Songbird Season Read online

  “It’s perfect.” Cassie nodded her approval once the table was back in place. “I’m so glad you got this one, Melinda. The blues and greens pick up the colors in both of these rooms, but it’s simple and soothing. I think the scroll-patterned one would have been too much against the floral rug in the living room.”

  “I agree.” Melinda took a deep breath of satisfaction as she looked around. “Besides, nothing can outshine these crazy bluebirds. I think it’s time to give that new porch furniture a test drive. I’ll get the lemonade.”

  Susan and Cassie murmured their approval as they collapsed into the two wicker chairs. Melinda had scoured both pieces with the hose before she brought them into the front porch, but hadn’t had time to recover their cushions. She wanted to make a matching bench pad for Horace’s old porch swing, whose wooden slats could use another coat of white. Someday …

  “That breeze feels good.” Susan kicked off her sneakers on the gray-painted floor, then started to giggle. “Melinda, I’m so glad your parents helped you swap those storm windows for these screens. What a pain that was, last fall. You’re a good friend, one of the best, but I don’t know if I could go through that again!”

  “How silly I was to assume they were interchangeable.” Melinda shook her head as she settled into the swing. “A half hour, nothing to it. Was I wrong.”

  Cassie laughed. “And then Sunny got stuck inside the porch, remember? When you opened the door he flew out, and ran off like his tail was on fire.”

  Melinda set the swing into motion with her bare foot. “Poor baby! I don’t think he’ll try that again.”

  They fell into an easy silence, the squeak of the swing’s chains accompanied by the early-evening sounds drifting through the screens: the contented chirps of the birds gathered at the feeder, the distant calls of the ewes as they grazed in the front pasture, the hum of a vehicle rolling past the end of the lane.

  “I think my foot is asleep,” Susan finally said.

  Melinda winced as she straightened her left leg. “I didn’t realize how much my knee hurt from this morning, all that bending. But the garden’s planted. I never could have finished it so fast on my own.”

  Cassie took a sip of her lemonade. “Melinda … that Chase guy? He doesn’t seem so bad.” Her voice rose with confidence. “I know you said he’s been pushy and whatever but, I think he likes you.”

  Melinda adjusted her neck on the rolled-up towel that was the swing’s only pillow. “He’s trying to make a sale, Cassie. That’s all.”

  “Did he really help you load sheep manure?” Susan lifted her lemonade glass off the floor, as the wicker chairs didn’t come with a table. “That’s nasty stuff. I’m personally glad your orders are caught up. That was nice of him to help.”

  “Desperate, maybe.”

  Cassie leaned over the arm of her wicker chair. “Why not give this guy a chance? He’s obviously interested in you. Why else would he keep coming out here like this?”

  “Because he has to!” Melinda sat up. “Because no one but me is going to want that print. Chase is only doing his job. Nothing more.”

  She tried to keep the edge out of her voice, but couldn’t. Cassie had always been a bit flighty and a hopeless romantic, even though she’d never cheated on Jim while they were together. But now, the stakes were so much higher. And she didn’t seem to care.

  “Why can’t you see the possibilities here?” Cassie’s tone was suddenly sharp. “Why not give him a chance? You’ve been here, what, almost a year now? And the only man you’ve gone out with, as far as I know,” there was a note of frustration in her voice, “was that Evan guy. He sounded nice, too, but you pushed him away.”

  “Cassie!” Melinda was on her feet now. “He was married, for God’s sake!”

  “Separated, I thought you said.” She shrugged. “Fair game.”

  Susan’s mouth fell open.

  “Yeah, Evan was a real catch.” Melinda threw up her arms. “Just so you know, he went back to Madison, with his daughter, to work things out with his wife.”

  She didn’t like to think about Evan. She’d been lonely, in a way she hadn’t really acknowledged until he came along. Things between them had barely gotten started when she realized she had to end it. And when she did, he disappeared out of her life so fast it made her dizzy.

  “I am living my life, the way I want to live it.” Melinda was so angry she could hardly speak. “I’m happy with the way things are. There’s not many available guys around here, Cassie.”

