he was talking to his ferals
to bigfoot wee they were the outdoor cats indie and october were indoor he talked to his pets like other people talked to imaginary friends argued in their heads chastised or talked themselves up
and to ghosts
and to ghosts
he talked aboutwhat he suddenly realised
was a prejudice inherent to himself it had nothing to do with their leanings or taste this was in regards to what he fed them
he didnt feed them canned fish
catfood
it seems everyone knowsnot that a
cat ever said so that cats like fish a pussycat purring beside a fish skeleton the fish stark like a hard pencil sketch complete
with head and tail maybe even its eye Xed out maybe though
thatd be redundant
But Im suspect he tells them over
the course of feeding them carrying plates outside setting plates down
inside Im suspect I just dont think youd like canned fishgobble
it up as compared to the other flavours the turkey chicken liver beef I feed you
to october a calico(if you know cats youd know calicos
are female) I wouldnt think youd like it despite how you eat like a garbage disposal No But
its occurred to me I realise thats my
prejudice (he was opening a can of Savory Salmon savvy marketing)
I really doubt indies going to eat any of this hes been with me for seven years as of June First an I can say with confidence that Ive never fed
him a can of fish catfood Though much of
that has been predicated on a special diet the vet put him on when crystals
formed inside his bladderJesusChrist Imagine pissing bits
of broken glass
october swam back and
forthback and forth at his ankles like a shark
he doubted she heard a word he
said
indie was alreadyhe was sure in
the laundry room where he took his mealshad always taken his meals even before october
showed up in the arms of his girlfriend
Can we keep her? I can’t keep her at my mother’s, but can I keep her
here?
he had cats all his adult life
rather
he had cats everyone in his life
wanted and then left with him
the last pet he outright wanted
and had was fatty he wasnt good with names if he didnt have to be
fatty was a Samoyed Husky cross a big boy at nine months he didnt get bigger he was shot to death by a sheep rancher in Montana police didnt do a thing His family’s been here since the valley was
settled, sheep ranchers all, more than a hundred years. We suspect you won’t be here a smidget of
that time You’ll be gone. he thought they were trying to impress him
with their learned vocabularyhad been saving up that pearl for a while to put some
outsider in his place See?
We aint backwards. Besides, Fletcher’s been no
trouble for us. Not in years. You, on the other hand, have been here a couple, three,
four times . . haven’t you?
Oh dont say it so dismissively You peoplethe townspeople the men have an
issue with long hair I have a right to
defend myself a right to call an ignorant white fuck an ignorant white fuck Who knew they knew the word ignorant
as he put the plate of Savory
Salmon down for indie he said Well big guy Im afraid this is my prejudicemy figuring you wouldnt like fish
food However in my defense since I opened a tin for stormy many years ago in Minnesota I was shocked to find a fish eye staring up
at me out of the feast A bold accusing
eye Maybe you can appreciate my long
delay to feed you fish
indie sniffed itlapped it he turned his head aside and went instead for the kibble he had also put in a bowl beside his water and in that interval october bounded in and fell face long into the
salmongobbling like a wellpaid hooker at cocks sticking out of the flies of financiers
custommade suits
bigfoot and wee had also made short
work of the salmon
Yup his prejudice
1641, Reggae Friday, 25 5.
18
1308, Saturday,
26 5. 18
