The Cat Lady   

      In the summer of 1986, I met a person that impacted my life. It wasn’t a life changing event like getting married or having a child. It wasn’t the same as meeting a big movie star or the President of the United States. It was one of those meetings where you don’t realize what’s happening and then it becomes a very important part of your life. It was a chance meeting I cherish to this day. I was working at the Fort Worth Police Department. I had been on the job for about seven years. I put my five years in on patrol duty and finally transferred to the downtown foot patrol unit. I walked around downtown trying to keep a lid on the crime while still performing a public relations function with good citizens. There was plenty of crime to contend with but since I wasn’t in a car the pace was slower. I enjoyed the duty better than patrol and the officers I worked with were great people. I had been on evening shift foot patrol and the focus was on the clubs in the center of town and out on the north side. We tried to make sure nothing bad happened as the clubs emptied out at the end of the night. Now, I’m on day shift. That’s a whole different ball game. It was all about the morning traffic coming downtown. Making sure everything was cleaned up from the night before as the businesspeople began filing into town, and this is where my story begins.

      It was a Sunday morning in early June. It had been a particularly rough Saturday night. The Texas sun was rising fast and heated up the sidewalks early. I left the downtown headquarters at about six in the morning with three other foot patrol officers. The Sargent told me to walk an area just east of the headquarters located at 350 West Belknap. Police headquarters are located next to the county courthouse. The buildings are on a high bluff overlooking the Trinity River. It’s a beautiful view of North Fort Worth and is considered prime real estate. Just east of the station is a small street appropriately named Bluff Street. There were new office buildings going up all along Bluff Street. One of the first lots next to the courthouse was an old, dilapidated house. I had seen it before while driving by but figured no one lived in it. The house had to be from the 1930’s. There used to be many houses along Bluff Street, but they’ve all disappeared to make room for progress. This house stood alone as a reminder of another era. As I walked past the house not paying much attention to it, I noticed four men laying in the front yard. I stopped and saw wine bottles everywhere. I decided the winos were an eye sore. I always thought of the house as dilapidated, but when you stopped and checked everything out it wasn’t in bad shape. The yard needed to be mowed but didn’t look bad either. It had been mowed and taken care of in the last couple of weeks.

      I walked through a metal gate of a half torn down faded blue metal fence that went all the way around the house. I rousted the winos and told them to leave. They mumbled and grumbled and finally woke up. They started grabbing their precious bottles of wine that had even a few drops left in them to take down to the river below and finish off. They left the empty bottles, and I didn’t think anything of it. I assumed no one lived in the house and I’m not responsible for cleaning up the winos mess. After several minutes of taking inventory, they all headed down to the river. They were most likely going to get some more sleep before partaking in the last of the wine. I walked around to the back yard and there were two more guys sleeping there. Same procedure, I rousted them, and they followed their buddies. I was walking back around front to leave, and I noticed something moving in the house. I stopped to investigate. I looked through a window on the front porch and saw furniture in the house. I knocked on the door, not believing anyone lived downtown anymore and especially in this old house. After a minute or so the door cracked open. An elderly woman slowly stuck her head through the crack and smiled ever so slightly.

      “I’m sorry to bother you mam. Do you live here?”

      She seemed hesitant but opened the door. She was probably in her late sixties or maybe early seventies. She was short and heavy set but not fat. She had a motherly face with piercing brown eyes. She was wearing a blue flower-patterned dress that went well with her short gray hair. As she opened the door further, I noticed four cats roaming the living room curious as to who was coming to the house. She was timid when she spoke and had a strong German accent, “Yes sir. I’ve lived here for over forty years.” 

      “Well, like I said I didn’t want to bother you but there were winos sleeping in your yard. I figured you didn’t want them around, so I ran them off.”

      “Thank you, sir. I really appreciate you doing that. They come around every night and I don’t know what to do.”

      “Do you have a phone mam?”

      “Yes sir.”

      “The next time these guys come in your yard call the police. They’ll take care of them for you.”

      “I’ve called the police, and they never do anything.”

      I was now getting a sick feeling in my stomach. Fort Worth was in the midst of one of the worst crime eras in the history of the city. Fort Worth had the highest crime rate in the country during this period. To top it off the police department was authorized nine hundred officers but only had seven hundred sworn officers. Winos asleep in somebody’s yard was not a priority. I could see the officers either driving by and leaving, going to the next call, or not showing up at all. That’s how bad it was.

