The Doll in the Garden

Chapter 6

Snowball

I STARED AT the cat, and he stared back. His eyes were large and pale green, and his fur was pure white. He looked every bit as real as Oscar, and as he approached me, he began to purr. Timidly I extended a hand and the cat sniffed it slowly. This time he acquainted himself with every finger before he let me stroke his sleek side.

As the cat rubbed himself against me, I glanced at Kristi. Still hiding her face in her hands, she was crouching a few inches away. "Is it gone?" she whimpered.

"He's just an ordinary cat," I told her. "Can't you hear him purring?"

Keeping her eyes squeezed shut, Kristi moved her hands to cover her ears. "Make it go away, Ashley," she begged. "Make it go away!"

Ignoring her, I let the cat climb into my lap. While he sniffed Anna Maria's hair and clothes, I examined the leather collar he wore around his neck. On a little brass tag was the name Snowball. Not very original, I thought, but when I said it aloud, he purred louder and bumped his face against mine.

"Kristi," I said, "stop acting like a baby. He's no ghost. He must belong to someone. He even has a name - Snowball."

Kristi slowly opened her eyes and stared at Snowball. She frowned and shook her head, obviously unconvinced. "Nobody around here has a cat like that, Ashley."

"Maybe he jumped out of a car or something." I smiled at Snowball and he meowed and rubbed against Anna Maria. Then he slipped out of my arms and sniffed the box. He went over even inch of it with his little pink nose, his body tense, his ears pricked. When his nose had told him all it could, he looked at me. For a second I expected him to speak, but he swung his head toward the house instead and crouched beside me, his ears pressed against his skull.

At the same moment, Max started barking. Peering through the jungle of rosebushes and weeds between us and the lawn, I saw Max running toward us with Miss Cooper hobbling behind him.

"Quick, hide Anna Maria!" I thrust the doll into the box and Kristi shoved it deep into the brambles. I was sure Miss Cooper would take her if she saw her. After all, we'd found the doll on her property.

Snowball followed Anna Maria into the shrubbery, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid Max. The dog crashed through the underbrush and chased the cat across the lawn. Snowball ran past Miss Cooper like a white streak and disappeared under the hedge separating her yard from the empty lot.

It would have been smart to stay hidden, but I was worried about Snowball. As I plunged out of the shrubbery, shouting at Max, Miss Cooper waved her cane at me.

"You, girl!" she cried. "Didn't I tell you to stay out of the garden?"

"Call your dog back!" I shouted. "He'll hurt Snowball!"

Miss Cooper stared at me. "That cat doesn't need any help from you or me," she muttered. "The devil takes care of his own!" Her voice quavered, and she clutched her cane so tightly the knuckles on her hands whitened.

Max came back then, and Miss Cooper called him to her side. He dropped to his haunches and growled at me as I edged away slowly, determined not to let the dog know I was scared of him. Suddenly Miss Cooper's hand shot out and caught my arm.

"Where's that Smith girl?" she asked.

As far as I knew, Kristi was still hiding in the garden, but I shook my head and pretended not to know what the old woman was talking about.

"She had better not be in my roses." Miss Cooper let me go and hobbled toward the garden. Prodding the shrubbery with her cane, she called, "You come out of there, girl, or I'll send Max in to get you!"

"Miss Cooper, Ashley, what's the trouble?" Mom was coming down the steps, and Miss Cooper wheeled about to face her.

"You better get some control of this girl," the old woman told Mom. "I already talked to you once today about her. Like I said, I'll have you out of here next week if she doesn't start behaving!"

Without another word. Miss Cooper snapped her fingers at Max and the two of them walked away. Mom stared after her, but she didn't try to stop her. As soon as Miss Cooper's door slammed shut, Mom turned to me.

"Ashley, what's going on?" Mom pushed her hair behind her ears, and I noticed the long silver)' threads shining in the dark waxes. Ever since Daddy died, I thought, the gray hairs had multiplied along with the tiny lines around her eyes that saddened her face.

Feeling guilty for taking her away from her work, I put my arms around her waist and hugged her.

"I'm sorry, Mom," I whispered. "She's such an old grouch."

"I know, honey," Mom said. "But if she evicts us, where will we rind another place? Until I get a job, we have to be very careful with money."

"I'll try not to bother her," I promised, but I knew the very fact that I walked on the floor over her head annoyed Miss Cooper.

"Let's go inside," Mom said. "I made some iced tea."

Although I hated to leave Anna Maria in the garden, I followed Mom toward the house. Miss Cooper was probably watching me from her kitchen window, just waiting to catch me, her finger poised on the telephone dial ready to call the real estate company.

As I started up the steps, I glanced back and saw Kristi run across her yard. I was glad she, at least, had escaped Miss Cooper's anger. ^

***

That evening while Mom and I were sitting on the porch, I glanced at the garden, darkening now as night approached. Poor Anna Maria was lying alone under the bushes. It wasn't right to leave her there with nothing to protect her. Later, when Mom was asleep, I decided I'd sneak outside and bring Anna Maria into the house where she'd be safe.

"Is that the cat you saw?" Mom asked suddenly.

I peered into the dusk and glimpsed Snowball's white fur as he vanished into the garden. A little shiver ran up and down my arms and lingered at the back of my neck as Miss Cooper's words echoed in my ears. Was Snowball the devil's creature?