I have learned that a woman can be a fighter, a freedom fighter, a political activist, and that she can fall in love and be loved. She can be married, have children, be a mother. Revolution must mean life also; every aspect of life.
-Leila Khaled
Chris
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On the Saturday following our return home to London, Cat and I were walking around town, looking for a place to sit down and have a cup of coffee together. Well, I was looking for coffee, Cat was looking for anything but coffee. After we had found a little café, she told me about how her cat, Copernicus, hasn't been feeling well for the past month or two, and she was going to take him to the vet. I offered to take her there, but she declined because she already had a ride from Contessa.
"Little Copernicus hasn't been eating right, his fur is falling out, he's been losing a lot of weight, and his fur keeps getting messed up. Poor kitty," she said after we had gotten back to her flat. "I hope he's okay."
After she had left, I went back in my flat and messed around on the internet for a while. Eventually, I got bored and called some of my friends to see if they wanted to do something.
"Hey, Peej," I said as he answered the door. "You all right?"
He invited me in while he got his jacket and put his shoes on. We played a few rounds of Super Mario before we left for lunch. We talked about all of our usual things for a while, before he decided to bring up Catlyn and my mini holiday in America.
"Did you have fun?" he asked as we made our way to a nearby Starbucks. "What kind of things did you do?"
"We went to a bunch of museums yesterday. On Thursday, her family and I celebrated Day of the Dead, which is the whole reason why we were there in the first place. Cat told me about her mum (she died a few years ago), and that's really it. I had lots of fun. You should have been there. Maybe I can introduce you two later."
"Do you like her?" he asked.
Where does this conversation sound familiar? I sardonically thought to myself, thinking back to the conversation Dan and I had the day she asked me to go back to Cleveland with her.
"I mean, you talk about her the same way I talk about Alicia," that's his girlfriend, "and I'm just curious."
"We kissed while we were in Cleveland," I said with a smile. I bit my lip as hard as I possibly could without breaking the skin to stop myself from smiling too big. "No big deal. It only lasted a few seconds."
"Good for you, Chris," he said as we paid for our drinks. We found a table, sat down, and finished our drinks. After we had finished, we headed back outside to find PJ's car. "Do you still want to introduce me to Cat?" I nodded my head and he started driving back towards my flat.
We made out way up to my own door and PJ put his things in my flat, since he was staying the night, and then we went over and knocked on Cat's door. In retrospect, I probably should have asked if she was busy beforehand. After a few seconds, Contessa opened the door, dressed in all black, and told us to come in.
Great, I sarcastically thought to myself as we walked in. I looked over at Cat, who was also in all black (she must've changed since I last saw her this morning), and saw her sitting on her bed with her cat curled up in her lap. She had The Aristocats playing on her laptop. I could tell it was almost over, being that Ev'rybody Wants to be a Cat is playing. She just continued to stare at her screen as Contessa lead us to the kitchen.
"What's with all the black?" I asked.
"Cat made me change in black because we're 'in mourning'," she said rolling her eyes.
"What?"
"Um, at the vet today, she found out that Copernicus has FLV, FIP, which are really deadly cat diseases, and, I guess, heart worms, too. The vet said she should put him down. So in response, she said we have to wear all black to mourn his impending death."
"Awe, that's terrible," PJ said and Contessa lead us over to where Cat was sitting. I glanced at her and noticed her eyes were lined with red and were slightly bloodshot. She gave PJ a sceptical look as he came into sight.
"Cat and Contessa, this is my friend PJ," I said while I motioned to each one at their names. "PJ, this is Cat and this is Contessa."
"Hi," she said trying to sound happy. "Sorry that this had to be your first impression of me."
"Don't be sorry, PJ said, "it's understandable. We'll meet some other time."
We all sat there for a bit, just watching The Aristocats, until Cat broke the silence between us all.
"Do you think he knows?" she said as she scratched Copernicus' tummy. "That he's going tomorrow, I mean."
"Probably not," Contessa said. "He's just a cat."
Cat sighed and then we went focused our attention back to The Aristocats. Afterwards, she asked us if we wanted to watch another, to which we all agreed, and then we went to her TV (since we were watching The Aristocats on her laptop), and she put in Oliver & Company.
"It's getting pretty late. I'm gonna head home," Contessa said with a yawn.
"Yeah, we should probably get going, too," I said. All four of us stood up and said our goodbyes. "If you need anything, you know where to find me."
"It was nice to meet you," PJ said as we left.
