Karen wrinkled her nose. “Don’t mind her. She’s got all those hormones. I think her daddy letting her watch all those movies about weird animals that got irritated and killed people affected her brain.”
“Irradiated, Mom,” Ashlyn corrected. “Trust me, if an irritated animal is going to take you out, it will be me. And I’m going to be late. If I didn’t have to carry everything, I would walk. Thanks a lot.”
Boy, Roxie was glad she didn’t have teens. Her dad had a smile on his face. Had she been that bad as a teen? She’d definitely had a mouth on her, and she’d absolutely fought with her mom.
Karen tilted her head her daughter’s way. “There’s a reason we get them as babies. So, I should go. I’m going to back up to Florence Street and make my way back around to Main. I promise I’ll put her in drive as soon as I can.”
Roxie had some questions since the route Karen was planning was to the west and the cat had come from the west. “How do you know the cat didn’t already cross that path? When is it okay for the cat to cross? Because when you think about it, the cat’s been running all over town. We don’t know exactly where she’s been. I think it’s a she. She has a kind of feminine wile about her.”
Karen frowned. “I don’t know how I would know. You’re right. That cat could have gone anywhere, come from anywhere. How would I know where the cat’s been?”
Oh, dear. “I was joking. I’ve been watching that cat all day. Definitely, you can feel safe going down and around to Main. You’re good. You know what? I’ll even make sure you can back up safely.”
She hadn’t forgotten what it was like to direct traffic. She could do it. The last thing she needed was Karen Travers to take up residence right here on the middle of Elm Street because she was too worried about where that damn cat had been.
“Are you sure?” Karen asked.
An SUV pulled up alongside Karen and Janice Herbert rolled her window down. “Karen, is everything okay? Deputy, whatever she did, it was probably because her husband is a dumbass.”
Roxie shook her head. “She’s not in trouble.”
“That cat walked right across the road in front of me.” Karen pointed to the end of the road, where the cat had gotten up and twitched her tail.
Would there be a voice of reason? Roxie wasn’t holding any hope. Janice was known for her strongly worded opinions and her strongly brewed tea. She wasn’t known for reason.
“Oh, no,” Janice said in a totally unreasonable tone. “I got my grandbaby in the car. I can’t go through that. She just got over the crud, and honestly her hair isn’t coming in the way I want it to. I think she got Johnny’s family hair. This baby doesn’t need any more bad luck.”
“Deputy pointed out that we don’t know where the cat’s been,” Karen said, anxiety in her voice.
“Mom, it only works if you see the cat and then purposefully cross the path.” Ashlyn leaned over to look Roxie’s way. “I don’t believe this crap. It’s a cat. It’s a kitty who is only trying to live its life. But I do study up on urban legends and superstitions. They make good horror films. Kind of like my family. Hey, could you give me a ride? I’ll sit in the back and everything. You could turn the lights on and I might make it in time.”
Roxie wasn’t going to set that precedent. If she did, every kid in the parish would treat her like Uber but without the tips. Besides, she now had two cars that wouldn’t drive the direction they should. If she let them, they might set up a camp here so Janice’s grandbaby got better hair or something. It was a typical day in Papillon. “Nope, I’m going to get you all on the right path. There’s no way to make a U-turn so we’re going to do this your way. Just go slow. I’m going to make sure no one plows into you.”
She jogged down to the intersection and motioned for Karen to back up first. After all, her daughter needed somewhere to put all that teen angst, and the AV Club was better than partying. She held out her other hand to stop a truck coming down the intersecting road.
The man behind the wheel stopped and hung his head out. Jerry Nichols. He ran a business on the other side of the square. “Everything all right? Is there an accident?”
Normally she would think this was an example of rubbernecking, but not here. People here knew everyone, so she viewed the question the way Jerry likely intended it—does someone need help?