The Christmas Cat Tails

by Peter Scottsdale

  "You stink. You'll eat anything."

  Sharon removed the plants from her home to prevent Jasper from eating them and being poisoned. She put away all the human food after meals or he would steal it and gain weight.

  One morning, Sharon opened a jug of milk and dropped the seal ring on the floor. Jasper pounced on it and batted it about.

  "You'll play with anything." Sharon giggled.

  Jasper played with simple toys - string, a stuffed frog with catnip inside, a Kickeroo. And Sharon laughed. After a play session, Sharon lifted her Siamese and kissed him.

  "I love you, Jasper. Time for a bath. It's getting late."

  She put him down and went into the bathroom. She took off her clothes and stood in front of the mirror. She felt each breast. For three years, she found nothing. Tonight, she discovered a small lump.

  When Sharon's MD opened his clinic the next morning, she made an appointment for a half an hour later. After the examination, his assistant made Sharon an appointment for a mammogram and ultrasound, and he sent her for blood tests. A biopsy concluded: cancer.

  The lump would be removed followed by chemotherapy. Sharon found the disease early so she chose not to have her breast removed - just a lumpectomy. The Foothills Hospital in Calgary called and scheduled her surgery date. Chemotherapy treatments would begin afterward.

  Sharon put her affairs in order. She took a leave of absence from her job as a receptionist at the methanol plant, packed up her belongings, and put the boxes in storage. She gave her landlord notice and took Jasper to his temporary home. She sat in her car and put her hands together.

  "Dear God, I am not a religious person by any means, but please help me through this and get me home to Jasper."

  And she drove to Calgary.

  Chapter Five

  Eight days after Jasper arrived, Vera walked by her bed to get her television-watching glasses. The next episode of "Downton Abbey" was coming on. She picked up her glasses, and something grabbed her ankle. She let out a startled screamed and looked down.

  Two dark brown and white paws wrapped around her leg. The rest of Jasper hid under the bed.

  "What are you doing, you naughty--"

  Jasper let her go and raced out from under the bed and sprinted down the hall.

  "Naughty. You almost gave me a heart attack. Bad cat. Soon, Jasper. Soon."

  Vera sighed. She took her glasses into the living room and sat on the couch. She put her glasses on and turned on the t.v. Her show started several minutes later. She wrapped herself up in the British show and when it ended, she gazed down to her lap.

  "When did you get on me? You are some kind of cat, Jasper."

  Vera stayed where she sat, and Jasper slept for twenty minutes. He awoke and jumped down. Vera got up and went to her bedroom. She changed into her gardening clothes and headed outside into her backyard. She knelt down by her flowerbed and inspected the tulips and Easter lilies, touching each blossom.

  "Easter lilies look so lovely right now."

  She smelt the flower with a deep breath. She dug into the soil around the flowers and uprooted two Easter lilies. After slicing off the roots, Vera returned indoors with her pick. Collecting a glass vase from the kitchen cupboard, she filled it with the lilies and some water. She placed the vase on the coffee table and revisited her garden, checking on her young vegetables.

  Thirty minutes of pruning, digging and watering slipped by, and she finished for the day.

  "Everything looks great."

  Vera came back inside and exchanged her dirty clothes for a clean blouse and pants. She retreated to the living room where Jasper stood with paws on the coffee table, sniffing the Easter lilies. He reached up with one paw.

  "Get away from those, Jasper. You stink."

  She clapped her hands and leaned toward him. Jasper dropped to the floor. He tore out of the living room and down the stairs.

  "Darn cat."

  She inspected the flowers. No damage.

  She rested back into the furniture. With pursed lips, she let out a breath. She picked up the Anne Frank book off the end table and cracked the spine at the bookmark. She read until suppertime.

  Jasper stood beside his food dish and meowed and meowed and meowed. Vera stood up and entered the kitchen.

  "You hungry?"

  And he meowed some more.

  "It's a little early to be feeding you."

  "Meow."

  "Say please."

  Jasper kept the noise going and walked back and forth and in circles by his dish. He rubbed her legs. She opened the container of cat food and poured some into his bowl. He ripped into his meal.

