Sleeping Beauty (11 page)

A little of both, I think. The rescue is doing really well these past weeks. Weve placed a lot of animals and as a result have room to take in others.

So? That doesnt warrant a trip into downtown Minneapolis to tell me.

He looked deep into his mug. We placed the last of our current batch of foster pets today.

Really? Thats wonderful!

I placed Hammie, Suze. I know youve had him a long, long time but the deal with the rescue is that when a good home comes up

Hammie? Hed come to me half-dead, emaciated, his fur matted, a pitiful little thing indistinguishable from a large mouse. Today he is fat and glossy. Hammie loves me. Sometimes at night, before the twins came to stay, Hammie and I sat on the couch and watched old movies. Hed curl up on my chest, put his stubby little nose in the curve of my neck and fall asleep. Hamsters snore. Ive heard it with my own ears.

I thought that after all this timeHamsters are a dime a dozen, Charley, why cant they get another one?

Its a couple with a child terrified of animals. The only critter the child has ever showed any interest in is a hamster in a pet-store window. The worlds tamest hamster is Hammie.

I could tame another one for her, I offered, knowing already that Hammie would go where he was needed.

They promised that if it didnt work out, theyd bring him right back, but frankly, I know this childs dad and hell take excellent care of him.

Hammie and Chipper in the same week?

The bad news is that theyre gone. The good news is that now you have room for somebody else.

After the twins leave, Ill take a couple, but for now I had an unexpected catch in my throat. You slimeball, you know I cant get along without pets in my house.

Charley grinned at me. Ive got Chester in my car if youd like to take him right now. Ill bring him over and pick up the hamster. What do you think?

Youre a low-down, tricky

Effective administrator. Have you any idea how many impossible-to-place animals weve found homes for because of you?

Its true. Im a lifesaverliterally.

Give me the lecture later, Charley. A tiny alarm bell went off in my head. Why is it that youre so eager to foist this cat off on me in particular? Lots of the volunteers enjoy taking the cats.

An odd expression flitted across his face and was gone. This cat has your name on it, Suze, thats all.

Then I dont want it. Im not taking any more pets unless I get to say whenand if they are placed. From now on, I get first say. And if I want to keep them all, I dont want to hear another word about it.

All of them?

Maybe I exaggerated a little for effect. I feel obligated to give up Hammie because hes already been promised. But from now on

Its your own fault, you know. Weve never had an animal youve fostered not become fit for adoption. You should have thirty acres of land and a dozen barns and spend all your time and energy rescuing misfits, Charley said. He looked out at the skyscrapers. I dont know how the people in those things stand it. At least you and I have yards.

Some of them love it, I responded softly.

Nobody who wants a lot of animals around, Charley retorted.

Like David Grant? I wondered.

Go get your car, Charley ordered.

I have to pick up the twins.

Ill be right behind you.

When we got to the house, the lights were already on. Inside, I could smell something delicious cooking in the kitchen. There was a small fire in the fireplace; the lights were dim and soothing. The toys had been picked up. An angel had landed here while I was gone.

At that moment, Darla came bustling out of the kitchen in one of my aprons. Dont Bother Kissing the Cook, Just Do the Dishes it said.

There you are. I wanted to surprise you. Her voice trailed away and she stared not at me but over my left shoulder where Charley stood.

I didnt blame her for gawking. Most people do. Charleys Mohawk was highlighted with pink today and he had a safety pin through his eyebrow. It seemed all the more alarming considering he was wearing a finely tailored three-piece suit. The contradictory messages he sent confused everyone. Poor Darla couldnt be expected to understand.

Before Darla could speak, Charley stepped forward and held out his hand. Charles Cousins, I run the pet rescue that Suze works for. You must be Darla. Suze has told me a lot about you. Im delighted to meet you.

Darla gave me a panicked look.

Charley is one of my best buddies, I explained. When hes not running the rescue he is an actor.

Her shoulders relaxed. Hes in costume, I knew she was thinking. I didnt dissuade her.

Im pleased to meet you, too. She beamed at him. Any friend of Suzes is a friend of mine.