      “I’m sorry about that mam. I work foot patrol down here and I’ll stop by to get these guys out of here in the morning. I’ll also tell the evening shift foot patrol people to check your yard before they go home for the night.”

      You would’ve thought I gave her the key to the city, “Oh thank you, thank you, sir. I’m so scared at night. I’m here by myself.”

      “We’ll see what we can do about that mam. My name is Officer Moss. Doug Moss.”

      “Nice to meet you officer Moss. I’m Lillie Michaels.” She stuck out her hand and I shook it.

      I wrote down the phone number of the desk sergeant at the police station next door, “Here, call this number if you have any trouble. Tell them you live right next door and officer Moss said you would take care of any problems.”

      “Oh, thank you sir. I can’t tell you how safe this makes me feel.”

      “Well, I don’t know about that, but we’ll do what we can. You have a good day Ms. Michaels and I’ll see you in the morning.”

      I went back to the station at the end of my shift and talked to evening foot patrol officer Jan Mason. She’s a tall attractive blonde with blue eyes. She’s a very nice person but all business on the street. You know she’s a police officer if you have any contact with her, “Hey Jan you got a minute?”

      “Yeah, what do you need?”

      “You know that old house next to the courthouse on Bluff Street? It’s the only one there.

      “Oh yeah. You know, I think somebody lives there. Every once in a while, I see a light on at night.”

      “Yeah, Lillie Michaels lives there. She’s this sweet little old German lady with cats all over the place and she’s having trouble with winos. Can you make sure they’re not laying around her yard before you go home.”

      “I can’t believe anybody still lives downtown, and an old lady no less, by herself! Don’t worry Moss, I’ll check it and make sure she’s got a clean yard when I go home. I go home at two thirty though. What are you going to do between two thirty and six when you come on?”

      “I guess I’ll contact patrol and see if they can check it out between those times.”

      “Yeah, good luck. They go all night long working calls. They’re not going to check her for winos with dispatch yelling for cars. The other night they wanted to keep me over to answer calls in patrol.”

      “Yeah, Okay. Maybe Larry can help. I’ll talk to him. Anyway, I appreciate it. Let me know how it goes.”

      I went down to the second floor and talked to the evening shift patrol sergeant. Larry Harston appeared to be a crotchety old man but was a real sweetheart. He was a little over six foot tall in his mid-fifties with a bald head and a stomach that was starting to pooch out because of years of eating fast food on the run. Larry had been a police officer a long time and knew everything you wanted to know about Fort Worth as a city or anything to do with crime. I came in his office, and he was doing paperwork, “Hey Larry, you got a minute?”

      “Yeah, how’s it going? How are you enjoying foot patrol?”

      “I love it so far. I’ve got an issue though. There’s a little old lady living down here, and she has a wino problem.”

      “You mean the cat lady?”

      I’m sure I had a funny look on my face, “The cat lady? Does she live in the old house right next to the courthouse on Bluff Street?”

      Of course, Larry would know her, “Yeah that’s her. She’s a sweet old lady. Is she having trouble with winos sleeping in her yard again?”

      “Yep. I was wondering if you could get the midnight officers to check her yard between zero two thirty and zero six hundred hours. I’ve got foot patrol covering it the rest of the time.”

      “Normally I would say no problem, but the way things are now it’s hard to say. I’ll do what I can.”

      “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

      The next morning, I came in and left the police station at a few minutes past six and walked straight towards Lillie’s house. When I arrived, there were three winos laying in the front yard. Apparently, it was busy in patrol last night. It was time for higher echelon thinking. The winos needed to realize this wasn’t a good place to settle in for the night. They needed to have consequences for sleeping here. It was time to hit them where it hurt. I went through the front gate and approached them as they were sound asleep. I started poking them with my night stick. As they began to wake up, I informed them of the new policy.

      “Listen up! Anyone caught sleeping within a hundred yards of this house will have all their wine poured out and taken to jail.”

      As I was telling them this the three winos were mumbling, and I don’t think I was their friend at this point. They started gathering bottles with any wine at all in them. One short skinny wino with several days’ growth on his face and shaggy hair finally turned around and said, “Did that old lady call the police on us?”

