Have you seen my kitty? {Julie}

[Rachel Cohen R6]

Terror and panic occupied every part of Rachel’s body. It had settled there for hours since she had woken up and found Baby gone. At first she had thought he was in another room, not usual for him, but it was worth a shot. But he wasn’t in any of the other rooms, nor was he outside, and they called the neighbors and they didn’t have him either. She felt awful. She felt sick, anxious, scared, and irresponsible; she could only imagine how he was doing, and reacting. Most likely as sick, anxious, and scared as she was if not more. She didn’t know if he had run away, and if he had why? She treated him well; she fed him and loved him unconditionally. If he had been stolen, she didn’t know why someone would have. She just didn’t know. She was feeling tired on top of everything else. Rachel and her mother spent all morning putting up posters and making phone calls. Now all they could do was wait. They had no other options. Rachel was sitting in her mother’s lap still in her pajamas. Her face was red and blotchy from the tears. Her mother rubbed her back trying to calm her with soothing words. Rachel couldn’t help feeling responsible for whatever reason he was gone. He had been her responsibility. He had been a gift, a gift for a very special occasion. Now he was gone. New tears fell down her face. They tasted salty and warm on her lips. “Ssh ba- sweetie.” Her mother was saying catching herself before she had said baby, but Rachel knew what her mother had meant. The room was silent except for that. Mother and daughter sat together both feeling the hurt. After all Baby had represented the time Rachel had endured since her father’s death. She had been a child and had been raised without a male figure in her life. It was like a survival prize. But she had been a little kid when it happened. He was her mother’s soul mate; she knew the missing of Baby affected her as well.


The phone rang causing both Cohen’s to jump a little. “I’ll get it.” Katherine said in a gentle whisper as she went to pick up the phone in the next room. Rachel used the time to curl up in a ball and close her eyes letting her misery cover her like a blanket. In the distance she heard her mother’s eager “Mhmm, and ‘thank you, thank you.’ Rachel figured it was Emily. She was after all her mother’s best friend. Emily had helped Katherine so much the months that followed Nolan’s death. It had been a frantic time, Rachel remembered that it had rained a lot, and that so many people came to visit them dropping of food and running errands. But she remembered Emily the best. Emily had been over everyday. She was Katherine’s pillar. Rachel was glad Katherine had someone like that; she was sure the mysterious absence of Baby the kitten struck up her own memories of her husband’s death. At least Emily was there again to help Katherine; after all it wasn’t easy. Moments after another ‘thank you.’ Followed by a ‘good bye, see you soon.’ Her mother entered the room smile on her face. Rachel didn’t think it was a smiling matter, she didn’t want her mother to be happy, she wanted too chunk a pillow at her head. “What did Emily want?” She asked, deciding throwing the pillow wasn’t a bright idea. “It wasn’t Emily.” Her mother said and Rachel was confused. Who else could it have been? “It was a young lady who says she found Baby.” Her mother told her as if she read her daughter’s mind. Rachel was speechless. “Are we picking him up?” She asked finally having her voice back. “Yes, go take a shower and get dressed.” Her mother instructed and Rachel didn’t argue she trudged up the stairs thankful for the second chance.

After the shower and change of clothes she was feeling refreshed and clean and excited. She had found a new energy knowing she would be getting her cat back soon. As she made it back down the stairs she thought about how all her bad luck always changed for the better. She smiled for the first time that morning. She walked into the living room looking for her mom but she wasn’t there. She then peeked into the kitchen and her mother was there talking on the phone. She was laughing and talking about Rachel. This was a bit embarrassing and she rolled her eyes. “Mum?” She asked questionably. “Oh, sorry have to go, I’ll call you back. Tell Leo I said hi, and tell the kids hi as well.” Katherine said getting off the phone with Emily. “You ready to go mom?” Rachel asked eyeing her mother’s wardrobe choice. “Uhm, well I’m sending you by yourself, I have plans with Emily today. A car is picking you up; in fact it’s already here.” Her mother said with a mix of excitement and an apology. Rachel only laughed; it was exactly like her mother. “Alright, I’ll see you when you get back. Tell Emily I said hello.” Rachel said sighing. Her mother agreed. “I’ll do that, now hurry.” She said shooing her daughter outside to the car that in fact was waiting for her.

She climbed and the driver sped off leaving Katherine behind. He pulled up to a café and Rachel paid him with the money she somehow gotten from her mom. She climbed out and noticed she had some left over, enough to buy a coffee to sooth her nerves. She found and table and called for a waitress, the woman was young and smiled disappearing promising her coffee was on its way. Now all Rachel had to do was wait. Easier said then done.