  “My point exactly! Evan was trying to make a fresh start,” Cassie said defensively. “You can’t expect people to …”

  “You never even met this guy!” Susan couldn’t stay quiet any longer. “You have no idea what was going on.”

  “You’re right about that!” Cassie had tears in her eyes. “Maybe you did, Susan, but I didn’t! Melinda, I hardly hear from you anymore! And this cute pilot? He’s practically fallen out of the sky and landed in your yard. But you’re rude to him, and you send him away.”

  Melinda pointed at Cassie. “You need to grow up, and fast. This isn’t some silly movie. After what happened with Jim? How he cheated on you? Don’t fool yourself, not everyone has your best interests at heart. The sooner you realize that, the better.”

  Cassie was stunned into silence for a moment. Then she glared at Susan, and her face began to flush. “You told her, didn’t you!”

  “Yes, I did.” Susan raised her chin. “Cassie, you need to rein it in, all of it. The guys, the partying …”

  “Don’t tell me what to do! Everyone, for so long, has been telling me what to do.” Cassie paced across the porch, the tears streaming down her face. “I was the perfect wife, the perfect mother. I gave up my career to run the PTA, and volunteer at the art center, and do all the other things Jim and his rich friends thought I should do. And what do I have to show for it? Not much.”

  “You have Matthew, and you have Clara.” Melinda tried to put a hand on Cassie’s shoulder, but she brushed it away.

  “I just want to have some fun, for once. To just be myself, I guess. But I don’t even know who that is! And Melinda, you’re so free here. Don’t waste your life, being alone …” Cassie sputtered to a stop.

  “We’re not talking about her now,” Susan interrupted gently. “She’s learned to drive a stick shift and vaccinate livestock, I think she can handle herself. Cassie, you can’t let Jim do this to you. Don’t give him the satisfaction of taking away what you have left.”

  Cassie wiped her face on her arm but didn’t answer. The screen door banged behind her with a sharp slap, and her angry steps echoed away and up the stairs.

  CHAPTER 20

  Melinda and Susan decided to give Cassie her space for the rest of the evening. They left a note on the kitchen table, then walked down to the asparagus patch to harvest a fresh batch for the stir fry Melinda wanted to make for dinner. The tender wild shoots paired perfectly with the dish’s savory beef and spicy sauce, but Melinda could hardly enjoy it past the first bite. She shouldn’t have lost her temper with one of her oldest friends. But how could she get Cassie to see things for what they were, not how she wanted them to be?

  The stray dishes in the sink the next morning indicated Cassie had come downstairs sometime after Melinda and Susan went to bed. Melinda braced herself for another argument at the breakfast table, but Cassie was quiet and withdrawn, her eyes swollen with spent tears. Melinda tried to mend fences while Susan kept their coffee cups full, but only partially succeeded.

  “I’m not mad at you, girls. I know you’re just trying to help,” Cassie finally said, but Melinda wasn’t convinced she had taken their warnings seriously.

  The awkwardness added an urgency to what Melinda had hoped would be a leisurely painting party. They prepped the walls in Horace’s old bedroom in what had to be record time, and the new paint was rolled on by early afternoon. Melinda was pleased with the room’s transformation, and glad to have one more task crossed of
f her list. But she felt relieved, and then guilty, when Susan announced it was time to leave if they wanted to get home before dark.

  “I’m sorry this visit wasn’t as fun as the last two,” she told Susan as they leaned against the picnic table, Hobo at their feet. Cassie was still upstairs, packing her bag. “I hope you won’t be afraid to come back.”

  “Of course I’ll come,” Susan said quickly. “And I hope Cassie will, too. But if not … well, we’ve been friends for twenty years. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

  Cassie hugged Melinda before they left, but didn’t say a word. Melinda and Hobo watched them leave, a storm of emotions filling her heart as Susan turned out into the road. When might she see them again? She’d been drifting away from her long-time friends, as much as she hated to admit it. Too much had changed, even if some of it was for the better.

