Thursday, May. 17, 2007 - 11:31 p.m.
The Red Jinky Peony of Spotless Virtue
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This is the second version
I had one good one a minute ago
that I was proof reading
but Jinkly stepped on the delete button
on his way to his box of towels and erraced it
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I was at the photocopy shop today
waiting as the Xerox machine
grunted through a big print job
And while I waited
I chatted with the nice lady
who owns the office supply store
asked her how her kids were making out
with their own red kitten?
It was into her shop
that Jinky walked into last January
his first run away adventure
and she took him home
She is that same good hearted person
who saw the " lost kitten" wanted poster
i was printing up in her shop
and recognised the little red cat
i was missing
was the same little red cat
that she had found
It was very decent of her to tell me the truth
a truth that was very inconvenient for her family
a lesser person would have just shut up
collected my fees for photocopying
and let her kids keep the mystery kitten
no one would have ever known
I was honoured to experience
her solid family virtue
and witness fair dealing
amongst casual aquaintances
in all things red kitten
We are now, since that day
true friends
After she surrendered Jinky
she went right out to the animal shelter'
and picked up a replacement red girl kitten
to pacify her distressed children
The kids love and honour the girl red kitten
who assumed his old name : " Cassir "
the Hindu word for " red saffron "
But, she tells me
sometimes
they whisper amongst themselves
about the wonderful Jinky
who appeared unannounced
ready to love and be loved
without hesitation
To fetch balls of paper
accept tidbits from their fingers
' and sleep on their beds
-the greatest cat who ever lived
from long ago
We laughed at the kids concept of
" long ago"
which was just this past winter
but she assured me that Jinky
remains their favourire
even though they love
the girl red cat they have now
who meows a lot
and is not half as much fun
as ther original Jinky
I made arrangements with her
to drop off
a potted red flowered peony
for her family garden
after the long weekend..
after all-
they helped me raise him
to his present state of wonderfullness
and were good enough
to tell me the truth
when it really mattered
where it advanced me greatly
although it set them back considerably
I know exactly what they were giving up
and I know exactly how it felt to lose him
the red Jinky peony will be happy
in their backyard garden
and will likely live for 100 years
they have and estimated 99 more years
of red Jinky blloms to go
I hope its enough
2107 is just around the corner
99 years can
swish past
pretty fast
and as we discovered:
Long ago is not
what it used to be
