During their many years of dating, they would often
visit an animal shelter and dream of the day when they would bring a dog home.
The sad eyes would call out to them and break their young hearts.
Years later, just after the boy and girl married,
they moved to a foreign land with few acquaintances. They were lonely, still
full of love for abandoned animals and still rebellious. One day, when walking
randomly through a PetSmart, they came across a cat adoption event. One
adolescent cat reached his paw out of the cage repeatedly to grab the boy's
hand. The boy pleaded with his new wife to adopt the little fellow. Since the
girl had only ever owned a dog, she felt distrustful of the small hand-grabbing
feline. The boy had owned cats in his youth and swore it would be a good
decision. Because of the common rebellious spirit, they gave no thought to the
no-animals rule at their apartment complex.
The adoption was made. They immediately discarded
the name on the adoption sheet since it was totally lame. They opted for a more
refined one - Lorenzo. Upon bringing the contraband kitty home, they noticed
something. He was incredibly needy. He would not allow anyone to sleep because
he wanted to get closer and closer, until he breathed the air directly from his
owners' lungs. When the boy and girl banished him from the room, he would cry
at the door and reach under to paw the doorstop repeatedly, making a
"bonnnng" sound.
The boy immediately regretted his decision. He
declared the cat would be returned to the store. Having a strong sense of
responsibility, the girl would not allow it. She declared they had made this
choice, they would see it through to the end. Since she had no previous
experience with cats, she couldn't have known the true weight of this
declaration.
Eventually, all residents of the small apartment
adjusted and life continued. The boy and girl learned the cat had no problem
using his urine to make a statement (like he didn't enjoy a full litter box)
and that a king size comforter does not fit in a standard washer. Since the cat
repeatedly busted out the boy and girl to the other apartment residents by
sitting in the window, the girl was forced to cover all the windows with lovely
deer print fabric.
A year later, the boy and girl were ready to buy
their first [town]house. They soon learned their cat was kind of awesome. In the
new house, he behaved like a dog. He had a chicken toy that he would fetch from
any part of the house and carry it around in his mouth. He could catch it out
of the air. He would go crazy when asked, "Where's your chicken?" He
also enjoyed being carried around like a child, with his paws propped up on a
shoulder, looking out at the world. He discovered sleeping on the girl's head
was his favorite place to spend the many hours of the night.
Then the boy and girl had a baby. The cat used his
urine to communicate his displeasure (all over the clothes the rebellious boy
and girl had strewn about the room). The cat once attempted an attack on the
baby and earned himself some physical discipline. He was made aware that his
position in the family had been altered.
Years later, the boy and girl moved again, this
time to another state. In that time, the boy and girl learned their cat could
trigger the most underlying allergy in any houseguest. Over the years they had
also discovered he would bite people at random. He was not, by any stretch of
the imagination, a good cat, but man did he love the boy and girl (and their
baby a tiny bit).
One day, when shopping at the local Petco, trying
to pick out a cat for a family member with a mouse problem, the boy did the
craziest thing... he decided he wanted another cat. The girl was astounded.
After many persuasion tactics, the girl finally relented. A tiny second cat
came home. This one, it turned out, had a bad brain. The first cat was not a fan
of bad-brain cats. He beat her regularly from that day forward. Then the boy
and girl had a second child who particularly loved cats.
For years, the push and pull continued with the
original cat. He could snuggle and play like no other cat, while fiercely
loving his owners. His attachment disorder was in full force when they went out
of town, like the time when he bit the girl's cat-sitting sister and she lost
feeling in her arm.
Then one day, the cat was particularly naughty with
his urine, requiring a visit to the vet. They took many expensive tests and
diagnosed him with a liver issue. They also prescribed Prozac for his mental
issues, which the girl felt a bit odd requesting at Walgreens (after a week,
they gave up on the medication). The boy and girl were concerned for their cat.
They were exceptionally kind to him. Then months went by. He acted like nothing
was ailing him. He went on biting people, snuggling and peeing on things. Years
went by.
Then houseguests began to comment on how the cat
looked a little rough. He was very thin, but still ate every day. Then he
turned yellow all over. Still, he acted normally (perhaps with more errant pee
than usual). He slept on the girl's head at night and wanted to be carried
around all the time. He still beat up the bad-brain cat daily.
It was time to take him to the vet for another
check. The girl learned his liver had turned on him and was slowly starving
him. She was told it was time.
The boy, the girl and their two children spent the
next five days loving on the overly attached cat. They let him roll on
concrete, eat grass, eat 500 treats a day -- all the things he loved. They wept
for their loyal friend.
His final day arrived and it was almost time to
take him in. As the girl looked across the living room at the shell of a cat
she begrudgingly loved, she knew their lives would never be the same. There
would never be another Lorenzo. It felt like the end of an era.
He was their Lorenzo. He was the cat that reached his paw out of the cage to grab the boy, and somehow grabbed onto all their hearts for almost 13 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment