Leftie!  Away from the candle  he pared his words

he stood behind her at the tubstarting up a shower   Leftie! 

                                                               she squat on the closed toilet  he watched her tilt her head askance to his voice  she didnt turnshe was ignoring him  hed been around plenty of women who chose to ignore him to recognise the same manner in a female cat                                                                                       

                                               Leftie 

she heard him 

she ignored him

Knucklehead  Fire  No insect  anif you think that flickering is an insect youre in for a rude awakening 

                                                                                                           yaknow I have zero pity for ignorance or willful disobedience

Burn yourself  thats on you

everyone who keeps a pet believes they understand them

if his cats spoke Hmong hed talked to them enough over the years that despite their Hmong theyd understand him if only by the tenor in his voice 

                               the spoken word might be overrated

tone  tenor   newbornbabes follow he didnt wanna hear the same species argument  the sexes would agree that women and men speak a different language

she crept closer to the stout candleholder the flame dancingflickering just under its lip

he was done talking

he wanted to see how this was going to shake out

 

she didnt turn to look

she didnt acknowledge himhis presence

she cautiously raised her right paw 

                                      then stealthily as only a cat can began reaching for the sambaing flame

Awww  warmed his throat

shestabbed her paw past the flameplunged it into the melted waxupsetting the votive  it spun on the tank top her paw on fire

       she whirledpirouettedsat her flaming paw briefly extended then stamped it down beside the other  the sputtering flame crossed to her other foreleg and ran up her breastshe was engulfed in a matter of seconds and sat stoicallywithout sound like an immolating Buddhist monk 

                                          the yelloworange flame then went ceruleanblue the colour of tropicalwater  it roiled      roiled  diminished quieted  then went out

she hopped down off the toilet rubbedup against his legs and left 

she wasnt hot

she left smudges

he blinked 

          the candleholder was upseton its side  melted wax had ran streaked the tank and congealed  drips like bloodspatter were on the linoleum

 

 

in the shower 

                      thinking        he was in the shower  he pulled back on the curtain and saw the mess he left for later to cleanup 

                              and he thought  meybe   meeybe  religion which decreed death for witches and drowned and burned them at a stake  bags of live cats accompanying them

                                                                     meybe  the millions of cats preceding them had evolved and made them impervious to minor  sambaing   flames 

or leftie evoked one of her touted nine lives  

                                                         Meybe

 

he wasnt asleep

it was the damnedest thing

                            the damnedest thing

 

1936,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  14  10. 20

1336, Thursday,  15  10. 20

Hendrix  Fire  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHB5PnUGBDs