  "Are you starving, Jasper? You don't look like you're starving?"

  Jasper ate, and Vera's stomach growled. She cooked up some Cheemos perogies and Sweetlets peas with one sausage. She ate, but Jasper finished first. He sat and licked his chops beside her. Afterwards, she cleaned up and ate a Dairy Milk chocolate bar for dessert. She settled in to watch a "Law & Order" repeat. Jasper sat beside her then turned his interest to the lilies. He leapt onto the coffee table and sniffed the flowers. Vera shooed him away.

  "No."

  Jasper jumped down and lay on the carpet.

  After the cops and lawyers show, Vera changed the channel to the "Langston Falls News." After some stock market and political news, a story featured a Siamese kitten stuck in a drainage pipe.

  "Glad that's not you, Jasper. That kitten could have died."

  When nine o'clock rolled around, the old woman and the young Siamese went to bed.

  *

  In the morning, Vera awoke and visited the bathroom.

  Where's Jasper? He usually follows me in here, meowing for food. Did he get into the cat food again. But I put that away - he couldn't've.

  She left the loo and checked the kitchen - no Jasper. She stepped downstairs and cleaned out the litter box.

  The clumps are bigger this morning - twice as big. He must've drank a lot of water last night.

  Her legs ached standing back up and climbing the stairs. She searched for him.

  "Jasper? Where are you? Jasper? Something's wrong. Where is he?"

  She combed the house - under the bed, behind the couch and t.v. stand. The flowers on the coffee table had only stems left.

  "That little--Jasper you ate my lilies. Bad cat."

  She searched some more and found him under the china cabinet. He lay curled up. Some vomit pooled beside him and saliva dripped from his chin.

  He's sick.

  She stood up and called the vet.

  "Cypress Hills Veterinarian Clinic. Is this an emergency or can I put you on hold?" a woman said.

  "It's an emergency. My granddaughter's cat is sick."

  "Tell me what happened."

  "He threw up and he's drooling and he won't eat and he won't come out from the cabinet. I think he's sick. I need to bring him in."

  "Has he eaten anything unusual?"

  "I don't - the Easter lilies!"

  "Bring him immediately. As fast as you can."

  Vera hung up, rushed to the cat carrier and picked it up. After getting to the cabinet, she bent down in pain and scooped Jasper up. She slid him inside the cat cage and shut the gate. She put her shoes on and hurried to her SUV, carrying the sick feline. She placed him on the front passenger seat and got in. Driving away, she broke every speed law on the way to the vet. The trip took ten minutes.

  Vera carried Jasper inside, and the veterinarian assistant ushered them into an examination room. She waited less than a minute for the vet to arrive.

  "I'm Dr. Marlen. I understand he's eaten some lilies."

  "Yes. Easter lilies I had on the table."

  "Easter lilies are poisonous to cats."

  "Oh, God. Is he going to be okay?"

  "Let's get him on the counter." He opened the gate and drew Jasper out. Dr. Marlen examined him with a stethoscope and ran his hands over the Siamese.

  "He appears dehydrated. Lilies can ca
use kidney failure. We need to give him some activated charcoal and an intravenous for fluids. I'll take him now."

  The doctor picked up Jasper and left the room.

  "You can wait out here," he said and nodded toward the waiting area.

  Dr. Marlen disappeared into the back of the clinic. Vera sat down. She fidgeted and rubbed her shaking hands together. She stared down the corridor where the vet had taken Jasper. Time crawled.

  Dr. Marlen reappeared after a slow, long wait. He walked to her, and she stood up. They went into an exam room and shut the door.

  "All right, we've got him on an IV to help with the dehydration and some charcoal into his stomach to absorb the poison. I'll be honest. It'll be a struggle to keep him alive. His kidneys may have shut down."

  "Oh, you have to help him. Please help him."

  "We're doing everything we can. Now, we have to keep giving him fluids and hope for the best. I'd like to keep him over night."

  "Yes, keep him as long as you need."

  "You can call us in the morning to see how he's doing."

  "I will. Please do your best. He's my granddaughter's cat."

