The Nose Knows (26 page)

“That’s okay, Quincy. You and Jacob did a great job. At least we know Alan isn’t driving around with a trunk load of guns or drugs. Do you think Alan suspected you two were up to something? ”

“Nah, for all he knew we just happened to show up at the right time. Jacob helped him and then we walked away. We were just two cool dudes helping a guy out.”

I’m sure they were. Currently Jacob was showing Mom he could be a “cool” dude indeed.

Toward the end of the month, the group was considering letting a new member join. They still didn’t trust meeting by computer but they didn’t want fear to keep them closed off from anyone new. Several doctors had asked Mom to take on some new patients. In fact, she’d recently received a letter from Dr. Hayden’s office requesting that she see one of his patients.

Dr. Hayden was important to Mom. I’d heard his name many times. Eleven years ago, he had been an integral part in helping Mom negotiate a deal with the District Attorney. He was the psychiatrist that evaluated Mr. Cartwright, the man who’d taken Mom hostage. He’d even testified as an expert witness at Mr. Cartwright’s trial. In fact, it was his testimony, along with Mom’s, that laid the groundwork for Mr. Cartwright serving the first two years of his sentence in a psychiatric hospital, under Dr. Hayden’s care.

Back then Mom had often said how grateful she was to Dr. Hayden. Despite his busy schedule, he attended every day of the trial. He sat on one side of Mom, while Dad sat on the other. It was a good thing they were both there, especially that last day, when the sentence was read. Apparently, Mr. Cart-wright turned and started begging Mom to forgive him. He began to cry and plead with Mom. “Please, Dr. Richards, don’t desert me. Please keep seeing me. Please be my therapist. Please,
please!
” He moved toward Mom. She panicked and turned away from him into Dad’s arms. Dr. Hayden stepped in and intercepted Mr. Cartwright. He spoke quietly. He gently moved him backwards. He diffused the situation and everyone walked away.

Dr. Hayden did become Mom’s therapist. He helped her past the initial terror and continued seeing her every week for a full year. Initially, when Mr. Cartwright went into the hospital, Mom said she asked about him every week. Of course, Dr. Hayden refused to talk about Mr. Cartwright’s condition, but he did confirm he was still on a locked ward. The only concession he made was he promised to tell Mom if Mr. Cartwright was released from the hospital to serve his jail term.

He kept that promise. He called when Mr. Cart-wright was transferred to the jail where he was to serve out the remainder of his ten-year term. Mom said she owed Dr. Hayden a lot. She wanted to do him a favor.

She presented his referral to the group along with others from three different doctors. They voted. It was unanimous; they’d allow one new member. Dr. Hayden’s patient, a woman named Mrs. Lottie Wainwright won the empty seat. The fact that she was an elderly woman may have been a big factor in her winning the vote. That Mom trusted Dr. Hayden may also have influenced their decision.

The group agreed that a new person might find it odd for a bona fide therapist to be conducting psychotherapy sessions at Lorraine’s Coffee Shop, so they decided it was time to start meeting at Mom’s downtown office.

That night in Puppy Park, Mom told Jacob.

“Hannah, Are you sure you’re ready to put yourself in a closed room with patients?”

“I’ll admit, I’m a little nervous about it, but I’ve known the people in this group for a long time now. I’m comfortable with them. I know them pretty darn well. Besides, it’s a group, not just me and one other person alone in the room. I think I’ll be fine.”

“I could be outside the door!” Jacob had spoken quickly as if the words had inadvertently rushed out of him.

Mom took a deep breath and then let it out very slowly. “No, Jacob, I need to do this by myself. I thank you for the offer. But Pete is the doorman that day. He’s big enough to protect all of us. I’ll make sure he keeps his eyes and ears open.”

“Okay, if that’s what you think is best.” Jacob coolness had returned.

W
hen the day came, I awoke very excited. We were going to see the group again!

With no computers, I hadn’t seen any of them for over two months. I admit I missed them. But there was an added bonus. Since we were going to go to the office, I’d get to smell them! I’d never smelled any of them before, except Cynthia. I was looking forward to learning a whole bunch of new stuff.

We critters all agreed. It was time for Mom to conduct a group session in an office. We weren’t worried. We knew she’d be safe. I was going along as well as one of the cats. What better protection could she ask for?

It was actually Sweetie’s turn for an outing, but the boys discussed it and decided to let Fearless attend instead. This was a special event. Sweetie said Fearless was older and had more seniority, so he should be the one to go. I must say when it comes to generosity, Sweetie wins the blue ribbon.

Shortly before it was time to leave, Sweetie and the others high-tailed it—except for Bobby, of course, who has no tail—out the back door. Mom had the carrier, but she couldn’t find Sweetie anywhere. The only one in sight just happened to be Fearless.

“Okay, Fearless, I guess you’re the lucky one today. It isn’t your turn, but I’ll be danged if I can see hide nor hair of any of the others. They’ve all skedaddled off somewhere. Oh, well, their loss is your gain. So come on, boy, you can go. Get into the crate.”

Fearless, of course, pretended as if he didn’t care one way or the other. He stretched his left back leg up over his head and began grooming. How cats can get their legs bent that far back is beyond me. Yes, dogs have the ability to reach all the necessary areas, but cats give a whole new meaning to the art of yoga.

Mom, however, was in a hurry. She knew all too well a cat’s grooming ritual could last a good long time. She reached over and lifted Fearless into his crate. She didn’t see Fearless look at me and squeeze his eyes shut twice, the equivalent of a human wink.

