There is a dagger of some kind in my ribs.A very small dagger, exceedingly sharp,
perhaps wielded by a very small, exceedingly sharp animal…
Animal?
I open my eyes crossly.Despite the many warnings delivered to the cat regarding my ability to
fall and stay asleep, the cat thinks nothing of waking me, often times to share
what she deems to be crucial data.
I roll over, look at the clock.
2:34.
I roll to my back.
“I shall murdalize you,” I hiss softly, channeling,
apparently, some turn-of-the-century thug.“I’ll drop a mickey on ya, see, and leave you in blind tiger on the
North side.”
The cat smiles, settles on to my chest where she peers
down indulgently. Her breath smells
faintly of Friskies Liver and Chicken Pate. “Tsk, tsk, Pearl,” she chuckles.“Have you been reading about Five Points
again?”
I have been, and frown in the dark.I hate when she does that.“No,” I say.
The cat smiles, tiny white teeth.“We should talk like this more often,” she
says.
“We’re not talking,” I point out.
“Yes,” she says, “but the lines of communication are
open, and that’s what’s important, isn’t it?”
I sit up, and the cat falls backward on to the bed.“What have you done?”
Liza Bean Bitey, an animal with a cease and desist letter
from the Department of Fish and Game and pen pal correspondence with almost a
dozen enlisted men – not all serving the same country – blinks slow, heavy lids
at me.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“I feel you’re alluding to something,” I say.“I feel like you’re setting me up.”
The cat smiles, a vision of symmetrically striped
domesticity.“Pearl,” she says, “you really must get more
rest.You’ve become quite unhinged.”
I lay down, press the back of my head into the
pillow.I close my eyes and count to
10.When I open them, the cat’s nose is
just inches from my own.
“By the way, Pearl,” she says.“If you’re not using it tomorrow, I’m
wondering if I could use the car.”
On the one hand, the cat is an appallingly poor
driver.On the other, she always fills
the tank.
I close my eyes again.“OK,” I say.
Is there more to
this story? I suspect so. Come back tomorrow!