Selene
Copyright© 2022 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 54
Although I haven’t missed him since he died ... a Flintkote needs a cat ... maybe more than one ... so.
In Austin, there exists a restaurant ... with a chef who made a mistake. New to the job, he fed a stray ... and the stray multiplied. The restaurant has become ‘the cat rescue’ ... or the ‘kitten dump.’
Any unwanted cat is let out of the car. The car speeds away ... and Voilà ... there it is. A couple of times a year, Animal Control raids the place. Some few ... generally the same ones every time ... escape ... hide or ... by way of subterfuge ... always return.
Animal Control is a ‘No Kill’ shelter. On the Saturday following the raid, the shelter has a ‘Caterday.’ Most of the kittens and young adults find new homes and the $40 dollar fee supports the next batch of cat food.
Want a cat? Have a good soul? Sit in the Lotus by the dumpster and chant quietly, “Omh ... or Ohm ... or Amps ... or even ... Watts.” As long as you’re quiet about it ... the cats don’t care. “Kitty kitty here kitty kitty,” has been known to work. Don’t whistle. You want a cat ... or cats, and whistling will produce the neighborhood wolfpack.
I, however, cheat. Tuna water. Cheap canned tuna. The cats won’t eat the tuna ... but they will drink the water. I opened a bucks worth ... four cans ... and placed them at my feet. I collected a bunch of interested cats ... and THEN sat down.
I will not try to ‘suspend your disbelief’ and tell you cats read my mind ... and I theirs. But ... I believe it ... the cat of choosing ... believes it. I do not choose ... the cat does. Normally, a spark generates when human head and cat head bump. The knowledge passes between. No spark? I am not their human ... they are not my cat.
And I don’t give two farts for your disbelief.
Three days I grieved, in constant sorrow, lamenting, some wailing, a little weeping, heartfelt anguish and despair. A black dress, a little sackcloth and some ashes. The shovel of ashes was from the sauna stove.
And I’m over it.
Three days found me surrounded by tuna water in the parking lot next to the dumpster.
The Maine Coon jumped on my lap and head butted me ... well ... heck ... no spark.
I heard in my head...
‘Well EXCUUUSE Me, I thought ... but no.’
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