As they shook hands, it evoked the image of a lit Fourth of July sparkler. Hot, bright luminosity seemed to pass between them and they both drew quickly back as if theyd been stung. Darlas blue eyes were wide and Charleys usual blasé demeanor vanished. They stammered and nodded and pretended that they hadnt felt what I had so clearly observed.

Darla and Charley? The beauty and the beast?

I really havent been getting enough sleep.

They stumbled awkwardly around each other after that and I was almost relieved to have Charley carry Hammie and his cage out of the house.

As soon as he was outside, Darla was in my face. Who is that?

Just my buddy. Why? I acted innocent.

Hes sosostrange.

And wonderful?

What gives with the hairdo? For a part in a play, I hope.

In Charleys own playhis life. Hes currently starring as a parrot. He likes to keep people off guard. Hes an old teddy bear and I think its his way of being tough. Hed give anyone the shirt off his backand has a number of times. When the shirt is shredded and decorated with safety pins and painted with his personal rendition of baby dragons, fewer people ask for it.

Hes weird, in other words. Darla sounded disappointed.

Not at all. Hes creative.

A synonym for weird .

People, including you and my family, call me creative. Should I take that to mean you think Im weird?

If the shoe fits, wear it, Darla muttered. Then she gave me a lopsided smile. You arent weird. Point taken. Dont judge a book by its cover.

Or a man by his Mohawk.

Just then Charley returned with a large cardboard box lined with a snagged and tattered blanket. The edge of the blanket was draped back over the top of the box, concealing the contents.

Charley, Ive been thinking.

He pulled back the corner of the blanket and revealed the boxs contents.

Inside was an emaciated cat that looked no larger than an eight-or ten-week-old kitten. His fur was matted, his paws raw and bloody and he trembled so that the box quivered in Charleys arms. But his eyes! They were the size of large marbles in the scrawny face, blue as the sky on a sunny day during a Minnesota winter. They were old, wise eyes that looked as if theyd seen too much in his short life.

What happened to him? Darla gasped.

I dont even care to guess, Charley said grimly. Someone found him and was going to have him put down but then decided to bring him to our shelter. Hes going to take a lot of time and attention and someone with a lot of patience. Hes terrified of everyone and everything. Suze is the only choice. Everybody else has their quota and no one is as good with the really struggling ones as she is.

He turned to me and I saw that soft underbelly of his hes always trying to hide. You will take him, wont you?

Oh, Charley, this cat is going to be too much work. Ive got the twins. And Im only sleeping four hours a day. I just cant.

Of course you can. Im here, Darla said, bustling across the room to where Charley and I stood. Ill help with the boys while you care for she peered into the tattered box that.

I was still processing how all this had come about when Charley left. The pathetic creature in the box and I locked eyes and stared at each other. Last chances, that was what this was all about, and I was his. This cat had used up all his nine lives and about twenty-five hed borrowed from others.

What did you do that for? I demanded when Darla returned from the kitchen where shed checked on both dinner and the boys.

Look at that thing. If you didnt take it, you know what would happen to it.

I thought you didnt like cats much. Since when did you get a feeling for saving the earth and everything in it?

Darla sat down and gazed at me. The expression on her features was remarkably thoughtful and serious. Remember the time we were talking about the idea of stewardship and what it means for Christians?

Sure. You said it meant tithing and making sandwiches and salads for funerals.

And you said it meant taking seriously the idea of tending to all of Gods creatures, that the earth was our responsibility and we needed to treat it as such.

So? Not everyone agrees with me.

I think I do. Im beginning to see that tiny acts of goodness are as important as large, blatant acts. They add up. I cant donate a million dollars to a favorite charity, but I can go to a soup kitchen and help out, I can make a Christmas basket for a family so their kids can have toys, and I can be kind to something or someone that everyone else has overlooked and I can be sure that I dont waste resources just because they are there. Lets just say that Ive begun to look at what you do as a form of stewardship. Being kind with no chance of reward or thanks takes practice. She looked at the flea-ridden mess in the box. This is good practice.

My heart felt as though it might burst. So you do listen to me once in a while. Im never quite sure.

