The Devil's Pet

Chapter 16

Saturday June 27, 2008

Her skin glistened in the sunlight as she sat propped up in front of the window. Sean could see Cathy now as never before. Past times when he visited she seemed so still, resembling a statue carved from wooden flesh crumpled in a wheelchair as if the sculpture began upright but had fallen under its own weight after completion.

Where he saw stillness before he now saw hairs move on her arm, nostrils twitch and the gentle movement of her chest breathing air in and out. Her scent was unmistakable. His senses were filled with her--it gave him renewed hope. The sound of her heart was firm and melodic. He even imagined that if he concentrated enough he could hear her blood coursing through her arteries.

He came as often as he could to see her but things were moving ever more out of his control and he didn’t visit as much as he wanted. He came straight over after leaving EB at The Artillery Store. Today was important for it was to be one of her last days imprisoned in her immobile body. Soon Sam would keep his word and she would walk out of this place. What would happen to him remained to be seen. Sam had plans but so did he.

Sean pulled up a chair next to Cathy and sat with his hand on hers leaning close so he could speak into her ear. The scent from her body was amplified this close and reminded him of her as a child when it was often mixed with wood smoke and grass stains.

“I need you to hang on tight for me honey, it won’t be long now and you can go home. You should come live with me for a while until you get stronger and then you can go back out into the world. We can have fires in the back yard and you can invite your friends over. I’ll even make you fried egg sandwiches for dinner if you want.”

“Daddy will have to go away after a while honey, it’s not that I want to but it’s something that has to happen. There’s nothing I want more than to see you grow up to be a fine woman and a mother. You know how I always used to tell you not to get mixed up with the wrong crowd? Well, I wish I had taken my own advice to heart because I‘m mixed in with the wrong ones now. I’m supposed to believe that one side is good and the other is evil but from my viewpoint it’s hard to tell which one to believe. I used to think good and evil were easy to tell apart. Now I wonder if there might not be such a simple thing as good and evil--only heaven and hell pursuing their own agendas, and we’re the entertainment.”

Not knowing if this would be the last time he saw her there were things he wanted to say. Things he wanted her to remember, long conversations to be had over a piece of cake late at night. He wanted to hear her voice, to see her smile, watch her eat. When Cathy was young he used to stand in her doorway late at night and watch her sleep, he doubted he would do that again after she woke up. He couldn’t say the things he wanted while she was in this condition even if there was a chance she could hear him, it didn’t seem right so he sat back and held her in silence until it was time to leave.