Cat of the Century (6 page)

Mariah spat, “Liz is your protégée. I’m her client and I’ve lost a lot. You’re behind it, and I know it!”

“I did no such thing. You’re out of your mind.” Flo raised her voice.

“I’m going to take you down, and you won’t get up again.” Mariah shook her finger in Flo’s carefully made-up face.

“You’ll go down with me.” Flo brushed by her furious enemy.

While Flo and Mariah displayed their mutual antipathy, Inez, alone, walked to a window that faced north. Tree branches denuded of leaves waved in the wind. A front was on the way. She hadn’t watched the weather today, but her body proved more reliable than newscasters. Whatever was behind the front made her bones ache.

Kenda Shindler, a cheerful soul—which was helpful in her role as assistant to the president—was walking down the hall and stopped to chat with Inez. “Have you heard the weather report?”

“No,” Inez replied.

“Unfortunately, a big snowstorm is heading our way. The weatherman predicts it will last at least two days.” She paused. “How’s it going?”

“I’d like to take Flo and Mariah and knock their heads together. It’s only ten o’clock. By lunch I may be ready to kill them.”

“Ah.” Kenda knew well their conflicts.

Inez shrugged. “Ever notice how some people are energized by an enemy?” Kenda nodded, so Inez continued, “That’s what we’ve got here. Tons of energy but to no good purpose.”

“Well, if anyone can straighten them out, it’s you.”

“Thank you.” Inez had her doubts. “Tally in yet?”

“Yes, that’s why I came by the meeting. They arrived an hour ago. Big Mim, Little Mim, and Tally. Good thing they flew in a day early. Oh, yes—Harry is here, too. With two cats and a dog.” Kenda lowered her voice. “Is the dog properly housebroken?”

“Tucker? Oh, my, yes. And knowing Harry, she probably brought kitty litter and a box. She’s good that way. I’ll be glad to see all of them. It will be like old times, Tally and I rooming together.”

“I wish I’d known William Woods when you were a student here.” Kenda smiled.

“Smaller then. William Woods fosters lifelong friendships. That’s certainly consistent. One becomes educated and grounded in our culture and uplifted by friendships.”

Down the hallway, Mariah had raised her voice, and both women turned to look in her direction.

“I don’t think they got the message about friendship.” Kenda half-giggled.

“Oil and water, chalk and cheese.”

“Board meeting tomorrow?” Kenda asked.

“Yes. Everything is taking twice as long as it should.” Inez grimaced. “Yet another meeting.”

“Maybe Aunt Tally would like to sit in.”

Inez laughed. “Kenda, I love Tally like a sister, but she has no patience with people. Never has. She’d take her cane and lambaste both Mariah and Flo.”

Kenda said conspiratorially, “That might be just what they need.”

“You’ve got a point there.” Inez glanced at her watch, which sported a big round dial, making it easy to read, then called out, “Ladies, let’s get back to it.”

Kenda whispered, “Good luck.”

“The thing is, they both want what’s best for William Woods. I try to bear that in mind. And you know, Kenda, you work with the tools you’re given. Does no good to complain.”

“Right.” Kenda admired Inez’s outlook.

Two hours later, an exhausted Inez approached Fairchild Alumni House. She noticed the new Volvo station wagon parked by the curb.

Tally flung open the front door of the house as Inez neared. She’d been watching from the front window.

“Chickpea!” Tally threw open her arms, cane in one hand.

“Blossom!” Inez embraced her old friend. “We are going to have the best time ever.”

“Always do. Step in. Nasty cold.”

“Yes, it is.” Inez closed the front door behind her as Tucker raced to meet her, sliding halfway down the short hall.

“Inez!”
The corgi rejoiced at the older woman’s presence.

“Tucker.” Inez, with difficulty, knelt down to pet the dog.

“We can all get down. The trick is getting up.” Tally grinned.

“Give me your cane and I’ll make it look easy.”

Tally handed over the cane with the silver hound’s head for a grip. “Need another one?”

“I do not.” Inez put both hands on the hound’s head, steadied on the cane, and then rose without a wobble.

Tally slipped her arm through Inez’s. “We’re still upright.”

