Cats. My grandma used to say they are conduits of souls, guardians of the good and the pure, the newly departed; guiding their paths towards the heavenly glow, beyond which flowing streams of milk and honey shimmer in the bright and blossoming bliss of God almighty Himself. But then again, she would also spit on my wounds in my infant years, and douse them with dry sand, saying it would help them heal faster. So maybe she was right. Maybe she wasn’t
Grandmother. Oh, how I miss you so.
I smiled as I lay a blanket over Sassy, my house cat, on her new bolster bed. I worried she wouldn’t like it when I got it for her a week ago, but now she barely ever gets off it. I patted the sweet little feline and checked the time on my watch: 10.30pm.
I yawned and stretched, and before long, I was calm and cozy underneath my sheets. I turned the bedside lamp off and pulled the sleeping mask over my face. That bolster bed had been a godsend. There wasn’t even a trace of Sassy’s fur on the sheets, and my asthma thanked me for it.
Or so I thought.
Tiny little footsteps made their way up my calves and scuttered over my buttocks and onto my lower back.
“Sassy!”
I expected a protesting meow, but I heard nothing of the sort. Instead, the paws continued down my other leg before making their way up the back of my neck. The familiar feel of its fur brushed against my face.
“Come on, Sassy. I need my sleep.”
The mischievous little paws didn’t relent. They went over my head, ruffling my hair and brushing my ears.
“Damn it, Sassy,” I grunted.
Meow!
“For God’s sake, let me sleep.”
Meow!
Wait a minute. I thought. If the cat’s right over my head, why is her voice coming from the corner of the room?
I quickly pulled the sleeping mask off and jumped out of bed. The string switch on the bedside lamp was the first thing I reached for. The light flicked on, glossing its dim light over my bed as my eyes adjusted.
Something hairy brushed against my leg and my heart jumped to my throat.
Meow!
Sassy. Thank God. I placed a hand over my racing heart and breathed a sigh of relief. You almost gave me a heart attack, girl.
Meow!
I reached for the sheets again, when something moved underneath them. Taking a breath, I yanked the sheets off the bed. Two bright eyes looked back at me over a long snout and bared teeth.
My skin crawled as I came to grips with the black, furry ball of reality that was creeping over my skin just a second ago.
It was a rat. A big, fat rat with a long tail that was at least two and a half feet long. I watched in horror as it jumped off my bed and disappeared into the night through the open bedroom window.
