Cat-astrophic Spells Read Online Free PDF Page A

mother, I won’t say it… but it rhymes with ditch.”
    For a second, I thought this mystery man from my youth knew my secret until I realized there was a word that might fit the bill besides witch. I felt a little stupid. “Can you tell me what I did? I’m not trying to be rude or anything. It’s just that high school was a long time ago. I didn’t have a very good go of it myself.”
    Stephen took a deep breath then looked up at me. “You ran for class president our sophomore year.”
    “Yeah, and I lost… by a lot.”
    “If you hadn’t run, there would have only been two candidates—me against Paula Lipinski.”
    “So what? I was doing it just to see what would happen. I didn’t expect to really win. I just wanted to conduct a social experiment of sorts. Have a little fun stirring things up.”
    “You were like the Ralph Nader of our sophomore class. Because of you, I lost the election. Who knows how much differently my life would have turned out if it weren’t for you?”
    I stood there in shock. A high school election has bothered this guy all this time? Was he just sitting around hoping someday I’d stroll into the coroner’s office so he could give me a hard time? “Stephen Ferdeck for President: Not Your Mama’s Candidate.” That was his slogan. The memory came rushing back to me, and I smiled. “You had the best slogan!”
    He looked at me oddly. “What are you talking about?”
    “‘Not Your Mama’s Candidate’? That was you, right?”
    He thought for a moment, then his eyes brightened.
    “It was more creative than mine.” I rolled my eyes. “‘Cath Greenstone: Why Not?’”
    I laughed. My high school days were not fun. I ran for class president my sophomore year on a dare from my best friend Min. If it weren’t for him, high school would have been unbearable. As Stephen Ferdeck had said, who knew how much differently my life would have turned out if it weren’t for Min. But the memory of our slogans sneaked up on me, and I had to laugh.
    Stephen was also beginning to laugh. “I had forgotten that.”
    “Yeah, you were so caught up in me throwing a wrench into your candidacy, you forgot the best part of your campaign. What did Paula Lipinski use? See, I don’t even remember. I had totally forgotten about her until you brought her up.”
    A smile started to form on Officer Stephen Ferdeck’s face. I couldn’t help but smile back.
    “Officer Ferdeck, I’m sorry. If you have been holding that in all these years and feel I ruined your future, I am truly sorry. You look to be doing pretty good from where I’m standing right now.”
    “I do love my job,” he said reluctantly.
    “Well, let me make it up to you.” I folded my arms over my chest and pretended to think hard. “Do you know the Brew-Ha-Ha Café across town?”
    He thought for a moment then nodded. “That place burned down, didn’t it?”
    “Oh, yeah.” It was common knowledge the café had experienced a bad fire.
    “I didn’t realize it had reopened.”
    Nodding, I shifted from one foot to the other. “Well, I own the café with Bea and my Aunt Astrid. How about you come in and visit? We can reminisce about high school, and lunch and coffee will be on me. We just hired a fantastic new baker, and he makes everything from scratch.”
    He smiled and blinked. “I’m vegan. Does that make a difference?”
    I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? Well, no, it doesn’t make a difference. Bea is very educated when it comes to feeding the body and soul, so I’m pretty confident we can accommodate.”
    He stuck out his hand to shake. I walked up and obliged. “Thanks, Cath. I’m sorry I called you grumpy, and… you know.”
    “Hey, I’ve been called worse. I can’t say you’re that far off the mark.”
    Just then, Bea emerged from the autopsy room with Blake following her. They were talking in hushed voices, and when I looked at Bea’s pale face, I instantly became worried.
    “Thank you, Detective. I am