Harry emerged from the kitchen. “Inez. I’m fixing tea. Like a cup?”

“Indeed. I took a chill walking back from the administration building.”

Mrs. Murphy and Pewter shot out of the kitchen.

“Inez!”
Mrs. Murphy rubbed against Inez’s leg.

“Aren’t you the pretty kitty.” Inez liked Mrs. Murphy. She then spoke to Pewter. “Off your diet, I see.”

“I’m not fat. I have large bones.”

“Oh la,”
Mrs. Murphy sassed.

Pewter reached over to box her ears, but Mrs. Murphy easily eluded that paw.

Tally steered Inez toward the living room. No sooner had they settled down than Harry reappeared with a tray full of sandwiches. She placed it on the coffee table, then returned with the teapot and two cups. She called upstairs to Big Mim and her daughter, Little Mim, but they called back that they were unpacking.

Trudy Sweetwater had filled the fridge with all the necessities.

“Aren’t you joining us?” Inez asked.

“Thank you, no,” Harry politely declined. “You two need to catch up.”

By their second cup they’d done just that.

Tally leaned back in the comfortable wing chair. “What do you think?” She meant about the hostility between Mariah and Flo.

“I don’t think Mariah is stealing, but, Tally, my fear is those two will again divide the board into two camps. Happened five years ago, and we finally solved that problem when some of the more partisan people rotated off the board, while others, more open, came on to serve. Nothing will get done as each side jockeys for power.”

“I fear that, too, Inez.”

Inez nodded. “You see where gridlock brought Congress and the country. I don’t want it to happen to us. There’s got to be a way to stop it.”

“What was it Professor Chuck Jones used to say?”

They both said in unison, “Trust your instincts and don’t expect life to be logical.”

F
armer that she was, Harry checked the Weather Channel. She could read the radar accurately for a layperson. A mighty clump of green with a yellow center and red spot bore down on Fulton, Missouri. From the speed with which it moved across middle America, Harry surmised it would arrive in central Missouri’s lovely Callaway County by late tomorrow afternoon or early evening. If she wanted to explore the campus and visit the barns, this would be the time.

Big Mim and Little Mim were meeting with tomorrow’s event organizers. Inez and Tally chattered gaily in the living room, having emptied their pot of tea. Tally was also emptying her flask of gin. Happiness followed.

Harry wrapped a cashmere scarf around her neck; lined gloves and a non-bulky down jacket provided warmth. Cold though it was, the wind was what cut to the bone. She stepped outside, her three companions with her.

Pewter stopped, then wailed,
“It’s too cold.”

Harry looked down at the rotund kitty, fluffed up, hunched down. “Pewter.”

“Wimp.”
Mrs. Murphy delivered her judgment.

“I don’t care what you think.”
Pewter narrowed her eyes.

“All right.” Harry scooped up Pewter, opened the front door, and
placed her inside. “Aunt Tally,” she called out, “I’ve got Mrs. Murphy and Tucker with me. Pewter’s in the house.”

“Okay.” Aunt Tally called back as Pewter hastened toward the sound of her voice.

Pewter remembered that Harry had put crackers on the tea tray. Perhaps she could snag a few.

Closing the door once more, Harry headed off to her left toward the Rowland Applied Riding Arena, which was behind Tucker Dining Hall and other buildings. A pleasant walk on a pleasant day, it wasn’t a bad walk on an unpleasant day.

The first stable at the Bancroft Equestrian Center came into view after seven minutes of leisurely walking. Once inside, both Harry and her friends were happy to be out of the wind. A few students performed chores in the clean, tidy building. The large UPHA arena was under the roof behind the main entrance area. Harry walked back to it, leaning over the side of arena boards. Three students worked Saddlebreds.

“Hello.” A bright voice caused her to turn from the horses.

A petite, lean woman with an enormous smile held out her hand. “Gayle Lampe.”

That smile was infectious. Harry smiled back. “Mrs. Fair Haristeen. Everyone calls me Harry.”

“And?” Gayle indicated the four-footed contingent.

“Tucker.”

At the sound of her name Tucker sat and raised her paw, which Gayle solemnly shook.

“Mrs. Murphy.”

