The Cat's Meow

THE CAT’S MEOW

1

I feel a chill from the early morning breeze that comes from the fog covered lake. Turning to lock the door on my bar, I pull up my collar to cover my exposed neck. The cobblestone streets are quiet and reflect the light from the street lamp that dimly shines through the mist. My footsteps echo back to me off the old storefronts as I walk past the shadows of deserted alleys and sidewalks. This walk is familiar to me for I take this same path a dozen times a week from work to my apartment. My thoughts meander to the conversations at the bar. The countless stories of lost loves, squandered chances, and the depressing accounts of miserable souls. I sell them liquor and spirits so they can forget their troubles if only for the evening.
I round the last corner of my walk when the shrill cry of a cat’s meow startles me and causes me to stop. Under a streetlamp a gray-striped cat meows into the night air. Its fur looks matted and snarled and its tail appears bent and ragged. The cat turns and looks directly at me and again wails out a throaty meow. The cat’s green eyes reflect back at me in a fluorescent glow that sends a message to me that I should run in fear, but instead my curiosity has been intrigued. I don’t know why I’m so entranced there must be thousands of stray cats that prowl this village.
I continue my walk and from across the street the scruffy cat keeps pace with me. His head streaks forward with his ears pinned back and his legs appear to rotate at a hundred miles an hour. Stopping at the next lamp post, the cat raises his paw and licks it. From behind him I spot a cascading climb of steps that I have never seen before. Out of my thousands of trips by here how could I have ever missed them. The cat climbs up two of the steps and turns his head toward me. Again he lets out a howling meow as if telling me he wants me to follow.
I must be crazy for even considering it but my curiosity about the steps and the peculiar behavior of the cat has gotten the best of me. I walk across the street and stop at the base of the steps. The cat hops up four more of the steps and turns to look at me. He seems to be implying impatiently that am I going to follow or not? I shake my head and decide to follow. The narrow concrete steps continues up the side of the hill. After climbing step after step for several minutes, I turn to look back and realize that I have climbed above the buildings of the town. I can barely make out the lamppost from the street below. The walls of concrete have given away to tall blades of grass and the rugged outline of trees range above the horizon.
A fishy smell that comes from the lake catches my nostrils. This scent is not unusual, living next to the lake all these years, but it is the first time tonight that I have noticed it. The blackness of the night seems to have slowly faded away the further up the steps I obtain. My vision seems to improve with each step higher I reach. The cat still leads me onward. Occasionally it will stop and let out his screeching meow at me. I believe he has become intolerable to the slowness of my pace.
Soon the steps gives way to a narrow gravel trail that still ascends but at a much easier rate. The trees have enclosed me into a darkness that barely lets me see my way, but yet I continue to follow this cat. My mind drifts as to why I’m doing this adventure at this time of day and thoughts of being tucked safely under my covers crosses my mind. But those thoughts vanish as up ahead I can see the flickering glow of a campfire. The casting light shows me the solid outline of a log cabin. As I near the campfire I can see a dark figure in a hooded sweatshirt sitting in a lawn chair. The cat I’ve been following jumps on the person’s lap. A bony hand comes out to pet it.
“Have a seat Mr. Scanlon. I’ve been expecting you,” a man’s voice said, pointing to an empty lawn chair next to him.
“Who are you? How did you know my name?” I said, sitting down in the lawn chair. I try to look at the man’s face to see if I can recognize him, but the night’s darkness keeps him hidden inside of the hood of the sweatshirt.
“I am who I am……I know who I know.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“The cat has brought you up here for a reason.”
“This is totally ridiculous, I’m leaving.” I get up from my chair to leave.
“Sit down. You’re not going anywhere.”
I feel myself being pushed back in my chair. I can feel some kind of force surrounding my body and holding me in place. Yet the man at the campfire has made no movement from his chair and the cat remains in his lap.
“My God, what’s going on?” I ask, struggling to move.
“Sit and watch.”
“Watch what?”
“Silence…You will soon see.”
I have quit trying to struggle from the chair but my mind races with wonder about who this stranger could possibly be. This has to be some kind of dream. What kind of force surrounds me. The air has a heavy weight upon it that will not allow me to move.
From my left I see an old woman coming up the trail that I just ascended. Her gray hair hangs limply over ragged clothes. Her face has a dazed look about her as if she is lost and doesn’t know why she is here. Out of nowhere I see a cat scamper toward the woman in the tall grass. With a giant leap in the air the cat lands on her arm and latches on with her claws.
“Oh crap, that cat just attacked her. We got to help her,” I cried out, but again I couldn’t move. From behind the woman I see hundreds of fluorescent eyes quickly approaching. She was trying to fight off the one cat who was savagely tearing at her juggler vain. Blood flew skyward as the others bounded on to her and knocked her to the ground. My voice tried to cry out, but it turned into a whimpering scream.
“Isn’t it great to watch. The cat can only be described as the purest of hunters. There is nothing like the terror and the power of a cat as it rips into its prey. It is the most efficient killing machine to walk on this planet,” the man said, calmly watching the scene. The cat that had been resting on his lap has joined the others in feasting on the woman.
I watch in horror as the cats pull off chunks of flesh from the woman. They surround the body and growl at each other as they eat.