[Julie Paige McGreggor]

“Hi, my name is Julie McGreggor and I’m calling about your cat. I think I found him.” Julie spoke into the telephone receiver to a kind sounding lady who seemed absolutely delighted to hear her cat had been found. Julie was sad to see the little kitten go, but she just couldn’t keep him knowing someone was missing him. It just wasn’t right. Even in the days when Julie was a teenager, she would have never kept an animal she knew someone was missing. Unless it was a Slytherin or someone she hated. Then Julie would keep him for as long as she pleased. But now, Julie had changed. She tried hard to be an overall nicer person and keep her anger in check. She hung up the phone with a smile on her face. She had just made this lady’s day. She rushed off to her room to go change. In her six classes put together, eight kids had dropped out of her class. This meant a major money loss for Julie. She sighed. The bills needed to be paid and Carson’s Hogwarts tuition needed to be paid for, so Julie had decided to pick up a job at the Bella Luna Café in London.

The Bella Luna Café was near the Leaky Cauldron, and many witches and wizards rested there after long trips at Diagon Alley. The owner and all the workers there were witches and wizards as well. Julie dressed herself in her classic low rise jeans and red tank-top with a warm jean jacket over it. She hated ruining the well thought out outfit with that ugly red café apron, but it was part of the uniform. She reached into a drawer and removed her favorite shade of bright red lipstick. She smacked her lips and removed her wand from the same drawer. She smiled at the little kitten sitting comfortably on her bed (playing with Julie’s hairbrush) and placed him in a little picnic basket that was lined with a soft blanket. She closed the top of the basket. There were plenty of holes in the basket, so the kitten would have more than enough air. She raised her wand and concentrated hard on the small storage closet in the back of the Bella Luna Café.

In the blink of an eye, she was there. She opened the top of the basket. The kitten looked a bit sick from the ride, but she was sure he’d be fine. She let him out of the basket and let him explore the storage closet. She was sure he’d be fine in here for the moment until his owner came to pick him up. She smiled at the little kitten and scratched behind his ears. “I’ll be right back little kitty. You be good now until your mommy comes to pick you up, okay?” She spoke softly to the fuzzy little creature with a bright smile and walked away, closing the door firmly behind her. Nobody touched this storage closet until closing, so no one would know of the adorable little kitten playing in the closet. Julie was technically not supposed to bring animals to work with her, but what her boss didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

She tied her apron around her waist and walked out. “Julie McGreggor, where have you been?” Marty, Julie’s boss caught her walking out of the closet. Julie grimaced as she glanced at the clock. She was late for work again. “I was just um-“ Julie tried to come up with an excuse for her lateness when Marty interrupted. “You were just going to see what that girl at table four wants. She requested you as a waitress. Get the little girl a coffee, will you?” Julie nodded and headed for the kitchens. She wondered what a little girl would want with Julie. It couldn’t be the cat’s owner since the lady on the phone was at least twenty. She walked out of the kitchens with a sizzling cup of coffee and sat down across from the girl at the table. “Hi, I’m Julie.” She said kindly to the girl, holding out her hand. She handed her the glass of water and sat down, ignoring the glares from her boss. Upon closer inspection, Julie realized this was no little girl. This girl was a teenager. Julie blinked a bit as a battery of flashbacks flew through her head. Her past self flashed before her eyes. The cigarettes, the eighteen year old boyfriends, the hundreds of negative house points collected over the years-all these memories just came flooding through her head. She blinked, and they were gone just as quickly as they had come.

[Rachel Cohen R6]

The wait would be endless. At least that’s what Rachel was beginning to believe. She had no idea who this person she was waiting on was, or how they would look like. She knew the person who had found her cat was a woman, a young woman, that’s what Katherine had told her. But what did young mean exactly. She could have been a teenager to a thirty year old. Rachel looked around, and eliminated all the males at the café. Sadly there were few of them, only ten. It was packed mainly with ‘young’ woman. Rachel knew one of them had her kitty. Her eyes darted around trying to figure out who it was. One woman with a large hat that covered her face, and an equally large bag sat feet away, the bag was big enough for her cat to be in there. She was a good possibility. Another could have been the twenty something year old who was looking around, as if she was waiting on someone. Maybe she was waiting on Rachel. But that possibility was crushed when a twenty something male came up and the woman smiled and gestured for him to sit down. There were many other prospects. So many possible people, it was discouraging. How would they know to look for a fifteen year old girl, since it was her mother who had answered the phone?

Finally having the lose of her cat lifted of her chest, her mind was more clear. Rachel was able to think more logically and about other more off topic things. She found herself thinking about AJ’s party. It had been awhile since she had seen her boyfriend. Needless to say she was excited. It was also his birthday and she wondered what to buy him. Something to do with music. From that topic her mind jumped to having to clean her room, it was filthy, clothes and CD’s all over the place. She was leaving for school soon; she wanted to leave her room looking spic and span, so she could dirty it up again when she came home after the school was out for the summer. Rachel had no plans for the summer, it was a depressing thing. She often had things lined up, but this year she would have to find her own activities. Katherine would be leaving on a business trip her first week back and she would have the house to herself. She remembered the conversation she and her mother had a few days ago. Katherine was practically encouraging her to throw a party. From thoughts of her party Rachel momentarily thought about the wait she was having. Not only was she waiting on her kitty, she was also waiting on her coffee.

