Zimmer: No Longer Stranger...

10

Amelia awoke that morning surprised to find herself still on the couch. She’d slept uninterrupted. A deep and dreamless sleep. One of the first in a very long time. She’d also forgotten to set the alarm clock. The wrapped gift from her mother still lay unopened on the coffee but her Dutch courage from the night before was gone.

It was already going on 9 o’clock.

She rose and stretched and made her way to the stovetop to make an espresso.

It seemed that the worst of the cold front had moved on, as the sun peeped in from outside, barely a breath of wind and a favourable day for gardening if ever there was. She was expecting the professor in an hour or so as he’d volunteered to help her in the courtyard.

Checking the time, and assuring herself that she had some to spare, Amelia cut herself a square of the honey cake and made her way, cake and espresso in hand to the patio table, now returned to its usual spot. There she browsed the morning’s paper, half distracted and her mind not truly in it, in-between a sip here and a nibble there. Moist and honey-soaked, the comforting warmth of the spiced cake was a welcoming relief to ease her back into the day ahead.

Changing out of her attire from the eve before, into a well worn t-shirt, an old Pixies fan shirt she usually slept in, and apron and gumboots donned, as per the professor’s advice, Amelia made a second espresso noting that the professor should be arriving shortly. She was eager to see what he might have up his sleeve this time around. Barely having downed the last swig of her espresso, the doorbell rang.

There was the professor on her doorstop with a box of plants and a bag of potting soil. Amelia had to laugh at his t-shirt. With three garden gnomes and the words, “Chillin’ with my Gnomies” printed on it in faded purple against a turquoise cotton, she would’ve expected it of nobody but the professor.

“Top of the morning to you, Amelia! I hope you don’t mind but I took the liberty of bringing Val’s gardening hat in case you needed one... One best be careful on a morning in the garden. It can sneak up on you! Especially with your complexion. As fair as a cherry blossom in Spring, just like my Val would say! Now let us off to the courtyard with these treasures!”

“Could I interest you in an espresso first?” Amelia offered as the professor plopped the kaki gardening hat on her head in a show of familiarity and friendship that she was only too secretly thrilled to receive.

“How could I say no? Yes, indeed!”

Espressos finished and chitchat out of the way, it was time to get planting.

“Since your courtyard is pebbled with a small bed surrounding the periphery, and not much ground as it were to work with, I felt some foolhardy creepers that pack a fragrant punch or delightful pop of colour would be the order of the day. Excuse me a moment while I get the trellises out of the car.” Amelia offered to assist the professor as the trellises were brought in and secured against the walls.

Digging a hole along the first wall facing the kitchen, the professor let Amelia do the honours of planting the first creeper in the ground, filling the hole and surroundings with the potting soil.

“Now, here we have Clematis montana rubens. A pinkish form of the usual Clematis montana and a vigorous rambling climber with twining stems that thrive in full sun or partial shade. Be sure to water this beauty thoroughly during dry weather until she’s better established. Next up is the Wisteria. I have here a specimen that likes full sun or partial shade as the Clematis, and one that will flower with beautifully fragrant, purple blossoms in a few years if you have the patience. But once you witness this blossoming, I’m sure you’ll find it was well worth the wait!”

And so the second plant was duly placed in the ground and topped with the potting soil. Amelia regarded her hands. She held them up to her nose and took a long whiff of the earth rich tones of the damp potting soil, soaking in the sun on her back.

“Now this final addition... I have to admit, I am something of a die-hard fan. And for good reason. Trachelospermum jasminoides, or star jasmine, is native to China and Japan, but an industrious grower wherever she may find herself. Potently fragrant, I have here a rather matured specimen from my garden for you, and one guaranteed to bring the bees, our eternal friends on this planet, flocking to her in bloom. Now for one final touch, and you my dear, no longer have a courtyard, but a semblance of a garden.” Jack disappeared past the kitchen indoors, returning with the white amaryllis from Renate. “We can always plant her later but for now, while she boasts with a flower, let’s put her front and centre, just like so.”

And with that, the terracotta pot and plant were placed on the patio table, both where they belonged, in their spot in the sunshine.

It was a small start, Amelia supposed, but still, as she surveyed their effort for the morning, it made her happy. Happy. There it was again.

She remembered suddenly that she had not seen Ailuros yet.

What would Ailuros think?

