A short writing exercise on the theme of love at first sight
George
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| George, back in the day |
George and Gracie joined us 11 years ago, twin purebred
Bengal cats that tussled and slept and played and misbehaved and lit up our
lives. In their early years they played fetch and leaped up on tall cabinets in
single bounds. George loved to bring me leather sticks to toss from our bed,
and he often somersaulted while trying to nab them in mid-air. But George had a
genetic defect called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM, which we soon
learned would shorten his life. At about age seven he slowed noticeably, never even
resisting when we gave him his medication. The jumping stopped completely, and
he spent hours snuggling next to Gracie or curled up on Nancy’s lap. There were
scary episodes involving late-night trips to the veterinarian followed by days
of careful watching and TLC at home.
Then on Valentine’s Day, 2013, he collapsed and appeared
near death. We rushed him to the vet, but nothing could be done. I looked into
George’s eyes as the vet put him to sleep.
We were devastated, although Nancy held herself together
better than I did. For over a week I moped until she said, “Let’s go down to
Safe Haven,” the no-kill animal shelter. We looked at many cats of various
ages, all so deserving of good homes, but we agreed we’d take only one. There
was one older cat with an ugly face that looked like he’d been in some nasty
fights – the poor fellow deserved a better life than he’d had so far, but we
had to consider how he’d get on with our gentle Gracie, and decided that he
wouldn’t.
Then we found a 10-month-old cat that had just given birth
to a litter of eight. We entered their enclosure, and Nancy sat down. We wanted
one from that litter, but which one? All were gray and white mixed-breed
beauties, but most of them shied away from us.
And then one of them jumped into Nancy’s lap as if to say,
“Here I am. Take me home.” She was mostly gray with a white breast and white
feet.
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| Tina |
“Her name is Socks,” the caretaker said. We took her home,
deciding to call her Calcetines – Spanish for Socks. Almost as quickly,
Calcetines became simply Tina. Our
immediate love for Tina didn’t diminish what we feel for Gracie and George.
They are all family, always including George.
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