Black Cat

Black Cat-1

The bus screeched to a sliding stop in front of a muddy brown tin roofed bus stop. The rain pelted down in slanted sheets streaming against the bus blurring the images in the grey world outside. I grimaced inwardly as I walked down the aisle approaching the driver and front door of the bus.

The doors opened and a fine mist of musty cold rain sprayed up at me. The bus driver, who was a false blonde in her late forties, nodded at me not wasting her breath. My music was probably so loud she could hear it herself.

AC/DC blasted a magical trip on a Highway to Hell in my ears, the drumbeat accompanying my persistent head ache. It didn’t help that my head cold made my entire brain feel like an over filled water balloon on the verge of popping. I returned her nod before huddling into my sweater pulling on the straps of my backpack, and preparing myself to brave the chilling rain.

Taking in a deep moist breath tasting the dirty water rain, it made me cough and wheeze. I jammed my hand into my pocket wrapping my fingers around my keychain, feeling the familiar sensation of the trinkets attached to the cold worn silver key.

The trinket was given to me by my uncle who worked at a gold course. The golf Tee was a trophy from my very first putt; I had nearly tossed the golf club out onto the fairway. My father had been furious I had been so careless, whereas my uncle had been consumed with how adorable I had been. He had continued to praise me for the continuation of that sunny day.

Even with the freezing rain hammering down on my sick body I smiled at the fond memory.

The street light changed signalling for me to walk. I took a step out onto the street and ran sloshing through puddles feeling the murky water soaking into my shoes. I grimaced at the sensation of the dreaded mushy foot that made my toes curl as every step squished cold water up between my toes.

As I reached the opposite corner I found myself wheezing and out of breath. It threw me into a coughing fit which I had to lean against the light post in order to catch my breath.

First thing I would do when I got home would be to take a sinus and cold pill and sleep the rest of the day away. I pushed away from the pole and walked a few blocks down the uneven sidewalk traffic slinking by on my right shops and buildings on my left.

I turned left into an alley way that cut through the buildings; it saved me from having to walk all the way around the way around the commercial buildings to reach my house. I turned left heading into an alley way, people had left their garbage bags out in the rain too lazy to try running it to the street.

A soft weak mew stopped me dead in my tracks. I pulled both my head phones out and strained to hear the sound again, the song on my I-pod had been in the middle of changing which had left me in silence. I looked around myself wiping the rain from my eyes.

The alleyway had one light bulb that was trapped in a simple rustic Mason jar cover. It was barely even bright enough to illuminate the door it arches above.

A garbage bag to my left shifted and fell open spilling crumpled sheets of paper into dirty puddles along with a dented white wedding bell, when it hit the uneven and cracked ground the handle of it popped off spilling a clear rainbow reflective liquid out.

I looked up atop the dumpster watching a soggy pathetic looking cat trot out its ears back, tail dragging behind it as though it had already given up. A yellow plastic wristband was wrapped around its neck pressing its soaking matted black fur to its neck.

The sight made my throat clench as tears welled up in my eyes. It looked up at me with large dilated blue eyes. My breath sucked in cutting down my raw sick throat.

“You poor thing” I whispered in a raspy voice.

Slowly it collapsed in front of me falling over onto its right side; I swung my back pack up and around dropping it on top of the dumpster. The cat didn’t even flinch of make any sign that it had noticed the weight being dropped near it, my heart ached for the poor thing.

Who could leave such a beautiful cat outside in weather like this?

I unzipped the front pocket of my black bag and pulled out a thin pair of blue handled scissors. Standing on my toes to reach the cat I snipped the bracelet from around its neck watching as its stomach rose and fell in a deep breath. Its left ear flickered and slowly its eyes opened again.

I tossed the scissors back into my bag zipping it up, I slung it back over my shoulder looking up and down the alleyway. Nobody was out here looking for him, I couldn’t just leave him out here. I unzipped my baggy grey sweater and reached uplifting the thin sopping wet cat up from the top of the dumpster and pulling his cold shivering body in against my flu warm body.

It curled up against my chest thin, yet sharp, claws gently hooked into my wool shirt holding on for dear life. I zipped the sweater up a little and turned running down the remainder of the alleyway emerging the other side and turning right racing down the street forgetting the puddles that sprayed water up my legs making my jeans heavy and tight, sticking to my skin.

The clouds had made the day so dark that the street lights had come on showering mild orange light in oval pockets making some area’s bright and others dim. Shops were open with their fresh clean white lights spreading out onto the empty streets. It was 12 in the afternoon and it looked and felt more like it was 12 at night.

As I neared the end of the street I looked up and down the main road then down the side road that led into the fashion district. I couldn’t see any traffic coming or going either way. Taking the chance I jumped into the road and raced to the other side running up the slight grassy hill, the muddy ground threatened to trip me or slip me up but I dug my heels in and pushed forward.

I was determined to get both the cat and myself out of the rain as soon as possible.

There was only a small stone pathway that led up to my backdoor, my backyard was boxed in with green wire fencing that connected with my neighbours backyards as well. The gate was a simple latch so it was easy to open one handed.

The backdoor though was a different story I fumbled to hold the now unconscious black cat and grab my keys from my pocket, while holding open my screen door.

Somehow though I pulled it off and made it inside without any accidents. The screen door shut behind me and I slammed the wooden back door shut blocking out the cold rain. I hated this weather it was dreary and tiring, not to mention that it made me sick literally.

I dropped my back at the back door kicking my muddy soaking wet shoes off as well before moving quickly through my living room past the dining room and turning up the stairs heading towards the bathroom. I needed to dry this little guy off as soon as possible.

I understood that a normal person would not do this, nobody would pick up an alley cat and take it home with them… I knew it wasn’t the normal thing to do, but I understood that it was the right thing to do.