Witness to a crime

Dear mouse,

It has been a long time since I visited an old friend in her small boutique.

It was just across the beauty parlor which I visited regularly for my hair grooming.

My favorite hair dresser was out for lunch, so I decided to cross the street to say hi to my friend.

The cardboard sign "out for lunch/be back after an hour" was taped to the glass door from outside.

The boutique owner does not drive. She relies on her husband every day to get to the boutique from her home at the suburb.

Some friends must have picked her up ?

Or she had ambled down to the nearest Pinoy restaurant two blocks away?

An hour? What time did she leave ?

I started to walk back to the beauty parlor then stopped. Isn't that stupid thing to do? Taping the sign outside the glass door?

Did she have that sign coming from inside the shop, walked out and taped it outside?

Why not just flip over her clock sign which indicates what time she was out and what time she expects to be back?

Some nuts may just rip it off and throw the sign to the street for the fun of it.

I retraced my footsteps, inspected the sign and peered within.

The curtain that gives her privacy from the customer was half-drawn towards the right. Uhmmm.

I tried the door knob. Strange. It turned easily. I opened the door a few inches and called out her name.

No answer but there was movement behind the curtain.

I entered cautiously still calling her name.

I am afraid that she must have suffered a stroke and could not speak.

I immediately rushed past the rows of dresses displayed in the middle of the shop, stepping carefully not to topple any of the glass figurines on top of the glass showcase that serves as a divider between her private office and the store.

She was lying on the floor. Her skull has been bashed many times and a pool of fresh blood has been formed under her head.

Fresh blood. As a CSI fan, I thought that she was just murdered in less than an hour.

Fear gripped me with this thought and the realization why the door is opened.

The murderer could still be inside.

Is he crouched behind the desk ready to leap out and say BOO?

Then a hand covered my mouth from my behind. I saw the knife.

I was not able to shout.

I was awaken by the noise coming from the TV. I searched my body for wound. I looked around. I am in my living room and the cable is back.

Arraaay, nambatok na naman kasi.

Nanaginip lang ang Pusa noh? I was watching Law and Order when the cable service was interrupted. So i dozed off.

Then fell asleep again.

I was able to wrestle with the murderer.

He was not alone. He had three more companions who just appeared to the view.

They aimed their guns to my direction as I shield my face with my two hands.

Then with a lot of courage, I blurted out, "I can see dead people. I can make them come and save me especially my mother." (sabi siguro ng mother ko, bakit pati sa panaginip mo sinasama mo ako, buti sana kung comedy).

An empty threat.

But they did come not to kill my pursuers but to lift me high up on the air so the bad guys can not reach me.

Weird. My continuation yong nightmare ko.

Makapaligo nga.

The Ca t

(Note from the Ca t: this is not story-telling- a-lie. It really happened. My dream).