  "I've got to get back," Dr. Marlen said. "Take care."

  The vet turned and vacated the room. Vera approached the receptionist.

  "Will he be okay?"

  "Dr. Marlen is the best. He'll take good care of him."

  Vera forced a smile and left the clinic. She walked to her SUV - every step ached. Once inside the vehicle, she wailed.

  "Jasper's going to die. I just know it. Lord, please help him. Hold on, Jasper. Hold on."

  Chapter Six

  Vera Appleton and James Boxton married July 10, 1961. The next fours years saw two pregnancies - a boy followed by a girl. Gordon - named after Vera's deceased father and Helen - named after James’ mother.

  Playing outside one day in 1967, Gordon ran across the street, chasing his sister outside their home, and was struck and killed by a speeding 1964 Mustang. A few weeks after Gordon's funeral, the Boxtons adopted a puppy for Helen, who had cried every night for her lost big brother.

  The dashhound puppy named Lexi played with Helen for hours almost everyday and sometimes Vera joined in. The little girl and her young dog grew and carried on together. Lexi jumped up on her and wagged her tail each day Helen arrived home from school. Helen fed her table scraps from the dinner table against her mother's orders.

  Helen often thought of her big brother with Lexi by her side to hug and hold.

  Helen grew up and Lexi grew old. The time came to put Lexi down. Helen refused to let it happen, but Lexi's body broke down. The old dashhound died peacefully at a vet clinic in the Spring of 1981.

  At eighteen, Helen graduated high school and attended university to study engineering. She finished her degree four years later and got pregnant two years after graduation. Sharon, her only child, took her first crying breath December 3, 1989.

  Helen lived the life of single parenthood, never telling the father of Sharon's existence. Their anonymous sex resulted in Sharon, and Helen demanded nothing from him.

  Vera and James celebrated a new addition of their own - a nine month old Boxer named Billy - a tall, gentle loveable pooch. James suffered a massive heart attack and died three days later in hospital. Billy turned one year old the next day.

  Vera cried for her husband of 29 years. During their marriage, James worked and Vera took care of the household. Although they had savings, Vera found she needed to work and got employment at the local Wal-Mart as a greeter.

  Billy kept her company on those lonely days without James. Vera longed to have a man at home. She met Dan at work, and friendship became romance. He drank, but Vera accepted and ignored it. She had a companion. After the honeymoon phase ended, Dan drank more.

  "That dog wrecks the furniture and pisses on the floor. Let's get rid of him. If he goes on the rug again, I swear I will kill him," Dan said.

  Billy's tail went between his legs whenever Dan entered the room. The Boxer yipped if Dan made any movement toward him.

  After an evening of drinking, Dan laid a beating on Billy with a belt. Vera intervened and Dan struck her too. Dan grabbed at Billy's collar and the dog peed on the carpet.

  "I'm gonna make sure you don't piss on my rug again." He dragged Billy outside and threw him in the car. Vera trembled.

  "Billy."

  Dan drove away and returned thirty minutes later.

  "You'll never see him again. You didn't deserve that dog anyway."

  Vera did not see Billy again. He had killed the dog she was certain.

  Dan refused to let another dog in the house. Vera feared leaving him. She avoided him when he drank. When he died of cirrhosis of the liver, the stress drained out of her head, neck and shoulders. Her muscles relaxed. She breathed a sigh of relief.

  "I will not remarry," she told the world. "Better to be alone."

  No man, no dog, no one. Until Jasper.

  Chapter Seven

  Vera stopped crying and gathered herself. She wiped her eyes with a Kleenex and drove away from the animal clinic.

  "Why did I bring those damned Easter lilies into the house? It's my fault. All my fault. Jasper's going to die."

  She slammed her hand on the steering wheel and swerved across the yellow line. A man in a GMC Jimmy hit the brakes and drove onto the shoulder to avoid her. A close one. Vera pulled back into her lane. Her heart thumped in her throat.

  "Oh, God. I'm so awful."

  She got home, parked in the garage and made for the flowerbed. She knelt beside the Easter lilies and ripped them out of the soil by the roots. She studied the other flowers and tore those out too.