  And then, all of the sudden, Melinda knew exactly why her old life seemed like it belonged to someone else. It was the first weekend of May; exactly one year had passed since she was laid off from WP&S. The memories rushed back, and none of them were good.

  She knelt in the gravel and wrapped her arms around Hobo, who gave a sympathetic whimper and thumped his tail.

  “Why does everything have to change, sooner or later?” But she had to smile through her tears. “Well, I guess you don’t, do you? Tell you what. Let’s go see if your room is drying out. Maybe by tonight, I can open the door again. We’ll get things back to normal, OK?”

  But as they turned back toward the house, Melinda wondered if her life would ever be the same.

  ✽✽✽

  Melinda might have been struggling with change, but her garden was full of plants energized by their move outdoors. Freed from their tiny plastic pots and flooded with days of full sun, they stretched out new stems and pushed forth tender leaves. She watered them carefully every morning, trying not to hit them with the full pressure of the hose.

  These plants embraced every day. They didn’t reflect on the past, and they didn’t worry about future. “That’s a good way to live,” she told Sunny and Stormy Wednesday morning as she wandered up and down the garden’s rows. “Maybe I should try that sometime, huh?”

  The cats had settled into the ferns on the north side of the garage to watch Melinda work from a safe, and dry, distance. Hobo remembered his part of this routine, watching the spray of the hose from the end of every row and hoping to catch a sprinkle when the water flowed in his direction.

  Melinda made sure every plant got an especially long drink that morning, as tomorrow was the spay clinic. Once her chores were done, there would barely be time to pick up Gertrude’s cats and escort them to City Hall. She’d taken tomorrow off from Prosper Hardware, and had asked Aunt Miriam for another, bigger favor.

  “My goodness, what is in that container?” Miriam wrinkled her nose that afternoon as Melinda lifted a small plastic bucket from the store office’s refrigerator. “Even with the lid on tight, I swear I can smell it from here.”

  “A mix of raw hamburger, chicken gravy, and tuna. Or, in other words, kitty crack. I’m so glad you’re willing to help me trick Gertrude’s cats into their carriers. Karen and Doc are busy getting everything ready at City Hall. And it’s going to take more than one set of hands to get this done.”

  “Well, it’s for a good cause.” Miriam squared her shoulders as Melinda handed her the aromatic container. “I’ll make sure to hold this thing tight when we get into the truck. I can about imagine the mess it’d make in Lizzie’s cab if it spilled.”

  Gertrude’s cats would enjoy a special supper, but then have to remain in their crates overnight to make sure they didn’t eat anything else before receiving anesthetic prior to their surgeries. Several stacks of old newspapers and sacks filled with small food bowls waited behind Lizzie’s seats, and the truck’s bed was crammed with scrubbed-down carriers and humane traps borrowed from area vet clinics and rescue groups.

  “Here, you’ll want these.” Melinda handed her aunt a pair of thick cotton gloves. “Well, let’s get this done.”

  Gertrude was watching for them from her front porch. She waved when Lizzie turned in the driveway, but then wrapped one wrinkled hand around the other in an anxious gesture.

  “Do you think she’s going to help us?” Miriam asked as Melinda cut the engine. “She’s so tender-hearted about her kitties, this might be too much for her.”

  “I don’t know,” Melinda sighed. “I almost wish she wasn’t here for this. If she gets upset, the cats will sense there’s trouble and it’ll make this even harder.”

  “Oh, my, so many cages.” Gertrude took a step back when she saw the carriers. “Are you sure they need to be crated up all night? They’ll be so scared, those poor babies! And hungry, if they don’t get breakfast in the morning.”

  “They are going to be just fine.” Melinda tried to sound confident as she stepped around the cats crowding her feet. Most of them were trusting and friendly, but that could change in a second when the crates were lined up on the back porch. “Tomorrow night, once they’re alert and back home, I’ll bring them some more treats, OK?”

  Gertrude only nodded, and picked up the black cat rubbing against her legs. “The sheriff’s deputy came by yesterday,” she said suddenly. “He said he was proud of me, that I was doing the right thing.”

