We've had rain, and rain, and more rain, and although the farmers are concerned because so many of them don't have their seeding done, the land is in dire need of the moisture.

While I feel for the farmers in their anxiety about late crops running into frost in the early fall, I am relieved. I had waking nightmares about drought in this area again.

I have used the cool week to fill the deep freeze with bread and bran muffins, and to make several batches of granola for quick fixes. I welcome the wet and cool.

***

Grandma has a beautiful yellow-eyed black cat that has been her faithful companion for four years. She didn't want him as a kitten when my sister Karen practically forced him on her, but he became a sizeable focus in her life. You couldn't have a conversation on the phone without her talking to the damn cat at the same time.

When I invite her to go to the city or anywhere, if it means being away overnight she uses her cat as an excuse not to go. Not that she needs an excuse; she prefers to stay home anyway. This time, so she could come to BC for a week, she asked my cousin to stay at the house and look after the cat. The responsibility meant letting it in and out whenever it desired, and putting food and water in its dishes.

Grandma worried about the cat the whole time. Would he be all right with her gone? He doesn't like anybody but her; that's his reputation. But I find him friendly enough; he loves a good bellyrub just like the next cat. He does stick pretty close to Grandma when he's in the house, though.

Grandma tried to phone my cousin at the house several times, but there was never an answer until the day before we were to fly back. Grandma fretted. What was happening with her cat? Why was no one ever there to answer the phone? What if my cousin was never actually there, as she'd promised?

***

Aunt Jean thinks of everything — the wakeup call, the pre-ordering of the cab, the time we all need to get up in order to be ready to leave on time. We let her look after these little decisions. I took her advice and went to the store, glad to get out of there, where the two little white-haired sisters were wondering aloud why I hadn't asked what the regular fare was because maybe even paying a bit more for it would have meant leaving in the afternoon instead of the ungodly 6:30 a.m. departure.

Oy! Sheesh! It's true, I hadn't even asked what the regular fare was. I'd just said, in my tearful stupor the week before, sure, I'll take those sale tickets next Wednesday, thanks. They were right, of course, I should've asked more questions; but having this pointed out to me after the fact wasn't something I was willing to cope with that evening.

My own sister, when she came back from my niece's place to spend the night with us, was told under my breath, "You shouldn't have left me here with these two bullies!" I was only kidding of course, because in my normal state of mind I can handle them with one hand tied behind my back. As soon as I get pissed off, they don't want to take me on. At five-foot-five and 125 pounds I'm bigger than both of them put together, and louder. But usually I just take them with a grain of salt.

Karen said back to me, "Maybe somebody else is going to be left behind," nodding her head in Grandma's direction, making me chuckle. It reminded me of our preschool days, when she'd be the only kid who'd choose to be on my team — the "Indian" team — when the neighbourhood kids were lining up to play Cowboys and Indians. She was the little sister who, when some boy on the beach would snap me with his towel, would chase him down and sit on him. She was the loyal sister who, when I'd been mean to her and she was crying and Dad was coming down the hall to straighten 'us' out, wouldn't tell on me because she didn't want me to get a spanking.

Saintly, that girl.

Now, where was I? Oh, Grandma's cat. It turned out that she got home, but he didn't return from his wanderings and she was broken up about it. Usually he'd come back by now, she thought, and this meant something must have happened to him.

I suggested to Everett that he phone and ask if she'd like him to go stay with her for a few days, for company. She said sure, so he packed up his schoolwork and pyjamas and some clean clothes, and away we went. That was early in the week, and I just picked him up yesterday. The two of them got on splendidly, and while he was there, the cat showed up at a neighbour's home. The neighbour called Grandma, who went and got him.

I asked Everett if Grandma was happy when she got him home. He said, "Oh yeah! She talked to him a lot. She said 'Where were you all this time? You had me pretty worried!"