Monday, May. 07, 2007 - 9:31 p.m.
What Was Jinky Thinking?
******************************
As I was returning from shopping I saw that there was a town service truck
parked across the street. A town service worker guy, wearing the classic
red overalls with the town logo embroidered on the pocket was finishing
off this Tim Hortons coffee and talking to Ancient Ted. It is a beautiful
warm euphorically lovely spring day and I wandered over to join in the
convo.
Ted had known this man since I was a little boy and they had been
great friends for all these years. The guy was charging up on whatever
good vibes he could before he had to go down the highway and investigate
a complaint from the town Witch. AKA Solitary Living off the wall old
Feminist
She complains just so that some hang dog service man will drive up
and visit her and listen to her bitch. There is usually nothing wrong
but shes a taxpayer so deserves due attention.
. The guy knew he was gonna get an ear full of irrational dialogue
from her in a few minutes so he wanted to have at least a few minutes
of grace before going over l to her rose covered cottage from hell
. He was a good guy, father of two who liked to play old timers hockey
and have
a few beers with lifelong pals . When I met him, he was deeply tanned and
radiated both physical and mental health and great ability . He had just
returned
from a relaxing vacation down south. However, a week in Florida was not
enough
to calm his nerves enough to deal with a mid week irrational witch .
We tried to laugh him into the right spirit and we did make some headway
in that collective curbside honour / invisible valour department.As we stood
on Teds' driveway, cheering him on with gentle jibes, along comes Jinky
to join in.
We could hear his little bell tinkling a few moments before he emerged
from behind
Teds lawn mower to promenade his wonder-fullness in the bright sunshine
" Well helloooooooooo there Pumpkin " says the service guy..
"Pumpkin?" I ask," Thats Jinky.. Do you know him? "
"Yes of course he's the bloody nervy kitten that walks in the middle of
the highway. Right down the center line as vehicles whizz past on both
sides.
he is --absolutely-- fearless "
" Well that kitten lives across the street there" adds Ancient Ted,
pointing to my place
" And this fellow here owns him, or tries to own him"
We all laugh at the absurdity of staking any real claim of ownership on
something as variable and free as a young cat.
" So he does have a real home then...? " Service guy gasps
" He owns everybody's house, you know he just walks into anyones place
that he feels like.. he has walked into _my living room and I found him
playing with my kids, Nobody knew where he came from. He just sort of
appeared "'
"Ya. I know I muttered, " he does that alot, I'm sorry"
"But he is the friendliest little guy " snaps the serviceman,
" very polite and nice, calm, funny... very funny- good with kids,, just
seems to think he owns the whole world,, and he is afraid of nothing..
its spooky.. its also not healthy that he is not afraid of anything..
Not even afraid of snowploughs...... We know he won't get out of the
way for our
snowploughs, Its the same defiant kitten, we'd know him anywhere. That
little bell..that little blue bell . and you say hes your animal, is
that right? "
I am sort of embarrassed that my cat is such a pain in the ass
for the town winter services commission and I am just finding
out in spring
" Yup, I change his litter, so I suppose I have the deed to him"
That gets a laugh so its ok
" Ya a little red kitten that expects a snowplough to go around him while
he walks down the highway, oh ya, we all know all about him at the service
yard..unbelievable.... he's the Lion King..."
We all laugh as Jinky weaves between our feet and sniffs at our shoes
oblivious to our good natured betrayals of his secret lifestyle
" Well gentlemen,, I have a lunchdate with a witch, I don't what the hell
she wants, she doesn't make any sence on the phone...like not a word of
sence, just get someone over here, get someone over here..
like all we do is wait for her to call
as if we were her garbage dogs "
Then he opens his truck door and steps back to answer his cellphone.. and
we all observe Jinky slowly creep up to the truck and sniff the step up
to the cab.
."Oh there he goes,, hes going in-"gasps Ted
" HEY! DON"T GO IN THERE " scolds the service guy
" NO JINKY NO ! " I call in vain
We laugh as Jinky ignores our shouts and gracefully leaps into the truck ,
turns around like a show pony, standing on the seat at crisp attention,
looking out at us, like the Lion King he is. He seems to be fully expecting
a limoscene ride to his next adventure
"Hey! get out of there " cautions the service man as he snaps his
cellphone shut, crawls in after him, grabs him with a "Now we don't want
to be doing that" and emmerges with him cradled in his big deeply tanned
arms.
JInky is swatting at his earlobes and gently biting his work-gloves that
attempt to tickle him in the stomach
"Well what do you know" laughs Ancient Ted" that little cat weighs maybe
seven pounds and here he is taking you on, and you must weigh at least
200"
"220," boasts the service man slapping his stomach after
dropping Jinky on the freshly cut lawn
" This cat has 38 lives" and we laugh " That we know of, he probably has
a lot more we don't kno about"
I add "well at least he's' safe from snowploughs for another few months"
""Thats true but watch out for Winnebagos"
"I'll mention it to him when I see him next"
"You do that "
and away he goes... to play off track psychiatrist to the local mental
case lady
""well If Jinky or Pumpkin or whatever the hell his name is now
can avoid the traffic this summer, he should be ok " says Ted
:he's got a good heart and he's plenty brave, thats for sure, now...
if he can just get a little bit smarter he should be allright "
I blink at my kitten watching longingly at the service truck
disappearing into the distance, wondering why he had been denied a lift
"He is a character, that is for sure.. Imagine, not getting out of the
way of a snowplough..bearing right down on you..blue lights flashing and
horn honking..
What was he thinking,
What was he thinking? "
****** as I sit here typing this I see two service men struggle to centre
a huge air conditioner onto a way too small handcart in an attempt to
deliver it to the new house across the way. A length of plastic tape
dangles from the bottom of the crate and flutters in the wind, Jinky is
right there,
interfering with their delivery; swatting at the piece of plastic
tape. dancing in the wind
The men are trying their best to shoosh him away, whistling and shouting
but their hands are busy steadying the swaying air conditioner on the tiny
handcart.
Jinky just ignores them to dash right under the upturned machine to get
at the wiggling tape.
I run out and pull him out from underneath the enormous chunk of metal
teetering precariously on a tiny metal handcart on the driveway and can
hear the men sigh with relief
"Thanks.he was gonna get crushed,, we can hardly hold this thing up and
chase him off at the same time. Thanks buddy, thanks.."
"No problem guys, you have other worries than having a crazy kitten
underfoot "
"Ya we do, this is a hell of a heavy duty AC.. twice the size of your
everyday unit.. what are they doing there? putting in a skating rink in
the basement?"
" I dunno," I say " they already have a curling rink in the laundry room.. "
ha ha ha fill s the street
I was too embarrassed to say that Jinky was my cat or share that
I LIVED JUST ACROSS THE STREET..
I quickly carried Jinky home and fed him an extra lunch
hoping to distract him long enough for the men to grunt that 200 kilogram
crate of machinery along that driveway, up that inadequate little ramp they
had hastily set up and ease it into the new house..
Another day, another brush with death just because its seems like so much fun
