail thumping the wood and her big yellow eyes staring straight into hers as if to say, “I dare you.” Aunt Marge and the Master reconvened in the kitchen.

Things were going on in the attic. Muffled voices and things were being moved around. But still Mary Beth hoped that blocking the stairway with toys and Miss Steria on the front stairs would keep the noise too far away to be heard. The old house had ten-foot ceilings, making the attic quite a distance from the ground floor and taking into effect that the walls were one foot thick, maybe Aunt Marge wouldn’t be able to notice. Mary Beth locked the bathroom door with everyone inside and began filling the bath tub full of alcohol from her tincture stores. She then opened the box brought to her by Polly Pinkston. “Good going, Jake,” she thought. Mrs. Wilson must have gotten the note that Albert wrote in the middle of the night and that Jake delivered. And it was full of exactly what she was hoping for. She mixed the crushed leaves and blossoms from Mrs. Wilson’s garden with all of the alcohol that they had found in the house last night. She had plenty in her basement storage ready to use in her tincture-making business.

She then filled all of the bottles that they had collected the night before, opened the bathroom window and waiting outside of the little window hung a slender rope with a hook on the end. Carefully she hooked each bottle of tincture to the rope, jerked it and watched as it was pulled up to the attic. Mr. Goldsmith had installed the perfect pulley set-up, just like he had done in WW II during D-Day at Normandy, when the Army rangers scaled the cliffs and saved the world. Pulling up a few bottles of tincture was a piece of cake to him, she was sure. “Good job, George,” she thought. Stella and Rondo were getting restless in the little bathroom. And true, the odor was getting pretty strong, she had to admit, even with the window open. It was then that she made a decision that she was later to regret. “Stella, run into the nursery and grab Rondo’s blankey for me. Run fast!” She pushed her out into the hallway,counting on Miss Steria to keep Aunt Marge downstairs, and quietly pushed the door closed and latched it and waited.

Suddenly there was a knocking at the bathroom door and instead of Stella’s voice, it was Aunt Marge’s. “Mary Beth WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE and WHERE IS CHLOE ANN?”

“Don’t worry, Aunt Marge, she’s in here with me and we’re just fine.”

“I have Stella with me.” She no longer sounded like Aunt Marge. “I think you had better come out.”

“It’s okay, Aunt Marge. I am just finishing my project, I will be right out. Just leave Stella right there and…..”

“NO!” boomed the voice. “Come out now or YOU WILL NEVER SEE YOUR DAUGHTER AGAIN!!”

“Mommy, mommy, she’s hurting me,” cried Stella.

“Take your hands off of my Stella or I will………”

“Will what? You groveling little weakling, you couldn’t even…” But suddenly Aunt Marge let out a cry of pain, and she dropped Stella who hit the floor with a thud. Mary Beth flung open the door and with Rondo under one arm and the baby carrier on her back, she stepped out into the corridor, just as Aunt Marge was being bombarded again and again with rocks fired from Jakes’s secret weapon - his sling shot. He was stepping out from his bedroom door, taking aim and hitting his mark, then reaching back into his bucket of rocks, loading up again and firing. Miss Steria was amid the fray as well -- clawing the old lady in every bare spot she could find. Mary Beth, still with Rondo under one arm, the baby carrier hooked firmly on her back and Stella running in front, took off for the attic stairs. Up the narrow stairs they went, into the darkness of the attic. It was only lit by a single light bulb hanging from a cord from the peak of the roof. Shadows danced around the room, but nobody could be seen. “Albert?” she whispered into the dark. No answer. She turned and waited, holding the frightened children close and trying hard not to be afraid. Waiting……

The attic door squeaked opened below and angry footsteps stomped up the narrow attic stairs. A horrible stench preceded the appearance of Aunt Marge’s face that appeared first, followed by Jake’s face. His face didn’t look so good – in fact he was turning beet red. Aunt Marge had had a stranglehold on him and then……something dark with those big red eyes came out of her bag. “Did you think a few pebbles would stop ME? OH NO! AND when the pebbles were gone, your boy here thought he could outrun me…….HA! And that stupid vile cat is GONE – you won’t see her again – she RAN FROM ME! When things got too tough – she left you like yesterday’s garbage! Oh by the way, she’s been around for a long, long time. Why she was born under your dear Gram’s porch, did you know that? Oh yes, don’t look so surprised, Miss Mary Beth. I know Susan Alice. Oh, I knew her well! She thought she had eliminated me, but here I am! She’s dead now, so I guess you will have to pay!

