Friday, Jun. 01, 2007 - 9:34 p.m.
Jinky- By Land and by Sea
************************
I got a call at dinner from a
friendly Scottish lady tonite at dinner
who informed me my ginger cat
was at her place bedeviling her old cats
and please come fetch him.
I went right over to the address she shared
and it was a series of cul de sacs streets
in the posh subdivision
I had only gone past.
never into them for any reason,
so i got lost,
I went round and round
and looked at the street numbers,
but most houses had names, not numbers.
They seemd like they were saillboats
with neatly lettered names on their post boxes like"Windsong" " Burns Cottage" and "Willowrest":. but no numbers,
I got tired biking up and down hills
and not being able to see the numbers
so I went home
and was determined
to let Jinky walk back himself.
I had had enough
As I came round the corner home
a nice new Mom pushing a pram on the sidewalk who had met Jinky before called me over and said
" Two ladies are trying to open your door
and put your red kitten inside"
I thanked her for getting involved .
She had told them
" yes thats Kinkys home alright."
Even though his name is Jinkly,
close enough.
A red cat by any other name is still Jinky
As I pulled in my driveway
the ladies were pulling out.
I said " Did you call earlier?"
They said they did
and wanted to go shopping
so they dropped the cat off,
"How did you know where he lived ?"
It seems they called my number
while I was gone
and my answering machine still had the
"IF YOU HAVE FOUND A LITTLE RED CAT..."
message on it from when i was in the city
it explained where I lived
and to just put him innside the door,
its ok..
They were very nice
and asked if they can keep him if he returns..
I said sure, foronly a few hours
then i want him back, pronto-
fed and brushed,,
and a copy of any cute photos you may take..
They laughed
and offered me their dog in exchange,,
I said " I don't accept foreign currancy "
they laughed again.
It was nice to have him home
but it was even nicer
to put him on the bike
and peddle down top the lake,
he loved it wind in his fur,
zooming along whipping around the corners
on a speed tilt
now that he's comfortable on a bike
..we can go a little crazy'
At the lake
there was nobody there, at all,
We had the whole place to ourselves,
I sat on the breakwater boulder
and enjoyed some quiet
and a chance to cool off,
Biking hard made me sweat
and i needed the breeze,
Jinky just lolled around on the gravel
sniffing things,,
Then we heard voices..
disembodied voices..
coming out of the mist on the lake,..
It was two kayaks approaching
to land on the beach.
As they got closer
I recognised one of them
as the bass player of a band
we had booked last winter,
he was with his gf,
They had their own mini kayaks each
and were finishing up after a grueling
three hour tour up a distant creek
to see if the snapping turtles
were laying their eggs .
The GF knew about turtles,
but bass player guy
had never observed turtles lay eggs
or even a wild turtle
..I think tame turtles
are pretty much the same as wild turtles,
a bit distant as pets.
As we chatted
Jinky ran up on the sandbar
to sniff the kayaks
and parade his wonderfullness.
I asked them
If they would take Jinky for a ride,
just a little one,
a few feet off shore
so I can say hes been in a boat.
So they picked him up.
gently placed him aboard
and let it out off shore.
.Jinky was abit nervous
but seemed very interested
in being on the water..
he looked all over
and saw he was leaving the shore,
but from the water side of the equasion.
He seemed a little uncomfortable
so they gracefully paddled back to shore
,, at which point Jinky
stepped out of the cab
and walked to the front of the kayak
and looked down at all the water.
As soon as the kayak was near the shore
and the water was shallow
Jinky jumped overboard
deliberately- i was watching
landed up to his little armpits
and waded ashore
and then shook himself dry
like he had seen the dogs do
.
I watched him carefully
to see if he was afraid or angry,
but no
he strolled up to a log
and started stcratching his claws on it
like he does anyway.
So wet and fresh from a lake voyage,
he didn;t seem to mind.
People who were walking their dogs
on the meadow above
had noticed the litle red cat
riding in a boat
and stared in disbelief.
A One lady shouted down to us
"thatrs one magic cat you got there,
not afraid of the water.
riding in a boat..
what else does he do?"
I said
" He answers the phone....
but won;t write the message down in English
only in French.."
Jinky looks up at them
as if to confirm his French heritage
and they all laugh..
"We're working on his English,
but for now its c'est les message du telephone "
They walk on,
Jinky and me wave goodbye
to the kayakers
and just sit and dry off a little.
and when the streetlights switch on
we bike home
we live only a few minutes away
from the water
and as we pass kids coming home
they wave at Jinky
as he sits on me
as I ride my my bike,,
and he seems to recognise them ,
and he seems to be at ease
with a lot of strange things,
at least strange for a cat
hes not afraid of
new experiences
...or strangers
......water,,
.........fire..
............machines..
...............dogs..
...................vehicles..
or me
thats a good way to live
