Cannot Wait to Get to Heaven - Fannie Flagg [108]
The following Wednesday, Norma sat in the kitchen looking at the clock, wondering if Tot had filled her spot yet, wondering who was sitting in the chair, having her hair rolled up. Down at the beauty shop Tot sat over in the corner staring at the empty chair. She could no more have put anybody else in Norma’s appointment spot than fly to the moon. That afternoon, Tot drove over with her shampoo and rollers in a large bag and knocked. Norma, looking somewhat frazzled, came to the door and was surprised to see Tot standing there.
Tot said, “Honey, I’ve come to apologize, and if you will take me back, I promise not to talk about anything but positive things from now on. I thought about what you said, and you’re right. I just got myself into a bad habit of being negative and I didn’t even know it, but I’m going to try and kick it. Can I come in?”
“Oh, Tot, of course you can,” said a relieved Norma.
“Whew,” Tot said. “The thought of anyone else doing your roots just made me crazy. I couldn’t bear to think of you going out to Supercuts: they don’t know you and they don’t know your hair.”
Tot washed Norma’s hair in her kitchen sink, and after she finished rolling it up she felt like a hundred-pound weight had been lifted off her chest.
As she left she said, “Norma, I’ve been thinking, when you come in next week, I want us to go a little lighter with your color. I have a new product for us to try, if you’re up for it.”
“Sure, whatever you want, Tot,” she said. She was so happy to be going back, she would have let Tot dye her hair green if she had wanted to. Both her escrows were closing on time, and she had Tot back. All was right with the world again.
A Very Nice Cat
8:40 AM
Every year on the same day Macky picked Sonny up and took him to the vet’s office for his annual checkup and shots. This morning Aunt Elner was in the living room waiting for Macky, and Sonny was already in his cat cage ready to go.
When he walked in, she said, “Ohhh, Macky, is he mad at me. He knows where he’s headed and he’s not happy about it either.”
Macky picked up the box. “How did you catch him?”
“I tricked him, I opened up a can of cat food and when he tried to eat it I threw a towel over him.”
He looked inside and he could see Sonny was not glad to see him.
“I’ll see you later, Aunt Elner,” he said as he picked the cage up.
“OK, tell Dr. Shaw hey for me.”
When Macky brought Sonny back that afternoon, Aunt Elner was out on the porch to greet him, happy to have Sonny back home.
“How did he do?”
Macky handed him over. “Just fine, he’s good to go for another year.”
“Did he bite anybody?”
“No, not that I know of.”
“Well, good, they say he’s hard to pill.”
Early the next morning Norma was in the kitchen trying to pull together a home inspection and a termite report on the old Whatley place when the phone rang. When she picked it up, it was Aunt Elner.
“Norma, you are going to have to get Macky to come up here and take this cat back over to Dr. Shaw.”
“Why?”
“It’s not my cat.”
“What do you mean, it’s not your cat?”
“It’s not my cat. He’s a very nice cat, but he’s not my cat.”
“Of course it’s your cat.”
“No, it’s not.”
“What makes you think it’s not your cat?”
“I can just tell. You know your own cat, Norma.”
“Well, maybe he’s still traumatized from having to go to the vet, give him a day or so and he’ll be back to his old self.”
“I’m telling you, Norma, this is not my cat. This cat’s hair is fuller around the face than Sonny’s was, and his personality’s not the same.”
“Honey, Dr. Shaw has treated Sonny for years, he would know if it was the right cat or not. What possible reason would he have for giving you the wrong cat?”
“Maybe they gave Sonny to some other person, and I got their cat by mistake. I don’t know, but I do know this is not my cat.”
Norma hung up and called Macky out at The Home Depot.
“Macky, Aunt Elner thinks the cat you picked up yesterday is not Sonny.”
“What?”
“She’s convinced that the cat you brought back is not her cat.”
“What makes