Mary Beth took a step towards Jake, whose face was fast turning purple. “Let him go please, I beg of you….” “

OH, NO YOU DON’T!” boomed the voice of the monster with a roar that shook the house and rattled the windows. “You will hand over the baby NOW or your boy will die a violent death,” and with that an evil laugh, “and you wouldn’t want us to do that, now would you?”

Her mind racing, Gram’s words came back to her, “No matter what, Mary Beth, back away” and forced herself against her will to back away from Jake, her son. Keeping Stella and Rondo close against her body, she backed back into the deep attic, only stopping when she and the children were under the light, as they had planned. Scared for Jake, who was now lying limp on the floor at Aunt Marge’s feet, she quickly unhooked the baby carrier, leaned down into the baby blankets and kissed the head of…. Stella’s doll! “Okay,” she said in a loud angry voice, “Hand over my son first and then I’ll give you Chloe Ann.” And she extended her arms with the baby carrier with the rubber doll hidden inside, out in front of her.

“We must see the baby first,” growled the monster. “Get over there, Evila! NOW!” Aunt Marge scuttled over to them dragging her foot. But folding the blankets back up, into her arms, Mary Beth took a short step back.

“NO” She commanded, “I will ONLY show my baby to the monster himself.”

There was a huge bellow of flames that leaped out of the monsters mouth, with a stench that burned skin and eyes of everyone there. “GIVE ME THE BABE!” And suddenly the thing shot straight at Mary Beth and just as it reached her, an avalanche of vertaine tincture, full strength, cascaded down from the rafters like a waterfall, washing over the monster and Aunt Marge, covering them with liquid.

Steam hissed as the monster’s flame was extinguished. The stench was instantly gone and replaced by the smell of verbenas. The monster howled an agonizing shriek that shook the house and rattled the window panes – and then all that was left of him was a burnt spot on the attic floor. This was followed by a blood- curdling scream that pierced the air, and ….she vanished. In the stillness that followed, the sweet sound of a melody from long ago could be heard.

Albert and Mr. Goldsmith climbed down from the rafters. Mom and Dad rushed to the limp little boy on the attic floor and began working over him. There was a stunned stillness as everyone held their breath, fearing the worst. And then a gasp for breath and everyone cheered! Jake began to get the color back in his face after taking in a few big breaths and getting hugs and shakes and showered with kisses from his worried parents and everyone else. And then they all gathered downstairs in the living room with towels to mop off the tincture that had soaked their clothing. The signal went out when Albert rang the big brass bell on the front gate. And people began arriving at #502 even though it was quite late. Mrs. Wilson passed out hot cider and Polly Pinkson held out a tray of big ginger cookies to everyone at the door.

“Mom! Where is Chloe Ann? ”wailed Jake and Stella at the same time.

“She stayed the day at the Tyler’s. Hubert picked her up this morning in a box that was supposed to be filled with peppermint tincture. And here she is now.” Hubert and Lois and Ralph came in the front door carrying a very fussy baby in their arms.

“And that fussing is music to our ears, said Albert, reaching for Chloe Ann.”

Albert had written short notes to his neighbors, telling them that his family was in danger and asking them for help. Jake was the messenger, delivering each note to their neighbors in the night. Then he brought his weapon, as were his instructions, – the sling shot – and being the excellent shot that he was, his job was to hide and wait and divert Aunt Marge so that Mom and the kids could escape to the attic and then climb out his bedroom window and climb the ladder to the attic where dad and Mr. Goldsmith were hiding in waiting. This would give Mom and the kids time to get ready before Aunt Marge and her carpet bag followed her.