Once in a while. Then she twinkled at me with her baby blues. And maybe that Charley guy will stop by and check on this cat once in a while. Id like to observe himfor purely scientific reasons, of course.

Scientific, rightthe science of the heart.

W ouldnt you know it? The night Darla finally arrivedthe night I was to begin to catch up on all that lost sleepwas the night Chester came into my life.

Ive never lost much sleep over a manexcept for David the other nightbut a catthats a different story entirely.

Chester refused to move from the corner of his box, as if the tattered rags of his little nest were all he had for protection. That part was probably true, or had been until now, but Chester had no idea hed landed in the lap of luxury so he clung to the tattered bit of safety he knew.

I set up a litter box, water and dry food in my laundry room, turned on a night-light, closed the door and hoped hed dare venture out to explore his new surroundings once the house was quiet. Then I padded happily to my bed. No more infomercials, no more struggling to stay awake so that I didnt pack up the boys and haul them off to an amusement park at 3:00 a.m. No more bone-crushing fatigue at workBut I hadnt figured on Chester in my equation.

He started yowling the moment my head hit the pillow. I shot straight up, heart pounding, already half-asleep and disoriented. I grabbed my robe and headed for the laundry room. Two accusing feral eyes gleamed out at me from the cardboard box. Hed been out to use the litter box and eat the food down to the last bit. The water was gone, too. It appeared that hed had his first good meal in ages. Unfortunately it had given him strength to do what hed wanted to do all alongcomplain about the pathetic nature of his life, the injustice of brutal or neglectful owners and, apparently, the state of world politics. He had much to complain about and did so all night long.

Darla found me in the morning, sprawled across the laundry-room floor, my arm over Chesters box.

Sleepwalking? Shed squatted down beside me and opened one of my eyelids, much as the twins do.

No. Unfortunately I did this intentionally. Did you get any sleep at all?

What do you mean? I slept like a babyand so did the babies.

You didnt hear this creature howling at the moon? Ive been in here all night. The only time he doesnt yowl is when Im with him. I rolled over and groaned. Sleeping on the floor might be okay when youre five or six, but those ages are long gone in my rearview mirror. I felt as if Id been rolled over by a street sweeper.

Dont tell me you didnt sleep last night either! Suze, this is ridiculous. Next thing you know, your friends and family will be checking you into a sanitarium for the sleep deprived and insane. You should have let me help you.

You mean you would have slept on my laundry-room floor with a feral cat with emotional issues while I dozed in my bed?

When you put it that way, no. If I did, youd have to put me in the sanitarium, too.

My antennae, which were also sleep-deprived, finally kicked into functioning mode. Darla, where are the boys?

Theyre fine. I left them in the bathroom brushing their teeth.

I stared at her in horror. You left them? In a room with a temptation larger than Eves apple?

What might that be? Darla, the uninitiated, looked truly puzzled. Youve got a lock on your medicine cabinet.

The toilet, of course! Do you know how many times Mickey and Jeff have had to have a plumber

We both raced into the bathroom just in time to see Tommy pour my favorite perfume into the bowl, anointing my new red bra, which was now whirling and twirling its way into the depths of the Twin Cities sewer system.

Darla made me take the day off.

Fortunately Chester was as exhausted from last night as me and we both got several hours of solid sleep. And we both woke up crying.

His wails were silenced by more food. I think I could have fed an entire army of cats with the amount he was eating but I had no idea how long the poor thing had been neglected and gone hungry.

I, however, woke up with tears in my eyes and nothing, not even a vanilla éclair with chocolate frosting could dry me up. In the beautiful and scarce silence of my home, I, still exhausted and depressed, bawled like a baby.

By afternoon things were looking better. I can feel sorry for myself for a little while, but I dont let it go on too long. In the scheme of things my tribulations are not problems at all but miniscule blips on lifes radar. When I feel a pity party coming on, I start saying thanks to God for all the things that are still right with mea home, food, job, friends, family, to name a fewand the fact that a cat kept me awake all night and Im not to be trusted in strange hotel roomsseems pretty manageable.