It was not quite a garden in the way of those she’d seen in the gardening magazines she’d trawled for ideas, intimidating as most had proven to be. All the same, it was no longer a dreary and blank space, but one with life promising to blossom at the edges, perhaps even with the potential for more life beyond, like bees and lady bugs and butterflies she hoped too. In some ways, so much like her, she felt. Better to blossom late than never at all. Words her grandmother had spoken...

The professor long since returned to his own garden to get on with the chores and daily demands, and Amelia showered and dressed in her new cropped blouse with sequin detail and high-waisted denims and plimsolls (Note to self in the footwear department), Amelia marvelled for the second time that day that she was yet to see Ailuros.

This time, she decided to find the feline out. Calling and calling, listening out for a meow, Amelia found her by the front door, as if waiting on her.

“And now what do you want, you peculiar creature? You know, you could just use the window?” But Ailuros remained, a plaintive meow here, and yet another there, looking up with her betwixt expression. By the cat’s bidding there seemed nothing for it but to open the door. This time the cat moved to the welcome mat but again, sat down and meowed at her mistress. Out of sheer curiosity, and before she had scrutinised or rationalised her own behaviour, Amelia grabbed the house keys and stepped out onto the pavement, waiting for the cat to make the next move. And follow her onto the pavement in suit Ailuros did. After a brief pause, Ailuros jauntily trotted down the pavement before sitting and turning to face Amelia, again imploringly.

“So the cat wants to take me for a walk? Well, of course, Amelia. How normal. But then, what the hell else am I gonna do... May as well just see where this leads us, I guess.” And with that Amelia walked behind the cat, leaving befuddled expressions wherever they passed and more than a couple of giggles and open stares from the regular drifters outside of Bennie’s Bodega.

Down the hill and passed the corner shop and again up the hill on the other side, Ailuros finally led her to her usual bench by the park and jumped up into the lap of a man Amelia could not make out from behind.

“Well, hello! Long time, no see… Fancy meeting you here!” The stranger spoke and immediately Amelia knew that Irish lilt. It was the stranger, the man with the poem, from before. Tal? That was his name wasn’t it?

“Um, hello.” Amelia spoke lest the stranger catch her unawares and think she was simply staring at him, mute. “So you know the cat?”

The stranger turned around and fixed Amelia yet again with his disarming green eyes. This time they took on an even darker shade with the navy button-up shirt he wore. But again, no shoes.

“Ah, you again. International woman of mystery. So I suppose we share an acquaintance.” He stroked the feline comfortably on his lap like they were old pals. “She’s been taking advantage of you too then?” He turned to direct the question at the cat, in turn oblivious of the intimation and purring away contentedly.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Is she your cat?”

“Oh heaven’s. No. We have been a couple of star-crossed roamers her and I. But I thought since some time had passed that she’d moved on to greener pastures, new foraging grounds. And yet it seems, she has not ventured altogether from our ol’ stomping grounds, eh, girl?” By now Ailuros had curled into a ball on his lap and was dozing off peacefully to his rhythmic strokes. He’d lowered his tone as if by way of accommodating her.

“She showed up at my door on April fool’s day, and has been shacking up with me ever since. I thought I better give her a name. Ailuros. But I guess you’d have a name for her too?”

“Oh no. She was a wildling to me. One who allowed some intermittent affection here and again. So she’s just Cat to me. And I’m just Human to her I guess you could say. Tal by the way.” He reached out a hand and at first Amelia felt a little hesitant, then embarrassed for her hesitation, till finally she returned his handshake.

“Yes, I remember. Amelia.” He nodded with a knowing smile implying he too had remembered.

“I have to confess, I am without a poem, Amelia. Today, mmm, today I think I am a reluctant atheist. An unusual fit for me. If you knew my history. So I thought I might come to the park in search of an answer. And the universe has given me a cat to contemplate. Strange message, wouldn’t you think?”

“Well, yes and no,” she answered. She felt surprisingly at ease, almost candid in his company. “I thought she was the universe’s way of playing a prank on me if I’m totally honest. I never grew up with pets. My mother didn’t care for them. So one goldfish in my earlier years and no more after that. I don’t know quite how or why, but Ailuros certainly has a talent for changing people. Well, me anyway.”

“Mmm... Well then... Please, if you would like, take a seat. If you would like, of course.” Still a little uncertain but deciding to go with her gut, Amelia sat on the other side of the bench. Her gut seemed to think that the stranger seemed harmless enough, perhaps even worth the chance for all he did intrigue her.