Shortly thereafter, as planned, we were on our way.

W
e arrived thirty minutes before the start time. Mom said she wanted plenty of time to talk to Pete. He was a big guy who had once worked as a bouncer. Mom and he agreed on an alert system. If she sent three short buzzes on the intercom, it meant she needed help. When Pete assured her that he’d come a-running, Mom’s nervous energy dropped a notch.

Pete helped lug up some extra folding chairs and Mom put on a pot of coffee. She then sat and waited for therapy time to roll around.

Fearless and I were too busy to sit and wait. We immediately started checking the smells in the office. Sure enough, Mr. Secret Chicken Lover was still as involved with his chickens as ever. Fearless and I had all kinds of stories concocted about the man. But now was not the time to get side-tracked. The outcome of all our sniffing was that I didn’t identify any unfamiliar odors. The scents I already knew from the cleaning crew told me everyone was the same.

When the buzzer announced the arrival of first group member, our nasal clearinghouses had a log of all the existing smells.

Of course, Donny was the first to arrive.

Mom smiled. “Come on in, Donny. Have a seat. How have you been?”

Donny spotted us right away and patted his leg for us to come over to him—I gave him extra points for that one.

“Hey, look at you two! Come on over here and say hi to me.”

We didn’t need to be asked twice. Turns out, Donny isn’t nearly as shy around animals as he is with humans. He lit right up and began babbling away. Mom saw a completely new side to him.

“Boy, you guys sure are cute. Bet you’re real smart too.”

The fact that he recognized my superior intellect was enough reason for me to overlook that he’d said, “you
guys
.” At least he hadn’t called me “pretty.”

While Donny rubbed and petted us, Fearless and I were able to get a whole lot of smelling accomplished. Donny was what we call “squeaky clean.” Everything had been washed—his body, his hair, his clothes, and his sneakers. We also guessed all that had happened within the last hour. Sure, people might take a shower before going out to a meeting, but how many people do you know also put on freshly washed sneakers?

The extreme cleanliness did make it harder to get a well-rounded picture of his lifestyle. But no amount of scrubbing can make a person completely void of odors. We were still able to learn a few things about this shy guy who, by the way, was also an excellent scratcher.

All of our heads turned as the next three people made their noisy entrance. Cynthia, Alan, and John all arrived at the same time.

Cynthia and Alan were already sniping at each other.

Cynthia was rubbing her arm as she griped, “Oh, for Pete’s sake, Alan, you could’ve at least held the elevator door so it didn’t bang into me. Now my arm is going to be all black and blue.”

“Oh, come on, Cynthia. I thought you were a
lib-er-
ra-ted
woman and didn’t need some man holding doors open for you.”

“Alan, I am a liberated woman, and you are a liberated jackass.”

Alan grabbed her arm. “Hold on there, missy. There is no reason for you to get ugly. Didn’t your momma teach you any better?”

At this point, we all had the same thought: somebody had better interrupt those fools before they came to blows.

Mom spoke, I barked, and Fearless yowled. That got everyone’s attention. They all hushed.

Mom’s hands were perched on her hips. “Okay, you three get on over here and sit down. We’re still waiting for Melanie and the new woman to show up. And right this minute, I’m very glad that she’s a little late. If she’d been here to witness your entrance, she would’ve thought she was back in junior high school.”

John apologized. “We’re sorry, Dr. Richards. You’re right, we were acting like a bunch of children.”

Of course John was the one who apologized. He hadn’t even done anything! Even the nice ones need a lot of work.

All three of them sat down. Fearless and I did a quiet meet-and-greet. We knew if we didn’t behave, Mom might put both of us into Fearless’s crate. She wasn’t sure everyone would love having a cat and a dog in the room during therapy. She’d lock us up if necessary.

That had to be avoided at all costs. We needed to be free to run surveillance. We stayed on our best behavior. We didn’t approach anyone unless invited. We kept our tongues to ourselves. Fearless put his purr on high and kept his claws retracted. Neither of us jumped on anyone, nor did we leave any fur on any pant legs. We both could’ve passed for “The Perfect Pet.”

That didn’t mean our noses were turned off. They were revved to the max. In no time we knew that Alan and John both had had pizza for lunch and had taken a walk through the park before coming to the meeting. Cynthia, on the other hand, had Chinese, gassed up her car, and picked up her dry cleaning— all within the last few hours. There was a lot more of course, but you get the idea.

It was only a few minutes later when Melanie arrived, followed by Mrs. Lottie Wainwright. She was a tiny woman, I guessed about five feet two inches, and very thin. I think you humans would have called her waif-like. Given all the things a person can do to appear younger, it isn’t always easy for us to guess a person’s age, but she had grey hair and was wearing Chantilly perfume, an old person’s fragrance.

From my spot across the room, I guessed she was in her seventies. However, something was off. All of her mannerisms were slow and careful, like an older person’s might be. But her slowness didn’t seem to be because her body was old. In fact, physically she looked quite spry. There were no arthritic deformities in her joints, her skin was smooth, and her eyes were alert and clear, with no hint of cataracts. However, there was an exaggerated slowness about her. She walked slowly, talked slowly and even sat down slowly. Fearless and I sat on our rumps looking at her. Maybe she was just slow.

Mom welcomed her and introduced her to everyone in the group. Then, just as before, she went through the rules. This time she emphasized that any violation of the rules would result in immediate expulsion from the group. Mom did explain that a former group member had recently violated the rules and that the group was still understandably edgy about it.