is that how the cat felt
when we lifted him up
from his box?
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he’s meowing fiercely,
his body twisting and
his feet whirling and kicking
around in the air as if he’s
battling ghosts.
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then slowly
and selfishly
we lowered
him
into
our box.
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they said don’t worry,
cats are very adaptive.
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they ran us through the knitty-gritty:
he was 6 years old,
used to stray and
after they found him
they had him castrated
and most of his teeth
pulled out
due to seriously
infected gums.
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“but now he’s doing very well,”
they said, looking into
his green eyes
that spoke
sadness.
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then they went on to teach us
how to play with the cat,
how to cut his nails and
when to give him a good wax,
a brush, an injection,
what to feed him, when to feed him,
how important it is to
ignore his calling sometimes
so as not to spoil him.
I was slipping in and out
because I was busy
watching him,
his sad green eyes
rolling about
behind the slats,
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and I wondered
what if none of what they said
was true?
what if he wasn’t happy about
the move?
what if he didn't even want
to be rescued?
what if he just wanted to
to live in pain and
die with some
dignity?
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soon we left.
it was raining.
the cat was fretting about
in the box.
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5 minutes later
we're at the taxi stand.
we looked in the
box again and
he's already settling
in there,
not looking anywhere,
his eyes as sad as ever.
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how I wished they're right.
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