  "I don't deserve flowers."

  She piled the plants up beside her. A groan came out of her mouth when she stood up. She gathered the flowers in her arms and strode to the back gate. She opened the latch, stepped through and bumped her arm on a metal fence post.

  "Darn fence." She rubbed the wounded spot.

  She got to the garbage can and opened the lid, flinging the flowers into the plastic trash bin.

  "Noxious weeds."

  She slammed the top down. She drew in a deep breath and went inside.

  I need to take him off my mind, but I can't. What will Sharon think? She'll be devastated when I tell her. And it's all my fault. She'll never forgive me. I'll never see her or Jasper again.

  "Oh, Jasper, please be all right."

  Vera made some blueberry tea and loaded it with three sugar cubes. Two more than usual. She sat at the table.

  Should I call the vet? It's too soon. This waiting is unbearable.

  She drank her tea, rinsed the cup and settled in the living room. She turned on the t.v. Any show would do. "The Price Is Right" came on.

  I haven't watched a game show for a while.

  After the Showcase Showdown, Vera picked up the television remote control. A bruise the size of a golf ball on the arm she had bumped on the post caught her eye.

  "How did I get such a big bruise? It didn't even hurt."

  She rubbed the wound. A slight pain. She shrugged and switched the channel to the noon hour news.

  Lunchtime, but I don't want to eat. I don't feel like it.

  At 4:35pm, she dialed the animal clinic. A veterinarian assistant answered.

  "How's Jasper doing?” she asked her.

  She put her on hold and Doctor Marlen came on the phone a few minutes later.

  "We've been keeping him hydrated, but he hasn't peed. And if he doesn't go means his kidneys have shut down. Which could be fatal. We're watching him, and we should know more in the morning."

  "Thank you." Vera hung up.

  Poor Jasper. This whole thing is driving me crazy. I'm guilty. This not knowing is killing me. It's going to be a long night.

  Vera rubbed her eyes, her lids drifted downward. She yawned.

  Better go to bed early.

  She didn't eat supper. She turned on the t.v. without watching it. Her head bobb
ed and her eyes closed and opened. She went into the master bedroom and changed into her blue nightgown.

  Blue like Jasper's eyes.

  She sat on the bed. She nodded off. She snapped her head up with eyes open. The clock/radio read 8:47pm.

  How long did I sleep sitting here?

  She stood up and pulled the sheets back. Vera slid between the covers. She shivered and pulled a blanket up to her chin. After turning off the lamp, she drifted away.

  *

  During the second year of her marriage to Dan, Vera's daughter contracted breast cancer. Helen's sickness was too advanced to treat. They tried and failed. The killer spread to her lymph nodes and lungs. Helen Boxton died at thirty years of age. Sharon lost her mother at five.

  Dan refused to allow Sharon to move in with them. Placed into foster care, Sharon joined a strict family with little love. Her foster parents homed several cats and one caught Sharon's eye.

  Fuzzy, a medium length coat grey tabby, attached herself to Sharon. The cat would curl up on Sharon's lap as she did homework, watch t.v. or listen to the radio in her bedroom. Fuzzy followed Sharon about the home and cuddled with her as she slept. Sharon kissed and hugged her whenever she wished and Fuzzy stayed still for the kitty loving. When Sharon graduated high school, she moved out of her foster home.

  "May I take Fuzzy with me?" she asked.

  "She's not your cat," her foster mother said. "So, no."

  "You treated me like dirt. The only love I had in this hell home was that cat. And I can't take him?"

  "He's not your cat. Now, take your clothes and get out."

  Sharon left without saying good-bye to the precious feline. She cried for Fuzzy.

  "I will not give up another cat again".

  She never returned to the foster home or saw Fuzzy again.

  *

  Vera awoke at 8:30am.

  "Oh no. I've slept twelve hours. I need to call the vet."

  She called and spoke to Dr. Marlen.

  "Good news, Vera. Jasper peed last night and again this morning. His kidneys seem fine. I examined him again. He's no longer dehydrated and everything tests normal. You can come and get him."