Анна Керн: A Paw-sible Theory

“How did you know she was here?”

“I have a police scanner I sometimes listen to. I was listening this morning when I heard the 911 call go out. I knew it was Alyx’s address. What happened? Is she okay?”

She got a short version of what happened. “We don’t know how Alyx is. We’re waiting to hear.”

“Would you like me to stay and keep you company?”

“Listen, I appreciate the thought and I’m sure Alyx would also, but I don’t think Ethan would feel comfortable with other people here. I’ll come to the store later to talk to you and Bernice and make some plans for our schedules. By then, I’ll know more about Alyx’s condition.”

A man in a white coat introduced himself to Ethan as the doctor on duty, and Ethan placed the tote on the floor. Maggie excused herself and Charvette, appearing to look for something in her purse, slowly walked away.

“I’m Dr. Casey, and I’m happy to report your mother’s vital signs are stable, and she’s out of danger from the head wound. We ran some diagnostic tests on her and neither the CAT scan nor the MRI shows any brain damage. We now have her hooked up to an EEG to report her brain activity and, at this point, the prognosis is good. She could regain full consciousness at any time or she may do it in stages with no permanent damage, and it goes without saying, the sooner the better.”

Happy to hear she was going to be all right, I purred maybe a little too loudly and Maggie nudged the bag with her toe.

“Any questions?”

“I’m sorry, Doctor Casey,” said Ethan, “I’ve heard the terms before but I’m not sure I really know what those tests are. Can you give us a little more detail?”

“Sure. We do a wide variety of testing to help determine if brain injury may have occurred. There are two types of neurological tests: those that examine the structure of the brain, and those that examine the function of the brain. The CAT scan and MRI look at the structure of the brain. The EEG, electroencephalogram, examines the function of the brain. The CAT scan is superior at detecting fresh blood in and around the brain, and we’ll repeat that one again, just to be sure. Does that clarify it?”

“Yeah, thanks,” said, Ethan.” Can we see her now?”

“Yes, of course you can. Stay as long as you want and don’t worry about leaving, we will certainly call you if there is any change.”

Maggie and Ethan went into Alyx’s room in the Intensive Care Unit and sat quietly side-by-side, alert to the beeps and blips of the monitors. Reassured that Alyx was going to be all right, I didn’t see any reason to stay. Imprisoned in the tote bag as I was, I couldn’t see anything anyway. Besides, I was hungry and needed to use the litter box. Next time, I’d go it alone, but for the present, a soft meow was enough of a reminder.

“Listen,” said Maggie. “I have to get this cat out of here before we get thrown out and barred from returning. I know you have to go to the police station sometime today, so I think it will work out for both of us if I leave and take care of a few things, and when I get back, I’ll give you a ride home to pick-up your car so you can go talk to Detective Smarts. How does that sound?”

“Alright, I guess.”

I popped my head out of the bag, took a last look back before leaving the room, and saw Ethan pull up a chair next to the bed, take Alyx’s hand, and start talking to her.

“There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats.”

–– Anonymous

CHAPTER SIX: Too Much Said

Maggie put the phone on speaker while she refilled our empty food and water bowls.

“Ethan, it’s almost seven o’clock, where are you?”

He said he was still at the police station but would be leaving shortly and asked if there was any change in Alyx’s condition.

“No, Ethan; she was the same when I left her,” Maggie answered in a matter-of-fact way. The conversation ended; she slipped the phone in her purse; and picked up the magazine she had brought along and left the room.

Finished with dinner, I padded to my favorite chair for a nap and found it occupied; Maggie was sitting in it, her head bowed almost as if praying, though she had never struck me as the religious type.

She lifted her head when I landed on the arm of the chair. “She has to wake up, Murfy. I can’t handle it all. Ethan might be in trouble. Smarts asked too many questions about him, and I may have given him too much information.” She shook her head as if trying to shake the thought out.

Tired from all the activity, I ambled to my favorite hiding spot under Alyx’s bed and tried to sort out what happened as best I could. I woke up when I heard Ethan’s voice, surprised that I had actually fallen asleep. Apparently, all that thinking had exhausted me, and I realized that I didn’t have as much control over my natural make-up as I thought I did.

I scampered to the living room so as not to miss anything and in case I did, Misty was already there.

“What happened at the police station? Why did it take so long to give a statement and get fingerprinted?” Maggie asked Ethan.

“To begin with, I waited for over an hour for Detective Smarts to show up and when he finally did, we were constantly interrupted by some other cop or ringing phone.” Ethan sat forward a little. “He said they interviewed the neighbors as to what they saw or heard. And they checked the house and pot fragments for finger prints.”

Ethan hesitated a moment as if the thought had just occurred to him, and panic crept in his voice. “You know, they were asking me questions like I might have had something to do with it.”

Maggie appeared to dismiss the idea. “That’s absurd. You? Hurt your mother?”

“It’s not that ridiculous; they interviewed me for two hours and kept asking me the same questions over and over. They took my fingerprints and Smarts commented on the fact that there was no evidence of a break-in; whoever it was got in with a key or someone let them in. Since I made the pot used to hit her, my fingerprints are all over it and the rest of the house. Add to that, nothing was taken, nothing was disturbed.”

“How do you know it’s one of your pots?”

“I recognized the fragments. You told me at the hospital that they fingerprinted you too. Did Smarts say why?”

“He said it was because we were the ones who found her, whatever that means.”

Ethan walked to the window and looked out. A puzzled look wrinkled his brow when he turned to face Maggie.

“He asked me about my bout with depression. He wouldn’t tell me how he knew, but I guessed it must have been you. The neighbors don’t know. Why did you tell him?”

“It just came out. He asked if you and your mother did any fighting and one thing led to another. I’m sorry, Ethan. I shouldn’t have said anything but even if I hadn’t, they would have found out somehow.”

“I thought medical records were confidential. I guess it doesn’t matter now, but I don’t think they would have. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they checked my credit and found out I’m in over my head.”

“I don’t know anything about that. Does your mother know?”

He shrugged. “I think she might have an idea. That’s what she wanted to talk to me about this morning.”

He slowly paced back to his seat. “I don’t get it. What do you think happened, Maggie? Do you have any idea who might have wanted to hurt Mom?”

“I don’t know; your mom never even hinted at any problems with anyone, and I certainly never saw a problem with any of the people we know.”

“What about that confrontation with Dan Ramsey at the Downtown Merchants Association meeting a couple of months ago?”