Six Cats A Slayin'

I picked up my current book and settled down to read. I had chosen an old favorite by Margery Allingham, The Tiger in the Smoke. I had read it at least twice already, but I’ve always thought that my favorites were worth rereading, and more than once. In a way, I considered it spending time with a good friend. By doing this on a regular basis, I knew I was missing opportunities to read new books and perhaps discover new favorites, but the pull of old friends was irresistible.

I drifted off at some point. When my cell phone rang, my book lay atop my chest and my neck felt a little stiff. I grabbed the cell phone, vaguely noticing that the time read a few minutes past ten.

To my surprise, the voice on the other end was not the one I expected. Sean said, “Dad, sorry if I woke you, but I need to talk to you.”

“What’s wrong?” I came fully awake, terrified that something had happened to Alex and baby Rosie.

“There’s no emergency,” Sean said. “Only this is the first time today I’ve had time to myself long enough to call you.”

I could hear the exhaustion and stress in his tone. “Alex isn’t doing any better?”

“No,” he replied. “I’ve been trying to talk to her about a nanny, but she says she won’t listen and starts crying and saying I think she’s a terrible mother. I just don’t know what to do. I’m not sleeping, I’m up to my eyeballs in work with no end in sight, and I can’t deal with Alex anymore. What should I do to help her? We can’t go on like this much longer.”

I had feared that the situation might come to a crisis point like this. Alex desperately needed help, but the poor child was so wrapped up in misery she was pushing away any attempt to help her. Always a high-achiever in everything she did, she couldn’t cope with a situation she wasn’t able to control. Her loved ones were going to have to intervene to solve the problem.

The question was, how?

TWENTY-ONE

I overslept the next morning by nearly three hours. Having been up until about two a.m., I couldn’t drag myself out of bed at the usual time.

During my conversation with Sean last night I had suggested he call Alex’s best friend, Caroline, right away and ask her to come to the house to talk to Alex. They had known each other since the fifth grade and had been like sisters ever since. I went over as well. Stewart was in the kitchen when I left, and I hurriedly explained where I was going and why.

At the last minute I decided to take Diesel with me. He was fond of Alex, and she of him. I thought his presence might help somehow.

Caroline was there when I arrived. She already had the situation in hand, as I expected she would. She was deeply shocked by Alex’s condition. Alex hadn’t said anything to her about her struggles. Caroline’s husband’s sister-in-law, Anne Marie, was a therapist. Caroline had called Anne Marie to assist, and she arrived not long after I did. While I looked after Sean and baby Rosie, the two women took care of Alex. Diesel stayed with them for half an hour or so; then he came to find me and baby Rosie.

Much of the time I spent with my son was spent listening to his self-recriminations. Sean insisted on blaming himself for not having asked Caroline for help sooner. I didn’t try to argue with him. Once he’d had a chance to rest and could see things more clearly, I would talk to him.

Anne Marie turned out to be a godsend. As Caroline told us later, the therapist dealt kindly but firmly with Alex and got her to agree to go to the hospital. Alex was badly run down and at the point of complete collapse. Around one thirty Sean and Anne Marie took Alex to the emergency room, and Caroline stayed with Rosie. She insisted that I go home, and knowing how capable Caroline was, I didn’t argue.

The hospital planned to keep Alex overnight for observation and to also get her rehydrated; then they would let her go home. In the meantime there was stored breast milk at home for Rosie, along with formula if needed.

I felt depressed when I got up late the next morning. Christmas would be upon us soon, and Alex might not feel up to being with a large group of people. To celebrate without her seemed wrong somehow, but I knew she would feel guilty if she found out that we didn’t because of her. I would figure something out. We could hardly all crowd into her bedroom to have a party.

I had completely forgotten that Frank was due this morning to install the video camera to monitor the front door. By the time I remembered and hurried downstairs to see if he was there, he was finishing the setup. I found him in the living room. The kittens were playing noisily, and Diesel lay beside the cage watching them. I rubbed his head briefly before addressing my son-in-law.

“Frank, I’m so sorry, I completely forgot you were coming,” I said. “I didn’t get to bed until two this morning.”