Eleanor was still lying in bed when Chauncey came in and
said, “I think we lost Henry.” Henry is a grey tabby with matching black
stripes on his cheekbones and black rings on his tail. Everyone who sees him
says he is a handsome cat. Chauncey explained that he was awoken in the night
by a cat screeching. Believing Henry to be inside, Chauncey went back to sleep.
When Henry didn’t come for breakfast in the morning, Chauncey looked outside and
discovered the screen from the upstairs bathroom window lying on the ground.
Henry had gotten out. Chauncey assumed the screeches had been Henry’s when
caught by a coyote.
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| Is there a God? |
Henry came to Eleanor and Chauncey by way of Lila’s first
boyfriend, Charlie. Charlie’s uncle was threatening to take a recent litter of
kittens to the pound. Lila’s pleas to rescue one of the kittens were persistent
and loud. Eleanor and Chauncey
gave in to Lila even though they knew Henry would be left behind within a year
when Lila went off to college.
Henry was instantly loved by all. He was feisty and clawed
the furniture unless someone entertained him with play. When he was only 3
months old, he got blood poisoning from who knows where. Eleanor and Chauncey
spent an agonizing weekend worrying and waiting for the vet to call with news
of Henry’s fate. When they learned that Henry would survive, they were shocked
by the relief they felt.
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| The birds won't mind if I take a little sip. |
Soon after Lila left for college, Henry did not get up one
morning for breakfast. Eleanor went to inspect him and discovered he had a gash
on his hind leg. Four hours later, he was home resting, dosed with antibiotics
and painkillers, the wound having been cleaned and bandaged by the vet. A run-in with a opossum was the vet’s best guess.
One afternoon when Eleanor was working in her garage studio,
she heard a woman scream. A few minutes later, Lila came home sobbing that she
had just seen Henry get hit by a car as she was driving up a nearby street. She
said she stopped and looked for him but couldn’t find him. Henry showed up
shortly thereafter with lacerations on both hind legs and looking pretty shaken
up. Eleanor and Lila rushed him to the vet. The vet said he would be ok but
that he had just used up one of his nine lives.
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| Hey, you can sit on the chair. |
Eleanor was thinking about the possibility that
Henry had really been taken from them when she heard Chauncey open the back door
and say, “Oh, there you are, brother, returning home from the night shift and ready
to sleep the day away. How about a little something to eat first?” Eleanor
thanked the gods, once again, for keeping Henry safe.
