Friday, Aug. 15, 2008 - 9:09 p.m.
Can I Touch Your Cat?
**********************
clear crisp whippy windy day
and a clear crisp whippy sunset
me and Taser went off to his beach
so he could parade ariound
he adores the company of any
of the 8 yr old girls in town' who peddle past
my place on their way to the corner store
and if they see him in the yard
they will shout HELLLLO TASER
as they pass
on the way walking to the water tonight
two 8 yr old girls wearing bike helmets
screeched to a stop in front of us
and dismounted from their
cartoon pink bikes
"thats him" says one to the other
like they were policewomen
" that's the kitten I was telling you about"
- ":uh huh,"
" he is sooooooooo cute"
and then they moved in on him
at the gravel roadside
charged with
" walking while cute "
Taser endured
4 loving patting girl hands
and a chorus of afirmative cooing
as I stood by helpless
we wanted to get to the lake
but the bicycle love partrol
insisted on a shakedown
but after a few intense minutes
of fur searching
they let him go and biked on..
towards the corner store
Taser was glad for the attention
but confused that he was love jumped
while on expedition to the lake
he is so used to
getting his own way
all the time
he can hardly believe it
when the world behaves
contrary to his wishes
At the beach we played
chase string
and he put on a tremendious show
' leaping and grabbing the string
out of the air
and wrestling it to the ground
when dogs approached
he jumped up on a pic nic table
and stared them down
from higher ground
he may get excited
but he is no longer afraid
of any dog
we are finally
getting somewhere
in the egomaia dept
then contented team of
man & supercat
sat on a huge narley log
& watched the electric pink
rain cloud soaking
the evil city yonder
with a diagonal blue slant
of big nasty weather
a passing dog walker confirmed
that it was actually downpouring there
as we looked on
because he was talking to
his daughter in law by phone
who was in the evil city
getting wet at that moment
completely unexpected
a mousy looking pale emo man
dressed entirely in black
stepped out from behind a tree
holding a stainless steel travel coffee mug
and sheepishly. almost spookily asked me
in a very formal tone
if he could
touch
my
cat
sure go ahead-
" does he bite? " he quizzed me
" yes indeed, whenever he can."
Emo man had observed taser & me
arrive at the lakeside parkette
seen us doing his jumping olympic routine
and Taser so bracely sassing the bigger dogs
and then cuddlng up to me on the log
to cheer on the rain clouds
slam the evil city yonder
I wonder now if emo man was a resident
of that city yonder
we were watching
get soaked from
a comfortable distance
across the lake.
He was dressed as if he was always indoors
not a single aspect of his dress or demenor
suggested he had even spent much time
on pavement. or in daylight
........Homo sapien indooricus
the polite emo man
was somewhat in awe of Taser,
approaching him with a meekness
that bordered on neurotic
when I offered to
let him use the official jumping string
th emo man was momentarily baffled.
and asked me in all sincerity
if it was alright to do this?
" sure- just make it interesting
or he will ignore it'"
- he nodded in consent
" and let him win sometimes
but not too often"
- he made an OK sign with his free hand
" & don't be indecisive
or he will run a way with it"
-he whispered " will do, will do "
I watched the emo man wiggle the string
with almost no vigour at all
Taser was disinterested
so I encouraged the emo man
to wiggle it with some added emphasis
" its ok - its ok-" I told him
" now make it interesting "
Taser siddenly dashed out at the string
seized it in his crazy happy jaws
and rolled onto his back in delight
to bite it with unbridled glee
the emo man
gasped in brittle delight
perceiving immediately
that he did had done right,
and that by his own hand
delivered another living being
into a state of easy pleasure
almost
as if
he had
never
experienced
that sensation before
- a bringer of joy
Taser was glad for the attention
same way he is glad
for almost any attention
Emo man thanked us
for the wonderul time'
blinked into the wind
and saluted
the wonderfil & mighty red boy cat
......Phaser-?- no TAY-SIR
like the Police non lethal weapon
took up his stainless steel tracel coffee mug
and paced away across the meadow loke he was dashing down some
carpeted office tower corridor
to catch an elevator
trailing a stream of bottled scent
all the way to his little silver parked car
connected his seat belt
and quietly & efficiently
drove away
street lights came on
- Tasers signal that we had to go
as we dawdled on the way back
he walked right up to
a man transplanting a cedar tree
and looked in the hole
with great interest
what he was expecting to
find in there
I don't know