“Have you heard of the myth of the shattering vessel?” he asked just as suddenly as she had sat down. Amelia mimed no in response with a shake of her head. “For all I may feel like a reluctant atheist today, as a lover of stories, and dabbling in the spiritual realms over the years, by one or another waylaid commitment after another, I am naturally drawn to myths, to scriptures, to philosophies of being. There is one in particular that speaks to me, and strangely enough it is not rooted in Catholicism as my upbringing was, but in Judaism. And that of course is a whole other story for another day... But back to the myth. It is the Myth of the Shattering Vessels. And it goes something like this… Do you mind?” He turned to fix her with his emerald gaze yet again, so very earnest. Amelia again shook her head to urge him to carry on.

“As God drew his breath, so he created darkness. Then he spoke light into being and sent 10 holy vessels filled with this primordial light into the universe. Too fragile to contain the divine light they carried, the vessels shattered, scattering holy sparks like grains of sand. The myth holds that it is humanity’s purpose to gather these holy sparks, to bring them together, so that the world may be repaired.

“This to me, is such a grand universal gesture… That my purpose might be to gather together broken fragments, to make whole again. Of course, it can sometimes feel like an impossible ask, a cruel joke from a cruel God, to try to heal such a fractured yet glorious world, so gargantuan as it seems some days. That is why today, I am glad for this cat. I needed a friend. And we have history. And this in itself, is a small good thing. In all days, bright or dark, I ask only for a small, good thing. And maybe the cat brought you here too. For us to meet again. And perhaps that is just another small good thing, wouldn’t you think?” Amelia turned her face downwards and smiled and nodded in reply.

“That is a lovely myth,” she eventually said, after some time hadpassed between them in silence. “My mother loved mythology. Have you heard the myth of cats and the gods and the fate of human kind?”

“No, I have not. Please, do tell us. Don’t leave us in suspense now, eh, Cat?” He placed his hand lightly on the little head of the dozing feline.

And with that, Amelia was bubbling over with stories she’d long since forgotten she knew, surprising none more than herself. Before she knew it, the light was beginning to fade a softer shade of orange and the daily dog-walkers emerging from their front doors with their canine companions in tow.

“Mmmm... Best you and uh, Ailuros, be heading home. She is not so very fond of dogs. Thank you, Amelia, for an enchanting afternoon.”

“Oh my. Of course!” For all her talk of time and cats and mythology she had all but lost track of time altogether. “Will I find you here again?” She admonished herself almost as soon as she’d said it. What was she thinking? And what did she know of this stranger, really?

And yet, wasn’t there that sense with some people, that you simply couldn’t explain it but somehow, they just felt like a homecoming, a place to return to time and time again...? How some people even smelled like home? Senses taking over and making sense of something that was beyond the logical mind to fathom...

“Oh you’ll find me here tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, for now,” Tal reassured her, before she had much of a chance to qualify her question. Well, she supposed, a public place like the park was relatively harmless. And Ailuros clearly liked the guy.

“Well, goodbye then,” she said, stretching her arms out as he placed Ailuros carefully in her embrace, the feline allowing Amelia to carry her all the way back home... If it were the cat’s home after all, or only a home for now, just as the stranger seemed a transient figure so the cat left her wondering. A pair of kindled gypsies the two of them. She hoped not, well, of the cat at least. The creature was weaving her spell on Amelia with each passing day, and she didn’t know anymore what she would do without the company, she who had grown up not ever having had a cat to call her own.

“Please stay,” she begged of the lazy feline in her arms, wishing she could make it so if she asked the universe oh so very nicely. “Please choose me.” And with that, she slowly lowered the cat onto the sofa with a kiss on her soft head. Ailuros twitched her left ear but seemed otherwise unaffected by the world at large.

Walking quietly away, Amelia decided to sample a tasting of the professor’s gin, whipping herself up a late afternoon gimlet for the patio while the sun mellowed out and said farewell to the day. A kick to it, for she had not touched hard liquor for some time, she surveyed all around her, their efforts for the morning, with a certain degree of pride.

She could almost smell the jasmine in the air already.

One day, one day soon.

This was hers.

And it was well and truly a small, good thing.

And as Tal had said, wasn’t that all you could ever ask for?

A Wisteria Vine in Full Blossom