Lifesaving Lessons by Linda Greenlaw

Author:Linda Greenlaw
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-02-20T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

What’s Another Cat?

Out of sight, but not out of mind, Ken left behind more than a kid, as it turned out. I suppose it was my naïveté that held fast to the notion that all the badness and fear that had enveloped my small circle of friends and family who had endured the burden of the whole truth and kept it secret would be sucked down the drain with the dirty water as soon as the handcuffs snapped around Ken’s wrists. It was perhaps idealism that wheedled my heavy mind-set to the lighter prospects of everything working out for the best now that the bad seed had been disinterred. To the contrary; the weeks that followed closely behind the arrest opened a gaping wound that bled freely from the island’s heart and soul. The possibility of healing our community bore the same degree of remoteness that the chances of our having a practicing pedophile in our midst had done just a short, innocent while ago. The awareness that Ken had lived among us while living such a sleazy, filthy life left more than a scar.

Not the least of what Ken left behind was Cowgirl, the sickly, skinny, stinking cat. Because I am not a lover of all of God’s little creatures, I resisted when asked to adopt Cowgirl. And that was before I had laid eyes on the ratty feline. To say that I had a weak moment would be quite an understatement. Weak? I was put under the barrage of the masses at my lowest point. I had been reduced to tears. I totally dissolved in front of the entire town of Isle au Haut. Oh, it wasn’t the cat that I was publically bawling my eyes out about. Those tears didn’t come until a little later. My public crying jag was a complete culmination of everything that Ken had left behind but the cat.

The idea of an informal town meeting designed to dispel any rumors and set straight any misinformation regarding Ken’s removal from our island and Mariah’s future here seemed logical. The Clarks and I agreed that now that Ken had been arrested and removed from our island, it would be safe and in fact prudent to be forthcoming with the information that we had kept quiet until this time. This was a chance to inform the entire community and begin the healing process. There was little chance that just about everyone had neither seen nor heard about the Coast Guard boat, special agents, and Ken’s farewell in cuffs and immersion suit. So it was only fair to let the community in on the truth rather than let a few facts generate more rumors. Mariah’s counselor, Lesley, graciously agreed at my request to attend the meeting to provide some statistics, her opinion of what would eventually happen with Ken legally, what Mariah might be experiencing emotionally, and how best for us all to cope with the various ways we might be affected. As a rule, islanders clutch their emotional cards particularly close.

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