The Stone Cat

A new family seemed to appear one day and no one really seemed to know where they came from. I was just as mystified as everyone else seemed to be. They were different than most of the small towns people, and different meant that they were having a little trouble fitting in. They looked like they had oriental roots. Although, none of that mattered to me, except that they would need friends.

They were living in the old Apartments that shared an Ally with the shop, so I had seen them a time or two, and was determined to make them feel welcome. No matter what the other bumpkins in town did.
Today being Sunday, the shop was closed, so I decided to put together a welcome basket for the new family. I knew given where they were staying that things could not be good.

The apartments though they might look nice from the outside were far from being cozy. The inside was barely enough for a single couple let alone one with children. The two bedrooms in the top apartment had been my temporary residence when I first received the shop. A time when I had to come to terms with being the new owner after the death of my friend, the previous owner. The water never seemed to stay warm and the apartment did not heat well.

With all that in mind, I made up a rather large basket of a nice warm blanket that of course said "Welcome" so that putting it in would not make the family feel as if they were receiving charity. The family seemed rather proud. For some reason I could not imagine I felt like putting in a few cans of tuna and some other rather odd things. Some of the things I just knew had to go in to the basket. One of them was a rather odd-looking doll from the shop, with hair rather resembled a large ball of yarn than anything I had ever seen and a car that had ball shaped wheels. Then I added a few nice rather expensive boxes of teas and some wine and cheese. Hidden in the bottom I put in a few gift certificates. One of the certificates was to a general store; one where you could get all the necessities the other was a large amount for a local grocery store. I knew that the family would be out for a while today and wanted this gift to be anonymous so I quickly wrapped the overly large basket and left it upstairs right in front of the apartment door knowing that no one would ever go up there except for the family.

I hoped that they liked it. I knew they had two children, a girl and a boy. I figured I would go over and give them something personally later in the day. “What to give them?”

Then I saw it, a rather odd-looking statue. That I acquired several months ago. Seeing the statue reminded me of the first time I meet them. The couple and their children had appeared from out of nowhere very shy with inquisitive eyes of a golden brown one on either side of the parents. They had looked curiously through the shop as if they were searching for something. They had been so very polite, the children, quiet, and almost feline in grace as they wound their way around their parents legs so very like a kittens looking for attention.

All four had stopped and looked longingly at the statue of the cat that sat upon the shelf. The mom, Sy, I believe is what they said her name is, took the statue gingerly in her arms as if she was holding a baby. Then turning it and inspecting it in every way. The man and daughter made their way to the back of the shop as the mother and son stood inspecting it.

“Hello. Welcome to the shop of Oddities. My name is Hazel.”

“We thank you. We are the Neko family. My name is Ty. This is my son, Hyno, my daughter, Sha, and my wife Sy. We are new here.”

“Welcome to the community.”

At this Sy smiled, “yes your community is, much different than what we are used too. The children just started school today. They are not very happy as they are very different, they feel out of place. “

“I am sure given time that they will make a few friends. Most of the children I know take a little time to adjust to new things.” I replied with a wink to the daughter who looked up at me.

As I looked back up again the mother and son had joined us. She was still holding the cat statue to her as if sheltering a child, and for an instant, the cat almost seemed to be alive and purring. I blinked, rubbed my eyes and it seemed to waver between real and stone.

“Would you mind if I gave the children a treat?”

The mother gave a smile of consent as did the father, and both children came from behind their parents legs shyly at first then with more excitement, as I pulled the suckers from behind the counter. They both seemed to laugh when they seen the two in the shape of the pink mice and that is what they selected.

“I believe you have made a couple of new friends,” laughed Sy.

"That is fine as long as they do not hurt anything they are always welcome in the shop." Then it finally sunk in that they were the family that had moved in the day before in the apartment. “Did you just move in to the apartment around the corner?”

“Yes, I had hoped that the move would not disrupt your business.” Ty replied as his smile faded somewhat.