  “And you are.” Miriam reached over and rubbed the black cat’s chin. “Some of your kitties are going to be upset for a little while, but tomorrow’s going to be the best day of their lives.”

  She reached for two carriers, and Melinda grabbed another pair. They toted them around to the back of the house, then made a few more trips.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Miriam asked quietly as they set the last two traps on the open porch. Gertrude was still out by the truck. “I had no idea there were so many cats here. Oh, this is just overwhelming.”

  “Well, Karen and I have identified which ones are females. Those are our priority. But the boys can come too, of course. The really tame ones shouldn’t be too hard to get into the carriers once the food’s inside. As for these traps, we’ll just have to set them and hope we get lucky. We have ten crates total; I’d love to fill them all.”

  The smell of the hamburger mixture sent the whole colony into a frenzy. The moment the first carrier door latched and the wailing began, Gertrude became emotional and hurried inside.

  “I guess we’re on our own,” Melinda said as she picked up one of the more-socialized females and scooted her into a kennel. “Maybe that’s for the best.”

  Another of the girls sneaked out of Melinda’s arms and dashed away over the railroad tracks, her tail puffed with fear. Melinda groaned and put her hands over her face. “There went our chance with her. She’s on to us now.”

  “You tried, honey.” Miriam shook her head understandingly. “You already got most of the ones you wanted. Let’s get the cages set and open these last two carriers, see who else wants to come along.”

  They covered the four humane traps’ trip plates with newspapers, then put the food dishes far in the back. Before Melinda had the last one ready, there was a loud bang! from the first cage. The large gray tom howled when he discovered a metal door blocked his escape.

  “Got him!” Miriam raised a fist in triumph, then quickly draped two old towels over the trap so he wouldn’t be so frightened. “Hang in there, buddy, it’s going to be O.K.”

  A skittish female slipped into the last carrier. Melinda reached over and latched the door just in time. “That feels good. Makes up for the one that got away.”

  Another trap was quickly occupied. Melinda set out the cats’ regular food, and she and Miriam covered the other carriers and traps with blankets. Cocooned in their cages, the cats began to quiet down.

  “I just hope Gertrude stays inside the rest of the night.” Melinda shook her head with worry. “She promised to not let any of them out, no matter how much they cry.”

  “Hopefully she will leave them be
. I think once we go, some of the rest might decide they can’t resist the smell of that hamburger.” Miriam pointed to several cats studying the two empty traps, their noses flexing with curiosity.

  Melinda turned toward a stocky buff-and-white cat, obviously a male, lounging on the far edge of the porch with a nonchalant air. “Hey you, over there. You need to go, too. When I come back in the morning, I expect you to be ready, OK?”

  ✽✽✽

  He was, much to Melinda’s relief. Even with all ten crates full, there were still several cats roaming Gertrude’s back yard. Only two dared approach the porch when Melinda and Gertrude put out the morning ration of kibble.

  “The other ones are so afraid.” Gertrude clapped her hands. “Here, kitty, kitty! Oh, I hope they come and eat.”

  “Once I get their friends out of here, they’ll lose their fear. And I’ll have the others back this evening.” She gave Gertrude an encouraging smile. “Ten ready to go! Just think of how many kittens they could have had, the rest of their lives, if they weren’t getting fixed today. I’m proud of you; really, I am.”

  The older woman beamed at Melinda’s praise. “Oh, I know it’s the right thing to do. But how I love the little ones, as much as the big ones! At least, I still have Muffin’s brood. Their eyes are open now, and they’re starting to toddle around, there under the porch. Want to see them before you go?”

  Melinda begged off, explaining she had to get to City Hall and help check in other patients once these cats were registered and in the queue. She loved kittens as much as anyone, but the magnitude of the problem weighed on her as she inched down Main Street, mindful of her precious cargo. Ten getting the help they needed, but four more already arrived. And they’d have to fix Muffin as soon as her babies were done nursing, or it would start all over again.