Bad Luck

A Bag Full of Tricks

    Chapter 4

A bag full of tricks

I could not take this. Not even for one more day.

I had to make that bloody black cat love me, whatever the cost. It was a matter of saving my honor and pride now. All cats loved me and the furry jerk-face was going to have to love me too, god dammit!

So far, I had tried every trick in the book to make him at least like me a little, but he was dead set on hating me. He looked at me like I was the worst person on Earth.

"Stop looking at me that way!" I admonished him as soon as I entered the Clinic's recovery room.

Lucky let out an indignant huff from inside his cage and looked down on me with even more disdain than he usually used to do.

"I came to have a talk with you, Lucky. A heart-to-heart, if you may." I announced as I grabbed a chair to sit right in front of his cage.

He purposefully turned slowly around, giving his back to me to stare at the back of the cage. That meant 'You talk to me when I let you talk to me, puny human'.

Of course, he was going to be difficult. What else did I expect?

"Look, I know that giving you space is clearly not working out," I began with my speech. I had tried leaving him alone at first. It didn't improve the levels of hatred in his glares, not one bit.

So I tried the next trick. "And I know bribery doesn't work on you either." Because I had prepared a small plate with the most delicious fish slices for him (behind Marie's back, obviously. If she caught me handing out her expensive fish filets to the stray injured cat, she'd surely had me neutered right there and then).

He had barely batted an eyelash to the plate. He ate it all, eventually, later when I wasn't looking. And when I went to retrieve the empty plate from his cage, he had looked at me as if he had made me this immense, long-sufferingly favor of gobbling it all up and I should be thankful for his oh-so charitable spirit.

The cheeky jerk.

"So I'm going to try to be honest with you now," I told him in a serious tone. Maybe honesty would do the trick. Most animals responded well with honesty, it was worth the shot. "I am aware you hate me. You think I did this to you. I have apologized already, but maybe I haven't done it properly."

Animals also tend to spot right away when you don't really mean it.

"So here it goes. I didn't ask for that car to drive at the exact time you were crossing that road, but I was the one who called you. So that was my fault and I'm very sorry. In my defense, I only did it because I really love cats. Cats are the coolest thing in the world. And I'm not saying that to butter you up, I really mean it. I can't blame you for thinking I'm responsible for your accident, but..." I paused for a moment and watched him as he flicked his ears back and forth to listen to what I was saying. "But, I'm sorry for causing you all this pain, Lucky, I seriously do. I'm really glad you recovered fast and that you're okay now. And I hope you can forgive me one day. You're almost healed so I'll let you out soon, I promise."

I peeked inside the cage to gauge his reaction. He was lying outstretched and still had his back to me, but his tail was lying still and the muscles on his back were relaxed, a sign that he wasn't angry, for once.

I guess that was the most forgiveness I would get from him.

Then I heard the bell from the Pet Store front door ringing, announcing the arrival of a client. "Well, you can't say I haven't tried to be friends. I'll get out of your hair now." I finished with my apology and quickly headed to the back door that connected the Clinic to the Pet Store.