She tried to remember which waitress she ordered with. But then something clicked in her head. She person obviously worked at the café and that’s why they where meeting there instead of somewhere else. She again eliminated the people there, everyone but the waitresses. She looked around. None of them looked like they would save a kitty. Maybe they weren’t there yet. She was watching the door and saw a young woman walk in. Rachel had a strange feeling in her stomach; she was the one with her kitty. She just knew it. What looked like the manager walked by her and she stopped her. “Excuse me ma’am, but could you send the waitress that just arrived with my coffee please?” She asked her and the woman smiled, “Sure thing.” She told her and walked in the direction she saw the woman a moment ago.

The woman arrived a few minutes later. She sat down across from Rachel. “Hi, I’m Julie.” She told her and gave her the coffee. Rachel toke a sip before she turned her attention to the waitress. “Hi Julie, my name is Rachel Cohen, I believe you found my cat?” Rachel said her voice unsure, maybe this wasn’t the lady, then she would look like and idiot. But her confidence convinced her otherwise. She was always confident; she had a strong belief in herself. Her gut was ninety percent right, and she learned to not ignore it.

[Julie Paige McGreggor]

Julie observed the teenager as memories flooded through her. There was one moment in particular when she was sitting in this very café in that girl’s seat. Her aunt Rachel was sitting in this girl’s seat. She remembered the yelling, the spells, and even the chair throwing and table tossing that happened that evening. Julie still remembered the event as if it were yesterday. The decorations were the same as they have been and always will be. The room was painted a soft orange and there were comfortable armchairs in every corner. The date was March third, Julie’s seventeenth birthday. Her boyfriend at the time, Charlie was sitting next to her holding her hand lovingly. Julie smiled a bit as she remembered Charlie. He disappeared three months after that day. Julie wasn’t worried. They had been fighting for weeks before that. She was sure he just became fed up with Julie one day and left Julie.

But at that moment in time, on the day of Julie’s seventeenth birthday, he loved her. He was convinced that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, (but they didn’t want to get married-it was too structured) and Julie was convinced of the same thing. Julie was still struggling to keep peace with her aunt and uncle, but it had been a fruitless attempt. Julie’s aunt and uncle hated Julie, and there was nothing she could d to change that, even now. The only thing she could do now was support herself and her brother better than her aunt and uncle had ever done. But at the time, Julie was still living in the home of Rachel and Erick McGreggor. Carson was only ten at the time. “Rachel, Erick, I know you don’t really approve of me dating Charlie, but there’s something I need to tell you.” Julie remembered the suspicious look in their eyes and the joyful look in Charlie’s and Julie’s. Seventeen year old Julie took a deep calming breath. “Me and Charlie are pregnant.” She said joyfully. That was when Julie was kicked out of the house to live with Charlie. But, they wouldn’t let her go without a fight.

Through all the fighting and spells that were cast that day, Julie lost the baby. It only added to her hate against her aunt and uncle. Carson still didn’t know of that day, and he thought that Julie moved out of her own accord. Julie sighed a bit and she felt her body leave the past and enter the present. She tried to keep her joyful expression, even when the teenager told Julie her name. Of course, her name just had to be Rachel. Another reminder of her past life with Rachel and Erick McGreggor. But Julie’s happy face returned when the girl mentioned she was the girl who lost her cat. “Wow, you sounded so much older on the phone. But oh well. He’s in the back. Julie was only called to work because one of the waitresses had called in sick. Julie’s day brightened suddenly when she noticed the girl she was supposed to be replacing walk in the door. She looked fine. “I’m pretty much done with my shift, so I’ve got plenty of time on my hands.” She stood up from the chair. “Follow me, he’s right this way.” Julie said, as she headed for the storage closet.

Just as she was about to head for the door with Rachel following behind her, Marty appeared out of nowhere again. Was he guarding that door or something? “Hey, Samantha just arrived, so I’m going to head out. Just thought I’d let you know!” She said with a bright but obviously forced smile. She was never really a good actress. “Not so fast. Is that young lady an employee? Because if she isn’t, I’m going to have to ask her to leave. You know costumers aren’t allowed back here! ” He said sternly, eyeing Rachel. “But she’s not a costumer, sir!” Julie protested. “She’s my neice! And we’re going to our grandma’s funeral later, so we’ve got to take the quick way out, if you know what I mean.” She said, tilting her head toward the supply closet. Julie wasn’t sure if Rachel knew about apparition or magic, but Julie was sure that was a wand poking out of her back pocket. But that could just be a really long pencil or something. Marty frowned and mumbled something Julie couldn’t understand. Without another word, he left. “Phew! Well, your kitten’s in here.” She unlocked the door with her staff key and opened the door. The little kitten was asleep on a towel that Julie had laid out for him. She smiled. “He’s so adorable.” Julie said in awe as she watched the kitten sleep. She turned to Rachel. “Is he yours?”