We made our treacherous journey across the hall and started playing some video games. After a few hours, we got tired and decided to go to bed.
Catlyn
"Are you ready?" Contessa said as her bourgeoisie car pulled up in front of my apartment building. I nodded and plopped myself down in the front seat with the cat carrier in my lap.
"Hello again, Miss Gasca," the vet, Dr. Somani, said as he came into the office. I mentally cringed at his lack of understanding of Latinoamericano naming customs, which are quite similar to Spanish naming customs.
"Mrs. Gasca is my mother," I said modestly. No, really. That's what she would be called before she married my dad. "Call me Cat."
"What seems to be the problem with Copernicus?" Dr. Somani said inspecting Copernicus.
"He's been really out of it lately. His fur keeps matting, which is weird for him. He's part Ragdoll, and that breed has non-matting fur. His fur has also been falling out in, and he hasn't been eating a lot. He just sits at the food bowl and looks it, but he doesn't eat a lot of it. He's also thrown up a few times in the past couple of weeks," I said as I continued on with some more symptoms he had.
After about an hour of drawing blood and doing some x-rays, Dr. Somani came in with a sad look on his face.
"Miss Gasca, You might want to sit down for this," he said before he let out an exasperated sigh. "I don't know how to tell you this really, but he has the feline leukemia virus and feline infectious peritonitis, as well as heart worms."
"Is there treatment?" I asked as I tried to work past the physical feeling of my heart shattering.
"I'm sorry, but no, not at the stage his illnesses are at. I think it'll be in his best interest to put him down. He's in a lot of pain right now."
At that, I let it all out. I'm going to have to euthanize my baby. I'll never see him again, I'll never pet him, hold him.
"Do you want me to go get your friend?" Dr. Somani asked. I just nodded my head. A few minutes later, Contessa was by my side, rubbing my back in an attempt to comfort me. While I calmed down, Dr. Somani came in and tried to discuss appointments he had open. The most recent opening that he had was for tomorrow evening. I agreed to it, not wanting to let my baby suffer anymore.
When we got home, I made Contessa change into black to mourn Copernicus' fate. She offered to start calling around to pet crematoriums in the area who would do one on such short notice. He's my family, and even in death, I'll treat him just as I would a family member. When her time comes, I wouldn't just leave Frankie's body at the hospital for them to deal with her, now would I? No, that'd be disrespectful, and it'd be disrespectful to do that to a cat I've had for almost seven years.
I put in The Aristocats, and then Copernicus and I laid down on my bed to watch it. About halfway through, Chris and some other guy were knocking on the door. Contessa let them in (which made me kind of nervous), and went to the kitchen to update them. They came back a minute later and gave me their condolences. Chris introduced the stranger as his friend PJ. We wound up finishing The Aristocats and then we watched Oliver & Company, since their both cool movies about cats.
After everyone had left, I felt alone, so I decided I should call my dad to let him know about Copernicus' condition.
"Hola, Gato," he said when he picked up the phone. "How're you? Your flight get there fine?"
"Yeah, a little scary, per usual, but otherwise fine."
"¿Estás bien? You sound sad."
"Yeah, I will be. I took Copernicus to the vet today and he's really sick. The vet said I'll have to put him down," I said. He gave me his sympathies before changing the subject.
"Gato, can I be serious with you for a moment? About Guillermo?" he asked. I told him to go on. "I'm sorry if you felt like I was blaming you for not telling me or if I made you feel bad when I yelled. I wasn't really mad that you didn't tell me, I was just mad that someone I considered my brother would betray me like that. I'm sorry that I kind of forced you to tell me, I should've just waited for you to tell me. I'm also sorry that I hit him and if it made you feel like I'm just as violent. And finally, I'm sorry I let it happen. I love you, Gato, you know that, right? If you ever need to talk or anything with me, don't hesitate."
I told him I knew he wasn't blaming me, and that I didn't think he forced me to tell him. I told him I love him too, but then he told me he had to go because a patient needed help. I started to feel lonely again, so I got on Skype, saw that Lorenzo was on, and called him.
"'Sup," he said as his sleepy face appeared. Behind him was black but his face was whitewashed by the light of the screen.
"I'm sad," I said. He asked me why, so I told him the story of my day. He, too, gave me his condolences, but then he wanted to talk about how I invited him here while I was in Cleveland. We talked about it for a bit and decided that him and a couple of our other friends will come by for my birthday, which is on the twenty-seventh. Before I got cozy, I made a bowl of popcorn to eat while we talked.