"Oh, not to worry. It didn't hurt a thing." I smiled again hoping to show all the sincerity that I felt. “You know I have an area that I would like your children to see. “ I lead them near the back where I had setup a small area for children of my customers to feel comfortable.” You may play with anything in this area.”

Sy turned and placed the cat statue delicately on the counter. When she did the eyes in that statue seemed to dull and the stone seemed to become even more of a dull gray than I had ever seen it. It almost felt as if the statue were sad.

“Could you tell us anything about this piece?”

“Well, I purchased that from an older man about 2 months ago. He seemed to think that the cat was a very bad totem or so he kept insisting to me. He said that his grandfather had somehow gotten the statue in some kind of feud with a neighbor when he was a very young man. He told me that his grandfather was an Japanese immigrant. He had loved his Grandfather and had tried to keep the Statue although he said he could no longer keep it. He went on to tell me some very strange tales of the statue. I just figured he was a bit superstitious. I really could not see the piece as evil, it really is beautiful, and the eyes convinced me when I looked at it that there was no evil in it. I thought maybe that it was something to do with the way the statue had come to be in the family, all the bad memories that it conjured up when they looked at it.”

“That is quite an amazing tale.” Ty said as he looked into the eyes of the statue.

“I would love to hear the stories he told you. I am sure they are very amusing, although I am sure they might have been just a bit unsettling for him.” Sy said as she placed her hand just on top of the cats head just behind the ears.

“Could you tell me how much you would like for this piece?” Ty asked looking from the cat to me.
“Well, I know that the gems in the eyes are jade and given the size of the statue and the age of it. I would say 250.00 would be the cheapest since that is what I gave for it. I have not had it appraised yet so that is only an estimate.”

Ty looked over at Sy and the light seemed to leave their eyes just a little. “We are interested. If you can hold it, we will find a way to pay. There is no amount that would be too high, it is to us priceless.”

“I promise I will put it back for you. Could you tell me why it is so high a value to you?”

Ty hesitated, “Well, in looking at this piece it matches to one, our ancestors used to speak of when I was a child.”

Even though I knew that there was probably a lot more to the story, I felt like I was intruding. “I understand.”

The children had made their way back to the counter. “Thank you, for allowing us to play with your toys,” they said both at once.

“I used to live in that apartment you’re in. There is not much room so, if you ever want to come down and play with the toys; even if I am closed just knock on the little door on at the side of the building. I live upstairs and I will hear.”

Both Ty and Sy smiled, and nodded their approval to the children. “Thank you very much, Hazel” Sy said as she turned.

That had all been only two days ago and the children had come over both days although they never came when I was closed. The funny part was every time the children came in the Stone Cat almost seemed alive. The eyes seemed to shine more. One time the girl asked if she could see the Stone Cat. I brought it out and both her and her brother looked at it and made soothing sounds like they were with a real cat.

Somehow, in just a few short days this family had become very important to me. I hoped that they liked the Welcome basket. I just could not make them pay for the Statue.

I was not a very good oriental cook so I made lasagna since I heard both children talking about how much they loved it when they were playing. I wrapped the statue, placed it inside the bottom of a box placed piece of cardboard over it, and put the Lasagna and Garlic bread and salad in the box. I knew that the family was having a hard time; I watched the father jump start the car the day after they moved in and then all of them climbed in and headed out.

I watched, I knew that they would be back soon although how I knew, I could not tell you. When I seen their car pull back in I counted to about 50 giving them time to get back inside and headed for my door.

I knocked on the door. Sy answered the door and the welcoming smile I received when she seen me was more than enough of an answer. “Please come in”.

“You know I just love to make lasagna but I always make enough for a small army. I was hoping your family would like to share my lasagna with me?”

About that time Ty came into the room. His eyes light up, as he inhaled deeply “Hazel, it is you that honor us! Truly.”

“Hyno, Sha could you please come in here and help to get the table setup for our guest and meal?”