Mrs. Wilson grew amazing, prize-winning verbenas in her back yard and every year she collected their blossoms to make sachets. In her dream, Gram had tried to remind Mary Beth of the importance of verbaine – verbena - in getting rid of witches and vampires. Her grandmother had even given her a small bottle of verbaine tincture to use if ever she needed it when she was a girl. She had forgotten all about it until last night. She had put it on everybody as a defense. Mrs. Wilson as soon as she read the note this morning and had immediately called her friend, the mail carrier, Polly Pinkston and the two had put their heads together and had come up with a way to get that box of verbena seeds and pedals to Mary Beth.

“I almost thought we weren’t going to get it past her!” said Polly Pinkston. “But we did!” Everybody cheered.

Mr. Goldsmith’s instructions were based on his expertise in scaling cliffs back in WWII. He met Jake and they rendezvoused on the side of the house hidden by bushes and, together with Albert, had scaled their house to the attic window. Mrs. Goldsmith stood watch as the look-out. The two men had spent the day constructing the tubs used to contain the verbaine that Mary Beth made that day in her bath tub while Jake hid out in his bedroom, waiting for the chance to use his sling shot. The tubs were placed strategically on beams spanning the peak in the attic roof with a star marking the spot on the floor for Mary Beth to stand.

The plan was for Mary Beth to somehow entice Aunt Marge to the attic using the baby carrier with the fake baby and hopefully bring her bag with the monster inside. They had not counted on Stella being grabbed or for Jake to get stuck on his window sill, but somehow it had still worked out. Mary Beth was to stand on the small star on the floor in order for the tubs to be in exactly the right spot. Gram must have known what was going to happen with Jake and that his mom would have trouble leaving his side and backing away and so, in the dream, she kept trying to tell her “back away, back away, Mary Beth,” -- and now she knew why.

“It almost didn’t happen when I saw what they were doing to Jake. But I got a grip and backed up,” explained Mary Beth. “I just hurried as fast as I could.”

And the Tylers had taken Chloe away in a box that morning and had cared for her all day. There was one thing that Aunt Marge did that worked in their favor – Mary Beth had used a small amount of the mugwart that morning for settling down Chloe until she was safely away.

Everybody praised Jake for his courage and Stella for throwing the toys down the back stairs, PLUS standing up to Aunt Marge in the kitchen. “But the real heroine is – and pointing to the big gray cat on the white pillow on the blue and white checked chair – Miss Steria,” said dad, and they all cheered. Miss Steria simply soaked up the praise and primped her magnificent tail. And then they all sat around the fireplace, with its logs glowing, drinking cider, eating cookies and recounting the day’s activities, including tales of climbing the cliffs of Normandy, as told by George. Then everyone filtered out into the starry night and sleep descended on Willowtree Lane. The fragrance of verbena and a song from long ago lingered in #502. Sleep.

The next day Miss Steria went out for a stroll and didn’t return. The whole family knocked on doors up and down Willowtree Lane but alas, she seemed to have vanished. With tears, the children went to bed in their own beds this night with the promise that they would get another kitten soon. And life went back to normal. Jake was usually late to school with his hat on sideways, the washing machine stopped washing again, Stella started talking…..and talking……and……, Mr. Miller raced to work each day and raced home, Rondo tore things up in his little 2-year old way, Chloe Ann started waking up in the night again, and Ralph kept knocking over trash cans. Life was good.

And two blocks over, a sweet baby’s cry could be heard through the lace curtains in another big old house. A familiar tail is seen disappearing through the front door that was, interestingly, left ajar. The laughter of a visiting grandmother is heard and a florist delivers a bouquet. Nice. Very nice. But wait. What is that in the attic window? Could it be? I think it is. The nasty glow of ….evil …in the form of flaming Red Eyes staring out at us…….

Beware of old ladies carrying big bags….

Wait a minute! -

That could be ME!