After a few hours of talking, I started to doze off, so we said our goodnight, and then went to bed. I cocooned myself under the covers, I called Copernicus over and he curled up into a little ball on the pillow next to me. Before I even started to fall asleep, I read a few of the scary, but not too scary, creepypastas until I got tired. It took me a while to fall asleep, but, eventually I was able to.
/fghj/set?id=91305419
I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off on my phone. I groaned as I looked at the time. It's too early! Okay, yeah, it's ten in the morning, but that's still too early! Eventually, I mustered up the energy to get up and do my daily routine. The only thing that really motivated me to get out of bed was the fact that all of the food is in the kitchen. After doing what I need to do, I just laid around all day. Sunday is the only day of the week I don't have gymnastics practice, and I'm wasting it by being a sad sandwich. It wasn't until late in the afternoon that I heard a knock on the door.
"Hey," Chris said as I opened the door and invited him in. "I just wanted to see how you're holding up."
"I'm fine, for now. Me and Copernicus have been lazying around all day," I said. "Are you busy later?" He shook his head. "Will you come with me? Contessa said she has 'things' to do, and I don't want to be alone."
By the time the appointment had rolled around, Chris and I were already in the waiting room of the vet's office. Twenty minutes had passed before Dr. Somani had finally called us back. Seriously, what's the point of making appointments if I'm just going to have to sit around and wait?
Dr. Somani had me hold Copernicus during the process. Chris was standing behind me, his hands on my shoulders. Dr. Somani found the vein and inserted the needle. I looked into Copernicus' big green eyes for a moment, thinking back to the first time I saw him. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Freshman year, I always had to cross underneath the highway to get from the suburbs to the downtown area. Usually, Lorenzo took this trek with me just to assure I'd be safe. One of those days, I saw some kids picking on this little kitten. As anybody would do, we shooed the kids away. The kitten was so ugly, he was cute. He had these huge ears that were too big for his small head, and his fur was matted and dirty. Assuming he was thirsty, I took the water bottle out of my bag and gave him some. Lorenzo took a peanut butter cracker pack out of his bag and fed the kitten just the peanut butter. As I was starting to walk home again, the ugly kitten cooed at me and gave me with look and I knew that I loved him. I named him Bacon. I begged my mom and my dad to keep him, but my dad said no. However, my mom said she'd try to butter him up and convince him to let us keep the kitten. A few weeks later, on a particularly cold day, if I remember correctly, Lorenzo had stayed home sick that day, so I was walking under that highway alone. I remember hearing a pained meow, and, assuming it was Bacon, I started looking for him. Eventually, I found him. But a rock had fallen on his little kitty leg. I wrapped Bacon up in my coat and went home. My mom took me to the nearest vet, and we fixed up his leg. After my dad realized that he couldn't throw a cat with a broken leg out on the street, he agreed to let me keep him as long as I took care of him. We had a draw to decide his name, because I was the only one that liked Bacon. The name we drew out was Copernicus.
After Dr. Somani had emptied the contents of the syringe, it was a few seconds before it did anything. Copernicus let out one of those big ol' cat sighs, relax a little, and then he closed his eyes. He took some deep breaths for a few seconds before he just stopped moving all together.
"Would you like a few minutes?" Dr. Somani asked. I nodded my head. Chris held me as I let out a few gross sobs.
"It's okay," he said as he rubbed my back. He sure seems to be telling me that a lot. "He's not in pain anymore."
"I know," I said, wiping my nose on my sleeve. Chris then helped me tie a small ribbon around the longest of Copernicus' fur and then cut it. After I had calmed down, Dr. Somani told me when I'd expect the ashes and such to arrive, and then Chris and I left after saying a final goodbye to my cat.
"Will you stay with me tonight?" I asked. "I'm not used to sleeping alone."
As expected, he agreed.
-
I changed her last name from Grenada to Gasca, so that's why you may have been confused about the name. I also changed the way her mother passed, as well as one of her assaults and I reworded that scene to make it more realistic.
I just realized that I wrote nearly 3,000 words mostly about putting a cat to sleep. I can't tell if that's good or bad... But I have some important stuff planned for the next one that I'm going to start as soon as I'm done with this.
Anyhow, I hate doing this because it makes me seem desperate, but could you plz review. It really boosts my ego and my motivation to see that people are reading and taking the time to type out to me that they like it or what I could improve on (because constructive criticism is just as good as praise and I encourage it). It's just something nice to see, and I appreciate every single review I get.