      I walked over and got right in his face, “No. This is all me. As a matter of fact, she wanted me to leave you alone. I’m thinking about taking her to jail for hindering a police operation. Now, any more questions?”

      He was perturbed but gathered his bottles. I was upset with the reaction, it’s time for more consequences, “Hey! Everybody, stop.” I walked up and took the wine they collected and one at a time started pouring them out.

      As I’m pouring the bottles out, I tell them, “If you continue to come here, we’re going to find you anywhere on the street and pour your wine out. Think about that when you want to pass out in this front yard. You got that!” I dumped all the empty bottles on the ground, “Now, everybody pick up this trash. Nobody leaves here without carring something. Let’s go!”

      They gathered up the empty bottles and walked off towards the river with no wine and very upset at me. I walked around to the back yard and two more winos were asleep. I did the same song and dance with the same results. They left empty handed headed for the river. I figured the word would get around and the situation would subside. As I walked around the front of the house to leave, I heard a small voice, “Officer Moss.”

      It was Lillie Michaels. I walked up to the front porch, “Good morning Ms. Michaels. How are you doing?”

      “I’m doing fine now. Please, call me Lillie. Would you like to come in for some coffee?”

      “Yes, that sounds great, and you call me Doug.”

      I walked into the house, and it was an old musty house but very clean. I now saw six cats scrambling for safety because a stranger was in the house. There obviously hadn’t been many visitors lately. I looked around the living room and it was amazing. It was almost like stepping back in time or being in a museum. The furniture was colonial, I guess. The room had a very cozy feeling. There were pictures everywhere. Mostly old black and white photos of different people and they were in stylish, elaborate frames. There was a large, ornate grandfather clock in the corner that made the traditional loud, tick, tock, tick, tock.

      She motioned for me to sit on the couch, “I’ll be right back with some coffee.”

      She left the room and I continued to look around. I saw pictures of Lillie, a large man, and what appeared to be their three children. There were many pictures of this group or different factions of the group around the living room. I saw other pictures that appeared to be older. I had to get up and go look closer at one of the pictures. It was a man and woman with six kids. The look on their faces was bleak. It wasn’t like they were taking a regular family picture and everyone’s smiling. As I looked carefully, I could see the strain on the father’s face. The quality of the photo was fantastic. You could see every stern wrinkle. I noticed in the far bottom right hand corner of the picture, almost covered by the frame, was written 1935. That must’ve been the date it was taken. It was an amazing photo. I continued to look and there were more great photos of this family. Lillie came out of the kitchen with a silver service set and two cups of coffee with a sugar bowl and creamer.

      I turned around, “I’m sorry I couldn’t help but notice these photographs, they’re amazing.”

      She settled in on the couch, “Yes, they’re of my family over the years. Would you like cream or sugar?”

      I came and sat down, “Sugar please. I appreciate this, Lillie.”

      “I appreciate you. Thank you for getting those men out of here. Last night one of them started beating on my door. I called the number you gave me, but nobody came. The man who answered was nice and said he would have someone come by when he could. I guess someone could’ve come by, but I didn’t see anybody. At least the beating on my door stopped.”

      “I’m sorry about that. We’ll get you some help over here. I promise.”

      We made small talk a little longer and I left. I decided to walk down by the river to make sure last night’s winos got the message. As I approached their little camp, I noticed they had replenished their supply of wine. I walked up to the first guy and grabbed his full bottle. I turned it over and dumped it out. The guy was furious. I walked up to the next and grabbed his. I held it up like before as if I was going to pour it out, “Anybody going back to the house on the hill tonight?”

      One smart ass said, “I don’t know what you mean.”

      I nodded my head slowly as I started to tilt the bottle, “I’m going to do this to all the bottles.”

      The guy started yelling, “Okay, okay! Nobody goes back to the house!”

      I stopped and gave the guy back his bottle, “If I find just one of you up there tomorrow, I’m dumping everybody’s wine out. Remember that!”

      They all nodded but that wasn’t good enough. I said, “I want to hear everybody say yes sir, I understand.”

      I then heard a muddled medley of, “Yes sir, I understand.” I think everyone said it, but I wasn’t sure.

