Mister Sunshine

A cold breeze aggressively brushed against Estelle’s back, piercing through her own hand knitted forest green cardigan she wore. Instinctively, she pulled it tighter against her and crossed her arms against her chest. The colorful leaves along the lopsided sidewalk she walked upon on Penny Street bore hues of reds, oranges, yellows, and greens that whooshed as they spiraled upwards towards the maple trees they had originally fallen from by the breeze.

Not much farther… Estelle comforted herself.

The October sky above where she walked looked as if it was wrestling between being night or day; dark gloomy clouds mixed with hues of pinks and oranges shining through, creating streaks across the darkening sky. As if the light was saying,

“I’m still here.”

Estelle enjoyed walking along these streets, especially this time of year.

Oftentimes she found comfort in the crisp air; the smell of Autumn as she worked on organizing her thoughts as she walked.

So much grief still lingered in her veins.

Many times she has turned to walking as much as she has painting, writing, singing, dancing, moving her body to the point all she could feel and focus on in that moment was her sweat all over her and the need to cleanse her skin of it all.

At what point will it cease to hurt?

Or is grief merely a new constant acquaintance she will have to–

Just then in mid-thought a murder of crows flew overhead calling out into the breeze.

Estelle always liked crows.

Many times she has put out shiny pieces of metal pendants, stones, along with the sunflower seeds on her back patio to make friends with them.

It also dawned on her that she was back to the house.

The two story lemony yellow house with the sapphire blue front door that her and her husband, Theo, had bought all those 20 years ago.

The house that no longer felt like home to her despite the circular sign that still hung from the front door that had “HOME” written on it in her fancy swirly handwriting.

At her young age of 50, Estelle has come to understand that home isn’t a place, it’s a feeling. For when Theo passed on nearly three months ago now, the feeling of home died with him.

Estelle sighed, slowly made her way along the stepping stones from the street sidewalk, and climbed up the three steps that led to the front door.

Right as she reached for the door handle, she heard it before she saw it.

“Meoooww….”

A cat?

It was bright orange, with dark orange and white stripes all over it and it cautiously walked its way towards her.

It climbed up the steps, its amber eyes meeting her hazel green.

It came over to her and rubbed up against her shins, purring.

If Theo were ever a cat, this is how he’d appear, she thought to herself.

He too had sweet amber eyes that shone bright, short ginger hair and a matching beard that had begun to turn silver in some patches as he had aged.

Or at least that is how he had looked before the cancer had taken over and torn him apart from the inside out.

Grief swept over her from the memory.

With unshed tears in Estelle’s eyes, she knelt down to stroke the cat’s soft furry head.

“Would you like some warm milk, my dear?” She managed to ask him.

As if the cat understood, he blinked up at her and purred even louder.

Chuckling to herself, she nodded, “Very well, then.”

She found the hideaway key under a pot of her magenta colored mum flowers she had been gifted by her only son, Henry, (who had grown up, and had a family of his own now) and opened the door.

The orange cat padded in and she could have sworn she saw him intentionally take a moment to wipe his paws on the entry rug before continuing onto the dark purple floral runner rug that extended from the front door into the open kitchen, where she’d kept the ceiling fan light on, so she didn’t have to come home to a darkened house.

She followed him in, after placing the hideaway key back in its secret spot, gently closed the door and bolted and locked it behind her.

He had paused at the end of the rug, looked back over his shoulder as if saying,

“You coming?”

Estelle chuckled, “You seem to know the way…”

He blinked back at her, waited until she was just behind him before continuing on his way to the butcher block kitchen island. Once he got to it, he jumped up and landed on top of it on his first try and immediately started cleaning his paws and face.

Estelle went to one of the top kitchen cupboards adjacent to the refrigerator and got out a green teacup and a saucer that went with it.

“How about tea for me, and warm milk for you?”

“Meow.”

Knowing there was still water in her tea kettle from earlier, she simply turned on the burner where the kettle still sat upon the gas stove. Then she got out a small pot she often used to make gravy and placed it on the smallest burner, igniting it and turning it down as low as it could go without going out.

She then opened the fridge, took out some milk she’d got this morning from the town’s local dairy farm’s store, poured about ¼ cup of it into the pot and began to stir it with a wooden spoon, while humming “You are my sunshine…” to herself.

After a few minutes, she dipped her pinky finger into the pot and nodded to herself,

“That oughta do it. Not too cold and not piping hot so that it won’t burn going down.”

She picked up the small warmed pot of milk and slowly poured it into the saucer and gently placed it in front of her new friend.

The cat purred as he lapped up the warm milk, his fuzzy tail raised upwards in delight.

The tea kettle began to softly whistle, Estelle went, turned off the burner, and opened what Theo and her had dubbed their tea drawer. They had tea from several places they had traveled to and picked up along the way. Chaga mushroom tea, raspberry hibiscus, peppermint (which had come from their own garden last summer…), among several other various kinds of flavored teas.

“Hmm, what do you think Mister? Peppermint tea with some local honey?” she found herself asking the cat.

The cat paused in lapping up the milk as if to actually think about it, blinked at her, then meowed in agreement before continuing on enjoying his treat she had bestowed upon him.

Mystified by the cat’s response, Estelle finished making her tea and brought it over with her, placing it on the island before sitting down at the tall dark brown wooden cushioned kitchen chair adjacent to where the cat sat, finishing up his milk.

A stray auburn curl that had somehow escaped from the rest of her single long side braid, brushed her cheek.

While tucking the stray hair behind her left ear, she looked at him closely.

He still looked young.

No collar around his neck, perhaps he is one of the neighborhood cats that enjoy going on their own independent ways?

Yet, she hadn’t seen this one around before today.

He finished up the milk, licking the saucer clean, and then proceeded to bathe himself again, making sure to clean away any milk that lingered on his whiskers, purring all the while.

“What shall I call you?” Estelle bemused.

“Pumpkin? Harold? Garf, short for Garfield?”

The cat stopped abruptly from his bathing and looked at her dumbfounded, as if saying how about no to all of those suggestions.

Estelle chuckled.

“How about Sunny?”

The cat cocked his head to the side, with a faraway look in his eyes, blinked and then came closer to her and purred.

She scratched his head, “I’ll take that as a yes, Sunny.”

With her other hand she lifted the now cooled teacup to her mouth, the smell of peppermint and honey wafting into her nostrils, and took a small sip.

Her eyes closed as she relished the taste of it.

She saw Theo’s toothy grin then in her mind and felt as if she could hear his soft deep voice, asking her, “How does the peppermint tea taste this year?”

Estelle found herself replying out loud to the question, her eyes still closed.

“It’d taste better if you were here with me…”

“What makes you think I am not?”

She stilled as she heard his voice reply in her mind.

“Is this a dream?”

“Only if you need it to be, love. Just know, I am always with you…”

Estelle opened her eyes, and Sunny’s amber eyes stared into hers as he purred.

Tears slid down her cheeks and she gently placed her forehead against Sunny’s, then kissed his head.

“Thank you…” she whispered.