When I circled around my car to enter the house, I saw a neighborhood feral cat, a calico, slink between two iron railings of a fence that surrounded our infinity pool. I had wanted to name her, but Mara insisted that the cat would then become a pet and be allowed to come in the house. Even though the cat was sometimes fed outside on the patio, Mara didn't want any pets inside, not even goldfish or hermit crabs when Willie was in elementary school. She said it was a personal preference and I diplomatically left it at that for the sake of marital harmony. God knew I had wanted a golden retriever to jump all over me and to love me unconditionally when I came home, but Mara didn't want hair and slobber all over the furniture. In my mind, I wanted to name the calico cat Daphne for the mythological naiad since the cat seemed to prefer being by our swimming pool, despite Mara's best attempts to get it to visit other swimming pools in the neighborhood.
The cat purred and rubbed herself against my cuffed suit pants and black Gucci wingtips. I picked her up and petted her affectionately, scratching behind her ears. When I placed the cat on my chest toward my shoulder, she caressed her face against my jowl and neck.
Calico cats were said to be magical and protective of humans, that significance would eventually not be lost on me. They were also supposed to hold a genetic key that could cure obesity in people, which gave me great hope that Mara's only sibling and older sister Phyllis would finally lose the excessive weight that was slowly killing her with diabetes. Phyllis Johnson was my sister-in-law and I loved her. I didn't want to watch her die and not do anything about it.
I petted the cat behind her neck and put her down on grass next to the driveway so she could saunter back between the railings of the pool fence and meet me at the sliding door off the kitchen where she knew I would soon feed her.
YOU ARE READING
BY REASON OF INSANITY by Edward L. Woodyard
General FictionThis seriocomic psychological examination into the mental health of "The Shrink to the Stars," centers on a Beverly Hills forensic psychiatrist who is either driving himself crazy, being driven crazy or both - by either someone, something or both. A...
