Three Word Wednesday- Pet
Flimsy, adjective: comparatively light and insubstantial; easily damaged; (of clothing) light and thin; (of a pretext or account) weak and unconvincing.
Hungry, adjective: feeling or displaying the need for food; causing hunger; having a strong desire or craving.
Tense, adjective: (especially of a muscle or someone's body) stretched tight or rigid; (of a person) unable to relax because of nervousness, anxiety, or stimulation; (of a situation, event, etc.) causing or showing anxiety and nervousness; verb: become tense, typically through anxiety or nervousness; [with object] make (a muscle or one's body) tight or rigid.
My Pet
I was born with two litter mates. Bigger than the
other two I got lots of milk and affection from my mother. Then the people came
children adults and others peering at me. When the children came I’d run and
hide while my litter mates would play with the children and purr up against
them. First one and then the other disappeared with people. It was then that
she arrived, a single woman alone. She coaxed me out from under the sofa I hid. She spoke to me softly and held me close up
to her chest and I liked it. I began to purr and she said I’ll call you Tuxedo.
She took me home to what she called an apartment, a
small space where I could run and peer out a window way up high. I thought that
she would always be there, but every day she left for hours at a time and I wait
watching out the window looking at the sky until she come home and fill my
dishes again. She seemed unhappy that I’d claw her furniture and put rents in
the flimsy material. Didn’t she understand that need? Silly human. One day she
took me to a man, a vet she called him and I grew tense and very scared. He
plunged a pointing thing into me and it hurt my bum. When I woke up she wasn’t
there I was in a cage and my back feet hurt. I my claws and panicked they weren’t
there. What had this vet done to me? When the man came hissed and bit him. He
snarled. Still no sweet lady. Had she forgotten me?
She came and took me home; but not for long soon she
took me to another place where there were many animals in cages. I cried and
whimpered for her to come back but she didn’t.
I was taken home with another lady who kept me four
years then returned me to my cage. When people came, I decided I
would not be friendly. Why should I? Attached
to a human, I thought I owned them and then they’d return me like a sweater, or
something brought home in a bag. I deserved better; but then she walked in an
older lady with waves of sadness and loneliness coming off of her. She needed
me I could sense it. She seemed awkward at first not knowing how to communicate
with me. I could tell she’d never been around cats but that was okay. Trainable
might be a better choice. Look at those humans that took me home they thought
they knew all about cats but condemned me for being me. She would make a better pet.
I sauntered up to the front of the cage and purred
at her and she was hooked. She then passed some paper over to the people who
help him in the cage and they took him out and passed her to the lady. I purred
in her arms and I felt her melt.
She took me home and with her there was no
silly baby talk. No, she talked to me like I was rightfully her companion. She
called me Rudolph Valentino, a fitting name much better than that silly Tuxedo
name. She shortened it to Rudy and I responded to it. We became the best of
friends as I taught her how I always sat where I liked whether it was in her
lap, in her favourite chair, or under the covers in our bed. I even nibble at
her toast out of politeness. I would greet our guests at the door or by joining
them while they sat at the table jumping up on the table and accepting their
petting me. I turned on the light on the table with my paw when it grew dark; my pet was well cared for.
Two of her frequent visitors came every week and when they left they
take her out of the house; but they always brought her back with food for her
and me. They never let us go hungry, so when they came I always greeted them
and let them pet me.
She’d notice when I didn’t feel well and take me to a nice lady vet who’d make me feel better. She allowed me to race back and forth in her house and when her two frequent visitors brought a fireplace for her and me I lay before it basking in the warmth meant for me. A King of all I surveyed, she was my captive audience; she talked to me and I’d answer back making her feel better and alive for I had grown to love my pet. I soon found that years had passed. I was still pampered by her, but I felt the pain in my joints and the quickening of old age but then so did she. We conforted each other in our joint pains. My stomach wasn’t what it once was so she had the vet put me on special foods easier to digest. I was happy and I showed her that. I pounced on her lap when she sat to watch the funny box with the pictures on it. I crawled under the sheets and blankets and cuddled up sleeping at her side.
She’d notice when I didn’t feel well and take me to a nice lady vet who’d make me feel better. She allowed me to race back and forth in her house and when her two frequent visitors brought a fireplace for her and me I lay before it basking in the warmth meant for me. A King of all I surveyed, she was my captive audience; she talked to me and I’d answer back making her feel better and alive for I had grown to love my pet. I soon found that years had passed. I was still pampered by her, but I felt the pain in my joints and the quickening of old age but then so did she. We conforted each other in our joint pains. My stomach wasn’t what it once was so she had the vet put me on special foods easier to digest. I was happy and I showed her that. I pounced on her lap when she sat to watch the funny box with the pictures on it. I crawled under the sheets and blankets and cuddled up sleeping at her side.
This morning I awoke cold and not feeling myself. I
felt the quickening and knew I didn’t have long. I hid under the dresser, but my
pet found me. She pulled me out and then seemed scared understanding what occurred
to me. She rushed me to the vet but the doctor didn’t understand; not like my
pet and she sent me home. When we arrived home I couldn’t get out of the
carrier. I felt weird as I shook and my face contorted. This was my time. I had
a wonderful life with my pet this eleven long years, but it was my time. The
time everyone gets on this earth, for I lay dying. I wanted to comfort my pet
who had suffered so many losses, but I could not. I looked at her my pet and
wondered how she would go on without me? Who would greet her in the morning? Get
her up to see the sunrise? Who would she share her breakfast, with lunch,
dinner? who would play with her and pat her face? I gazed up into her face with love and then glanced at her child who
had come in my hour of need. She had her children that would have to be enough. At peace, I closed my eyes one last time and embraced the light. Goodbye my pet.
RIP Rudy 04/22/2000- 07/04/2015
©Sheilagh Lee April, 8, 2015
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