Returns
Returns
The Shadow Purr
December 29, 2021
Times Ago
December 29. It was seven years ago, Annalee remembers, that she came home late at night and her cat did not greet her at the door.
She called to her.
“Fisher! Fisher!”
Nothing. Fisher, without fail, had always come running to greet her at the door but tonight…
“Fisher?...Fisher?...fish…er…”
The silence said a lot. Annalee was crying before she even reached her bedroom and found Fisher, curled up in a ball, asleep forever.
Annalee cradled the gray and white friend, her body still warm, and wept without surrender, the lights from the Christmas tree lapping at her agony.
Seven years ago. A cold night in the hangover of Christmas and the cat was gone at the age of 16.
Twelve years ago. Twelve and-a-half years ago there was another death. Annalee recalls that one, too.
Christmas is a time for birth. Winter is a time for decline.
But not when there’s enough wine. Annalee sees the past and the lights of the tree through her wineglass and flips the channels. There’s a war movie. The heroes charge toward the thunder. --TK
Wednesday, December 29, 2021