CAT CLAWS

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PAGE TWO

"You can't beat this! It's only five dollars, including tax," said the old man.

Richard could only nod his head acknowledging that five bucks was a bargain.

"Then I shall wrap it for you sir!" The old man walked briskly over to a counter and tore off a sheet of brown wrapping paper. As he finished securing the knot in the twine, he looked up at Richard. "If you put it somewhere so that the sunlight will hit it, you'll have beautiful rainbow patterns."


He walked back over to Richard. They both stared at each other. The old man smiling, holding out the brown package and Richard feeling as if he were in a trance. He rummaged through his pocket and found the man a five-dollar bill.


"Thank you sir, if you have any need again, please call on me." With that, the old man moved noiselessly back into the shadows at the rear of the little shop. Richard could feel those beady eyes boring into him and the chill returned to engulf him. He rushed through the door, walking away as fast as he could without acting like a fool. He swore as he had left,  he could hear laughter coming from the shop, mixed with the tinkling of the bell on the door.


As he approached his parked car, he had a strange urge to throw away the package containing the cat. Something deep inside of him warned that he was carrying trouble, carved into ten inches of crystal. His egotistical side argued that this was what Elaine asked for and it would be another step toward getting her fortune. Blake didn't love her, but she was his only chance to have a lot of money at his fingertips. The original plan was to sweep her off her feet, via romantic sweet talk and then finally marriage to the homely little thing. His road to riches somehow ended up with a lot of detours. Things were moving to slow. His ready cash was disappearing quickly and it was becoming more difficult for him to put up a phony front as well.


He stopped at his car and searched for his keys, staring at the package that he laid on the hood. He found his keys and opened his door, jumping into his seat. He locked up and saw the package still on the hood. He swore to himself, reached outside to the windshield, barely able to grasp the twine, he pulled it into the car and threw it on the passenger seat. As he drove into the flow of traffic, he felt as if the car was shrinking. His mind was cluttered and a feeling of uselessness was edging its way into his life. He was driving aimlessly and trying, with great difficulty to collect his thoughts. Suddenly, he became alert to the screams of a little girl. He refocused his eyes just in time to see a large grey cat leap into the air from a toy baby buggy. It arched high into the sky and did a twisted ballet. It was a useless effort to avoid Richard's car. It hit the nose of the hood with a sickening thud and flipped up onto the windshield toward Richard leaving a trail of splattering blood and floating fur. Richard slammed on his brakes coming to a sudden stop. He stared at the lifeless form, and it's tongue hanging limply from its grinning mouth. Blood ran down its length as if flowing on a playground slide, leaving a small pool by his windshield wipers.


Richard's mind began to cloud and the cat sat up, in a lake of blood, tilted its head back and began to laugh. It rocked back and forth as it spoke, telling him that this was an omen that Richard would not survive.


"Are you all right, Mister?" The voice broke the trance. Richard came back to reality, still staring at the lifeless, grey mass on his hood. He forced his head away to look into the direction of the police officer, standing by his car. "Hold on a second and I'll remove the cat."


"It wasn't your fault, it just seemed to jump at your car." The officer reached over and grabbed the cat by its tail, tossing it into the gutter. "If I were you, I'd take your car to a car wash and get that blood off the paint as soon as possible."


"Sure officer, sure!" Richard mumbled. He pressed down on the accelerator and left the scene of the accident in a daze.


When he gazed into his rear view mirror, he saw that a crowd had gathered around the dead cat and there stood a sobbing little girl. He hadn't noticed until now. He only wanted to get to Elaine's and have a drink. Then he remembered the package. He looked over at the passenger seat, but the package was gone. Again he slammed on his brakes, to the protest of honking horns and obscene gestures. He watched as the package rolled out from under the seat. He started laughing, almost crying at how foolish he was being.


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