A MAZE OF GREED

*1 MONTH LATER*

"Stop licking my feet!" Ruth groaned for the fifth time in a single morning.

"You have foud a lover, my dear." Mrs Payne teased her while smiling.

Ruth rolled her eyes then crouched down on her feet. "At least someone has finally developed some interest in me." She smiled and ran her hand through the soft fur.

Liking her touch, the cute furry cat mewed in delight. Ruth found this cute creature with white and black fur, and her one eye was covered with black fur, and the other with white three weeks ago when she went out to the market for some shopping.

***This cat with golden yellow eyes and black pupils tugged at her dress when Ruth passed by her. .

Surprised, she bent down to run her hand over her head.

"Hello, kitty! How are you?" Ruth asked as if the cat would answer her verbally like a human.

But this animal was smart, she mewed looking at her with her doe-like eyes. From the condition of the cat, she looked like someone's pet.

"What are you doing here? Is there anyone with you?" Ruth looked around for her owner, but she found none. The cat was hungry and was mewing at a low pitch indicating she was unhappy.

Ruth pulled out a chunk of bread from her bag that she had bought for the dinner and tore it into small chunks. She watched the cat devouring on the bread with a smile of content on her face.

When Ruth stood up to leave, the cat did not let her. She kept following her to her apartment building. Ruth had no heart to decline the innocent animal that was beautiful inside out.

With a worried mind, she brought the cat home and showed her to Mrs Payne. She thought the old lady would tell her to leave the cat where she had found her.

But to her surprise, Mrs Payne's eyes twinkled in excitement, and she saw her face brightening for the first time after Mr Payne's death.

"Can we please keep her with us?" Ruth pleaded.

Mrs Payne looked hesitant. "But Ruth-"

"I promise I will take care of her. Please, Mrs Payne!"

Mrs Payne finally agreed.***

Since that day, Mrs Payne, Ruth and the cat have lived together in Mrs Payne's home. After Mr Payne's death, Ruth could not leave her alone even for a minute.

On Rees and Thea's advice, she shifted into Mrs Payne's home with all her belongings. Now that she had one more life completely dependent on her she could not afford to pay rent of two homes. So it was a practical and wise decision to live together and cut on some expenses.

Ruth filled the cat's bowl with milk and patted her head. "Finish all of it in time or I will not take you to the shop." She warned.

Mrs Payne watched their exchange while chopping some vegetables.

"I can not believe that Mr Cooper allowed you to take her to the shop." She wondered.

"Yes. I was surprised too. But you should have seen his face when he first saw her. He looked like a ten year old boy who had got his favourite toy." Ruth giggled at the memory.

Mrs Payne laughed. "I wish. But I have a fair idea about if after seeing Thea mimicking him."

Thea had started spending her weekends with them at their home. They once even went to the port for an evening walk. Mrs Green and Mrs Welby stopped by once or twice a week and brought vegetables and groceries along with them.

Ruth knew they were trying to be subtle, but she could not help but feel being pitied after receiving things from them. She knew they had no bad intentions, and she would never accept monetary help if they directly offered, hence they chose these indirect ways to help her.

"Okay, Mrs Payne. I will take your leave now. I do not want to be late again. Mr Cooper is already on a stove these days. He had even warned me to pay attention to the work and about punctuality." She told.

Mrs Payne felt bad that Ruth had to overburden herself with the responsibilities and workload. And she could not help her in any way.

"Ruth, be careful please. You know Mr Cooper had allowed you only three mistakes and you have already done twice. Now you have only one chance. That man is very professional. If you commit another mistake he will not hesitate to remove you from the job." Mrs Payne worried.

Ruth smiled at the old lady and held her shoulders. "Do not worry, Mrs Payne. I will be careful. You just take care of yourself. I and our little kitty will see you in the evening. Right sweetheart?"

The cat rubbed her head to Mrs Payne's thighs and purred.

"Of course, I will be waiting for you." Mrs Payne placed a peck first on Ruth's forehead and then on the cat's.

Ruth opened the door, her cat hot on her tail. Her smile faltered a little when she saw Florence standing at the door. Her hand was raised mid-air to knock on the door, but before she did, Ruth opened it.

Mrs Payne craned her neck to see Florence. "Florence?"

Florence avoided meeting Ruth's eyes and directly turned her attention to Mrs Payne, who sat on the floor with half-cut vegetables on the chopping board.

"Good morning, Mrs Payne! May I come in?" Florence asked with a small smile.

"Of course, dear. Please come in!" Florence brushed past Ruth into the home.

Not wanting to waste more time, Ruth closed the door behind her and started walking to the stairs.

Many things had changed over this past month. Ruth's life had taken an unexpected and unforeseen turn. She did not know if it was for better or not, yet. But she was hopeful... hopeful of a better tomorrow.

Florence kept checking on Mrs Payne after Mr Payne's funeral. She avoided looking or conversing with Ruth. But, Ruth did not mind it as long as she kept Mrs Payne company while she was away for the work.

She thought of her strange and controversial encounter with Florence more than one and half months ago when Florence insulted her friends, and Ruth lost her calm.

Ruth wanted to feel bad or, even guilty for scaring Florence and humiliating her in front of her entire apartment building and friends. But she could not find those emotions inside her. Instead, she felt proud of herself for standing up and defending her friends and herself.

"Watch out the puddle kitty!" Ruth said to her cat, and the intelligent creature rounded the puddle to avoid getting dirty by the muddy water.

"My smart baby!" Ruth exclaimed proudly, to which her cat agreed with a mew.

After a month, Ruth saw her and Mrs Payne's lives falling back in place with an empty slot of Mr Payne that they were trying to fill up with his memories.

As Ruth and her cat walked on the narrow and dirty roads of the Eastern part of Vincardine, she could not help but think about the conversation she had with Rees and Thea two days back.

They were concerned for Ruth and Mrs Payne. With Ruth's current job at Mr Cooper's shop, she could only earn as much as it needed to survive, but not enough to cover the debt that she had taken during Mr Payne's illness.

Mrs Payne was also old and had health issues. A part of Ruth's earnings had to be spent on it too. At the end of the month, she was left with no penny in her hand.

Rees was worried at this rate about how Ruth was going to clear all the debt and build a better future for her?

"Then what should I do Rees?" Ruth had asked him.

Rees suggested getting a new job that would pay her better, and she could save some time and money for herself and Mrs Payne.

Ruth had laughed at him. Where she could find another job these days with her zero experience in every field other than sewing?

But Rees had a solution to her problem that Thea also agreed with.

But Ruth's mind and heart both were not ready for it. How could she agree to their idea when she knew it was not her cup of tea?

Her friends had given her two days time to think and discuss it with Mrs Payne. When she shared it with Mrs Payne, she was both happy and a little concerned.

But, at the end of their hour-long discussion, she told Ruth that whatever her decision would be, she would support her unconditionally. Ruth felt relieved at that, but that carried her again to square one.

She was confused and did not know what to answer when Thea would ask her decision.

Ruth even asked her cat about it, to which the animal had only mewed and licked her front leg.

Perhaps her cat was also as confused as Ruth.