The tiger cat looked up as Gayle petted their heads.

“Used to horses, I can see.”

“I have Thoroughbreds and one Saddlebred, Shortro, given to me by Renata DeCarlo.”

At the mention of the movie star’s name, Gayle replied, “Joan Hamilton of Kalarama. You must know her, because Renata is a client.”

“I do.”

“Kalarama, Callaway—both help us with horses. We don’t buy any horses, and you know we teach all four disciplines. Horses are donated,
some of them very good. We’re indebted to people for their help. We’ve never sold a horse for meat price, and we don’t put them down if they have injuries that render them nonserviceable. We find them homes and, more to the point, we check up on them when we can.”

“That’s an enviable record.”

“That’s William Woods.” Gayle couldn’t refrain from boasting, but as the university was her life and she’d won many awards for both teaching and competing, she had good cause.

“What a glorious legacy.”

Gayle noticed one of the students losing energy. “Keep your leg on, Tori. She’s going to break gait.”

“Yes, Professor Lampe.” Tori pressed more firmly. Sure enough, the chestnut stepped up her pace.

“You must be here for Tally Urquhart.”

“Yes, Miss Lampe,” Harry answered with a slow smile.

“Call me Gayle. You may call me worse when you know me. Come on into my office.”

Her office, a rectangular space with a window so she could look into the arena, was a perfect location for the premier Saddle Seat instructor in America.

“I read your book,” Harry spilled.

“You did?” Gayle seemed astonished as she offered Harry a chair.

Mrs. Murphy jumped into Harry’s lap. “Joan Hamilton suggested it. I learned a lot. Saddlebreds are all in front of you. You need really good hands. Thank you for your work.”

“Are you showing?”

“No, I foxhunt and trail ride.”

“I wish we had foxhunting here. We have to go to St. Louis or Kansas City. It teaches balance over terrain, something we don’t really get here. And, of course, the other professors and I have to tell the kids the fox isn’t harmed.”

“Good for environmental studies. You see things and get to places many people don’t get to even with ATVs.” Harry noticed the framed photos on the wall. “Quite a gallery. Saddlebreds are so beautiful, no wonder movie stars like William Shatner and Renata DeCarlo show them.”

“Beautiful they are. I wish more people realized how versatile they are.”

“Yes,” Harry replied simply. “Will you be giving a speech tomorrow night?”

“Me? No.” Gayle smiled with relief. “Jahnae Barnett, our president, will. Have you met her?”

“No, I just got in about three hours ago.”

“I’ll make a point of introducing you. She’s extraordinary: a good administrator, someone who loves the classroom, a wonderful fund-raiser, but most of all, a true visionary. When people do what they love, everyone benefits.”

“I believe that. Your career testifies to that. I’m sorry I won’t hear you speak.”

“Come back. Actually do come back. We keep riding in the ring in winter, but when the show season starts, we do take the students outside. Do you know most of our equestrian science graduates are working in the horse world?”

“I didn’t know that.”

Gayle glanced down at Tucker, who had come around to sit by her. “What an expressive face. Corgis are tough dogs.” She paused. “We are very grateful to Aunt Tally and to her family for allowing us to celebrate her centennial and raise funds. I don’t need to tell you how tight things are.”

“Doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.”

“Her niece, Mrs. Sanburne, whom I’m sure you know, has pledged $250,000. Callaway Hills Stables has also pledged a nice sum, because the late Mrs. Weldon,” Gayle paused, “adored Tally. Tally stood up to her, but she was funny about it. Mrs. Weldon respected her because Tally never told her anything that wasn’t so.”

“That’s Aunt Tally.” Harry nodded.

“We are hoping to raise half a million. I don’t know where we are now, but perhaps after Tally’s speech, which should be memorable, more will be forthcoming.”

“A half a million.” Harry pursed her lips. “That’s an ambitious sum.”

Gayle pushed back a stray lock of hair. “Yes, it is. Then I think about those mega-universities with portfolios worth billions. It’s overwhelming.”
She smiled broadly. “We aren’t a mega-university for which I am grateful. What we have, though, is our Ivy League Society. Did Tally mention it to you?”