      I left the area and continued my downtown foot patrol. As I walked, I started thinking about Lillie’s German accent and the picture with 1935 on it. I wondered if she was in Germany in 1935. That was the time Adolf Hitler was rising to power. That would be crazy. I would ask her about it tomorrow. Her stories could be very interesting.    

      I decided to make an appeal to the midnight patrol sergeant. He was a good friend of mine from the police academy. His name was Mike Wilson. He was a portly round man about six foot two inches tall with brown eyes. He had brown hair, and a mustache. He was a good street cop but a little over enthusiastic sometimes. I walked down to patrol division and left him a note in his office explaining the situation. Hopefully, he’ll take care of it.

      The next morning, I went in and there was a note in my box. It was from Mike. It said, ‘we took care of everything last night. I don’t think you’ll have any more trouble with those guys. If you do just let me know. Have fun in foot patrol buddy.’ I smiled because I can just imagine what happened.

      I came out of the police station to walk to Lillie’s house. As I passed the courthouse, I noticed one of the winos that I had run off from Lillie’s several times. He was leaning on a post beside the courthouse. I stopped to talk. He had minor cuts and bruises on his face and his clothes looked in worse shape than before. He had a half full bottle of wine. I said, “What happened to you?”

      “Your friends did this to me last night.”

      “Don’t tell me you were back at her house last night after all we talked about.”

      “Yeah, I just get drunk and it’s a habit.”

      I grabbed his bottle and began pouring it out, “It’s a habit you better break. You’re pretty stupid. All you have to do is find somewhere else to crash. There’s a lot of places, the river, the water gardens, and a thousand cubby holes on the downtown streets. All this hassle will stop. Just don’t go back to that yard.”

      He was beaten down, “Okay, I get it. No more house. I’ll find somewhere else.”

      I gave him two dollars for more wine, “If I see you anywhere close to her house again, I’ll tell the midnight shift officers. Understand?”

      “Yeah, no more house. Please don’t tell those guys again.”

      “No, it’s up to you whether I tell them or not. Have fun.”

      I continued my walk to Lillie’s house. I got there and the yard was empty. I guess Mike really came through. I knocked and Lillie answered, “Good morning, Doug. Come on in. I’ve got coffee made.”

      “Good morning, Lillie. I don’t mind if I do.” I walked in and sat on the couch. She went to the kitchen to get the coffee. I sat there looking at more of the pictures in her living room.

      She walked out of the kitchen with the now familiar silver service, “You won’t believe what happened last night. I heard a commotion outside. I looked and there were three police cars out front. I couldn’t really tell what was going on but when they left all the guys were gone. I can’t thank you enough for helping me.”

      “No problem at all Lillie. I’m just glad everything worked out.”

      “They didn’t hurt anybody last night, did they?”

      “Oh no. I’m sure everyone’s fine. I didn’t see any injury reports filed from last night for this address.”

      “Good. Those men really upset me, but I don’t want to see anyone hurt.”

      “I wouldn’t worry about it. Everyone’s safe and sound and they won’t come in your yard anymore.”

      She smiled as we both sipped our coffee. Lillie always had a smile. I finally decided to ask her about the pictures, “Hey Lillie, I noticed a few pictures on the mantle over there and I was wondering who they were. They’re interesting looking photographs.”

      She stopped and her smile slowly disappeared as her face became stoic and sad at the same time. She had a bleak look just like the people in the 1935 picture. She just stared at me, and her eyes began to well up. Her voice cracked as she said, “That’s my family in Germany when I was a child.”

      “Yeah, I saw the date at the bottom. It says 1935?”

      “Yes. Most of my childhood was happy up until that picture. My father was a tailor. He made clothes for some of the richest people in Heidelberg. We had a good life.”

      “What happened?”

      “My maiden name is Cohen. We’re Jewish. In 1934 Hitler took complete control and I remember the change. The whole country was already against the Jews but now it was sanctioned by the leader of Germany. My family tried to go on with things as usual and we did for a year or so.”

      I was mesmerized. I was interested in World War ll, “So, I guess y’all left Germany?”