The children seemed to almost roll out of their bedroom like a couple of kittens playing. Then they looked up at me, “Hazel, you make lasagna?” Sha asked just as Hyno asked the same question.

“Yes, It was one of my children’s favorites when they were little. Now that they are grown I do not make it that often as it seemed to be one of the meals that I could never make right for just one person.”

Ty and Sy sat the table and I placed the dishes I had brought in the middle.

Ty looked at me then, and said simply, “Thank You.” At that Sy nodded to me to let me know that she thanked me too.

All of us sat down to eat. The meal was very quiet and the children eat with chopsticks, something that I was not used too and I guess after about five minutes of me trying to figure out how to hold the sticks, they figured it out as well. Sy quietly got up and came back with a fork for me. I turned red with embarrassment but accepted the fork with a sigh of relief.

The children cleared the table and left to play in their room. After they were gone it sounded like two kittens playing in the room. The sounds coming from there made me laugh.

Sy looked at me, with a smile. “I am glad the children are so content, they are very hard to handle when they are upset.”

Ty took Sy hand and turned to me, “Hazel, you know we really appreciate the Welcome Basket.”

“Well, I’m not sure, I….”Before I could finish what I had started to say.

Sy looked over to me with knowing eyes. “We know it was you. We know that you wished to help and for our dignity to stay intact. You are very kind.”

“Well, you folks deserve it.” I said feeling ever word that I said.

Ty, looking like a mischievous cat playing with a mouse, smiled, “How do you know? We could be dangerous, we could be difficult.”

“That would not be the first, all of my children were, and I love them anyhow,” I replied with a huge grin on my face.

“Hazel, how is it that someone as young as you have children grown” Sy asked?

“Sy, I guess I just got started really young. “ I was just a bit embarrassed talking about myself. So I quickly moved to a different topic. “I got to thinking, I know you folks are getting started and I did a little bit of research. It seems that ‘The Stone Cat’ was actually a family piece from Japan. I also found out that the family had that piece stolen about 100 years ago. The Neko family, to be exact. If you could tell me the name of The Stone Cat, I could verify that you are the owners.”

Both Ty and Sy looked at me as if I was growing horns. “Hazel, did you research, all about that statue” Ty asked?

I thrown just a little by this, “Well, I looked into its history if that is what you mean.”

Sy, looked over at me, “Hazel, if we name it, you may not be safe.”

The confusion must have shown clearly on my face, because some how the children had come out and were sitting on either side of me without me ever noticing that they had came in.

Sha grabbed my hand. “It’s ok, Mom, she is innocent. Neko Koneko, will not hurt her.”

As if on cue the box that held the cat statue seemed to grow bright then dim then bright again.
That seemed to jar my senses. “That was the name. I found.” I turned to pick up the box and found the cat looking up at me as if alive. “Here this, no He? Is yours.“

As if by magic, the cat was alive as it jumped out of the box and into Sha’s arms. She held it tightly, and the cat purred its green eyes glowing in contentment.

I looked around and the room itself seemed filled with cloud, my eyes seemed to be heavy and the next thing I knew I was waking up in my bed.

My mind seemed to be a muddled mess, the last thing I that I seemed to remember was the cat’s eyes. That startled me and I sat up in bed. How in the world did I get back here?

Sitting up brought back my memory. I remembered that after the room had looked like it filled with smoke; Sy had thanked me with tears in her eyes and that the family seemed to, well, they seemed to vanish, I picked up the dishes that I had brought over, everything was empty and clean, and had left in a daze.

Several days passed and I never seen the Neko family, although I did see a gray cat with green eyes and a couple of smaller tan tabbies with golden eyes every so often. No one in town seemed to recall the family and no one seemed to miss them. The children in town seemed to remember them, though they could not recall seeing them leave. The stray cats could have been just a coincidence. Right?
It seems that my shop attracted some strange things, this being no exception to the rule.