YOU'RE ALL MINE - ch 3

YOU’RE ALL MINE - ch 3

(the magic of Midnight)

^ ^

Mia loved high school. She made friends easily and found she had no problems learning the advanced courses. It wasn’t school where she had the problem. It was Midnight. At first, Midnight was not permitted inside the strict ‘no pets allowed’ school. Not being able to accompany Mia to her various classes had the feline extremely frustrated. Mia had her own frustration, not to mention embarrassment each day when she heard Midnight’s excruciatingly loud meowing outside the windows. She knew everyone else heard it, too.

At the beginning of her third month as a freshman, she noticed Midnight sitting quietly at the back of her classroom. Although she was more than puzzled, she did her best to ignore her familiar. That is until the walk home.

“Midnight, how on earth did you manage to sneak into school without anyone seeing you? Don’t tell me you have the power of invisibility!”

“Well, Mia, here’s the thing. Remember when you first heard me speak and asked if others could hear me? Well, mo chailin daor (my dear girl), people may not be able to actually ‘hear’ me speak but I can still get my thoughts to them. Like your teachers, for instance. They frowned when they saw me walk into school with you, but I told them I was there to keep you from any harm. They nodded in agreement, and well, I was allowed inside. I will admit that all they heard was a soft meow, but their minds heard the words. It’s a trick we familiars have.”

“Oh, Midnight, you are a sly one! But thank you for always watching out for me.”

They were approaching the edge of town when Midnight abruptly stopped. “Mia,” she said excitedly, “do you smell that?”

Mia shook her head. “Midnight, I smell nothing but the pastries from the bakery we just passed.”

“Mia,” the feline almost shouted, “stop thinking about your stomach! Think of mine. I smell fish. I do believe the fishing boat has returned with an enormous amount of things for me to chew on.”

“Midnight! Don’t even think of pillaging that captain’s boat again! He wasn’t happy last week when you attacked the container before he could close it. But I’ll go into the bakery and get some treats to bring home, then we’ll head to the pier and ask what if he has anything fresh for us to buy. Will that work for you?”

Mia could have sworn that her feline friend pranced beside her. She thought to herself, “since when do cats ‘prance’?” She shrugged her shoulders and headed for the bakery.

After making and paying for her selection of sweets for her parents, she turned towards the door and was immediately pounced on by Midnight, who meowed loudly enough to startle her and Mrs. O’Dowd, the bakery owner.

Being caught, now, off balance, Mia took a few steps backwards, until her back thumped against the wall.

“Oh, my Mia, mo chailin daor (my dear girl), are you alright? I’ve never seen Midnight act that way.”

As Mia regained her balance, a small truck came crashing through the front window of the bakery.

“Cad e an diahbal?” (what the devil) Mrs. O’Dowd said as her heart pounded in her chest.

Mia stood stunned, staring at the old, dark, dented truck. She looked at Midnight and said, “Midnight, if you hadn’t pushed me out of the way, that truck would surely have hit me. Thank you, a thousand times, over.”

If cats could smile, Mia was sure hers did as she heard her say, “Oh mo chailin daor, that’s one of the reasons I’m here.”

As Mrs. O’Dowd was calming herself, the truck door opened, and her suspicion was confirmed. She placed her hands on her wide hips and sternly said, “Kevin O’Leary, ya drunkin’ eegit! You’ve gone and destroyed my window once again. This time, ya took out the wall and door with it. You’ll have a very hefty bill waitin’ by the end of the day.”

Kevin O’Leary produced a loud burp followed by a hiccup. He staggered as he turned to survey the damage.

“Aw, Nelly.” He spoke in a slurred manner. He staggered again and bumped into the truck door that he opened just seconds before. “Tis a celebration, that what it is, Nelly. I’ve been to Paddy’s. His girl’s going to have a wee one. I had to celebrate with him, now, didn’t I? Anyway, saints be praised, Nelly. At least I haven’t died.”

Nelly O’Dowd lowered her head and placed a hand on her brow to keep Kevin from seeing her laugh.

“Kevin, you’ll be the death of me, yet. Walk home. Get some lads. Come back and pull your truck out of my shop and then, board up the window! Then, we’ll talk about what you owe me for a new store front.”

Mia and Mrs. O’Dowd watched Kevin stagger and trip down the street. Once at the corner, he stopped to decide which way to turn. Finally, he turned towards his right and disappeared out of sight.

“Wow, Mrs. O’Dowd, from that conversation, can I safely assume that this happens often?”

“Mia, you can assume correctly. Keivn finds reason to celebrate about once every three months and his truck always manages to find its way into my shop. One day, he’ll realize how lucky he is that he’s my cousin. If not for family, with what he owes me for repairs? Well, let’s just say he’d be in worse trouble. Here, take your sweets home and enjoy the rest of your day. I’ll call Micha at Fish for Today and tell him to have a special treat ready for Midnight seeing how she saved your life. Go now! Use the back door. I’ve got to sweep up this mess.”

Midnight pranced two steps in front of Mia as they headed to the pier.