      She continued, “I don’t normally like to talk about it, but I feel comfortable telling you. In 1936 a big Texan came to Germany. His name was John Michaels. He was a financier for oil companies. He was talking to some people in Heidelberg about buying equipment from a Texas oil company. John needed a suit for a big meeting and came to my father. I was at the shop and met him for the first time. I was fourteen and he was twenty six. He always used to tell me later that it was love at first sight but that’s not true. He hardly noticed me. He and my father did business. He had a meeting the next day, so my father got a suit ready for him. John left the shop, and my father said the suit would be sent over to his hotel later in the day. Rumors had been flying around the town for several weeks the Nazi’s were gathering up Jews and taking them by train to a place called Dachau just outside of Munich. That afternoon some Jewish friends of the family were arrested by the Gestapo and taken to the train station. My father got scared that we would be going very soon. He checked into taking the family out of the country. It was too late to take everyone. He just didn’t have the money. I remember that afternoon. I could tell he was upset and desperate. He had John’s suit ready and sent it over to his hotel. I didn’t know he had put a note in the package asking John to come by a local restaurant for dinner. John showed up and my father negotiated a deal for him to take me back to Texas as his wife. He paid John money to take me back. I didn’t want to go but he told me I had no say in the matter.”

      I was now getting upset myself, “Is that John in these other pictures?”

      John looked to be about six foot four inches tall and medium build. He was a clean shaven good looking guy with dark hair.

      She nodded, “Yes, that’s my husband.”

      “Then what happened? You came back to Texas with him?”

      “Yes, the next day after his meetings he checked out of the hotel and came by to pick me up. After my father paid him to take me out of the country he went to a gentleman in Mannheim, which is a larger city close to Heidelberg. With a little persuasion the gentleman got all the documentation I would need to leave the country and get into the United States. My father had given me his grandmother’s wedding ring which I wore. It appeared we were married. We went to the coast and across the channel to England. We sailed to New York on the maiden voyage of the Queen Mary. That’s when I realized John had money. We went first class. It was a fantastic ship, very ornate. They had everything on that ship. I remember thinking, I could live like this forever. It was like a mansion on the sea. It was during this time we fell deeply in love. We arrived in New York and stayed there for several days before catching a train to Fort Worth. After arriving we officially got married. His family had land just south of downtown with a house out back. We lived there for years before buying this house in 1946. This was a beautiful area at that time.”

      I was still in shock, “I bet it was. It’s still a great view.”

      “Yes, I love this house.”

      “What happened to your family back in Germany.”

      She turned and looked out the front window and her voice started cracking again, “I wrote to them three or four times a week. I got answers back for months. Then, in late 1937 I stopped getting answers back. I tried to find out what happened, but I never got a response from them or any of our friends. I went till the end of the war not knowing what happened to them.”

      She had to pause because she was starting to cry, “I found out later my mother, father, and five brothers and sisters were sent to Dachau concentration camp and died there just before the end of the war. They all died.” She then broke down crying.

      I just sat there not knowing what to do. I felt a deep pain inside as I listened to the story and watched her cry. The story was fascinating, but I felt bad having made her relive it, “I’m so sorry Lillie. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry for bringing it up.”

      “No, no. It’s okay. The more people that know the better. I don’t want the world to forget what happened back then.”

      We talked a little longer and I had to leave. Lillie and I became friends. I stopped by almost every day to see her when time permitted. She told me many other stories of Germany and her family in Texas. I actually met two of her children when they visited her. I learned she truly loved the “big Texan” as she called him. He passed away in 1978. The cats eventually got used to me and ended up crawling all over me when I visited. I love cats. I was finally transferred out of foot patrol to vice. I ended up working more on the east side of Fort Worth and lost track of Lillie. I still had downtown midnight shift patrol units check on her. Apparently, winos got the message that the house next to the courthouse was off limits.

      I was reassigned to foot patrol on evening shift on the northside. Several years later I was working day shift and ended up at the downtown police station. I decided to walk over to the old house and see how Lillie was doing. I walked up to the front door and knocked. Nobody answered. I looked through the front window and a lot of the furniture was gone. There were still a few pieces of furniture in the house, but it looked nothing like when I visited before. I also didn’t see any cats. All the pictures were gone. There was no evidence of her existence. I tried to find out where she was but never did. It’s almost as if she disappeared just like the rest of her family, nameless into eternity. That was a sad day in my life. I felt like I had lost a good friend and a piece of history. I never saw her again. Never forget the Holocaust........