Clem was convinced. The yarn lady had abandoned her. Yesterday morning she'd run around tossing clothes in a squishy zippered box, kissed her and said she was going to see her sister in New Hamster. Then she left. Well, in the past four months she had gone to see lots of people, but always came back by bedtime. Clem waited patiently, but no yarn lady.
A nice lady with an English voice had come by and given her food and petted her, which was very odd. The yarn lady always fed her. But when night came and stayed and she didn't come home Clem got very upset. When it was obviously bedtime and she still hadn't come home she started to worry.
Maybe she'd been in a car accident. Or perhaps she had been shot by the police (Clem listened to BBC World News a lot). She paced the house thinking of all the horrible things that could have happened.
Finally, Clem thought of something she could do. The computer had been left on, so she'd email Rudy. Rudy had known the yarn lady for years, and might be able to help her. She whipped off a quick message and asked for the fastest reply possible and returned to her pacing.
Some time after midnight Clem succumbed to sleep. She had climbed up on the big soft bed and snuggled up against Oatmeal, the Teddy bear. He wasn't the yarn lady, but she did like that little bear so it was the next best thing.
She awoke with a start at 4:00 am. What was that noise? She jumped down and ran to the kitchen, but it was just the refrigerator cycling on. She went to the computer to check her email and found a message from Rudy. Rudy carefully explained that New Hamster was very far away, and that every year the yarn lady went to see her family there for Thanksgiving. And when she went, she asked someone else to feed the cats. Usually it was the English Lady. Rudy had finished by saying that she was sure the yarn lady would be back in about four days.
Four days!?! That was too long. No had played yarn balls with her yesterday, and from the sound of it it would be four more days before anyone even looked at a yarn ball. She'd die of loneliness before then. How could the yarn lady do this to her? Yeah, she had left lights on and the radio on low, but no one to cuddle her on demand.
She went back to sleep, legs around the Teddy, and didn't wake up until she heard the sliding door. Maybe it was the yarn lady? She ran into the kitchen and skidded to a stop. No. It was someone else entirely. Someone who picked her up, carried her over to the couch and sat down with her. Someone who found the pile of yarn balls she'd made and threw them one at a time.
"Your mom was worried about you and asked me to stop by. She loves you, you know."
So it might be a long four days, but Clem knew that the yarn lady cared enough to send her human playmates.
Credit: Sheila Andrews - https://flickr.com/photos/31028530@N07/6772610377/
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