“Why did you let those cats devour that women without coming to her aid? She appeared to be a helpless old woman. My God, don’t you feel some kind of remorse for what just happened. You sat there and marveled at the whole thing.”
“Don’t be a fool. What about these cats? They all used to be someone’s pet until they were abandoned by their owners. Now there’s hundreds of them wandering on this hillside. Left to starve and fend for themselves. Yes, I feel remorse, but not for that woman.”
“Who made you a God to pass judgment on this woman?”
“You could say that I am a God if it pleases you. For I have been returned here to right a wrong. You are part of my plan, Mr. Scanlon.”
“Part of your plan? What could that possibly be?” I asked in a disgusted tone.
“You have the perfect type of job to bring new victims for my cats to enjoy. Look at all the lonely people you talk to every night at your bar. Those pathetic losers who whine and complain about their miserable little meaningless lives.”
“Yeah, well that just comes with the territory. People come to my bar so they have someone to sound off to. Someplace to come to so they can forget their problems.”
“That’s right. All I need you to do is give me one warm body every night.”
“And what happens to me if I refuse?”
“You just witnessed that. You’ll be next. It’s your choice.”
A long pause passed. A crackle of something popping in the campfire caused an array of sparks to ignite in the air. I continued to stare into the flames and smoke without uttering a word.
“At the bar’s closing time tomorrow I’ll pick up either your victim or you. You may leave, now.”
I could feel the heavy cushion of air that had held me down mysteriously lift from my body. I got up from my chair and made a quick step toward this monster. I was planning on ripping him apart with my bare hands, but the instant I stepped toward him I was repulsed backwards. Flying in the air, I landed on my ass several yards away from the campfire. It felt like I had been hit in the chest by a giant fist.
“It’s your decision, either give me a victim or become the victim. You decide.” He demanded, pointing a finger at me.
As I slowly got to my knees I could hear the unsettled sound of a chuckle emitting from under the stranger’s hood. The cat had jumped back on his lap and was busily licking the caked blood from his paws. I walked back to the trail and hesitated at the spot where hundreds of cats were still nibbling on what little was left of the old lady. The bloody site made my stomach turn but I was able to hold off from vomiting. A large yellow tabby turned toward me and let out a hiss. With its back arched and hair jutting outward, it showed me her needle sharp incisor teeth. Before I continued my descent I looked back toward the campfire and seen that he was still seated in the same place, gazing into the campfire.
I could barely remember going down the hundred of steps as my mind raced with the visions and words of what had just transpired. Suddenly I found myself back at the lamppost and the city street. My legs made large strides as I hurried to reach my apartment door. Once inside I sat down panting, and held my head in my hands. Had I just dreamt this? Why had this stranger picked me? What am I going to do? I called the police department. I described to the police what had happened and they said they wanted me to take them to the crime scene. That was the last thing I wanted to do, but I felt I had to help out anyway I could. Fifteen minutes later a knock hit my door.
“Are you ready? That’s quite the story, Tom. You say there was hundreds of cats up there?”
“Yeah and they attacked this poor old lady. I just can‘t believe it.”
“And some guy was up there sitting outside of a cabin?” Jerry, the sheriff, asked as he got in the patrol car.
Clarence the deputy sheriff sat shotgun as I slipped into the back seat.
They drove down the street and parked where I told them the steps were located.
“Now, you said there were some steps going up the hillside here right?”
“Yeah, right at the lamppost. What…” I stopped and looked from side to side. The narrow concrete steps were gone.
“You’re sure they were right here?”
“Well, yeah. You got to believe me.”
“Well there not here now. Clarence is your old heart going to take to climbing this hillside?”
“I think not, Jerry. I better stay down at the patrol car.”
“Good decision. I don’t have time right now to be looking for a replacement. Are you ready to climb up there again, Tom?”
“Yes, I am.”
We started climbing the steep embankment, barely able to keep our balance. The dew in the grass made for slippery footing and I had to catch myself from sliding all the way down the slope. Twenty minutes later we reached a gravel trail on the ridge of the hill. At least the trail is still here, I thought to myself as we continued our ascent. When I reached where I thought the ladies dead remains should have been I stopped.
“This has to be the place where the woman was attacked.” I said, kicking at the tall blades of grass.
Jerry swung the flashlight near my feet and slowly searched the ground from where I stood. It was all gone. Nothing of the remains could be found.
“There has to be some blood stains on the grass…bones. ..something.”
After several minutes of not finding anything, I walked further up the hill.
“Here’s the campfire ring.”
Jerry came up the trail and stood beside me, reaching down to pick up a stick he poked it into the black ashes.
“Well if there had been a fire blazing here tonight there should be some live coals in here. But it doesn’t appear anything has been burned in here for a long time,” Jerry said.
I walked across the trail where the log cabin should have been. Jerry shined his flashlight in the general direction of where I was looking. Buried in the grass I could see the outline of bricks. An old foundation of a building of some kind that used to be here.
“Look there is a foundation where a cabin could have been.” I weakly explained.
Jerry walked a little closer to the site. Small trees were growing in the middle of where the foundation stood.
“Well Tom, I don’t know what to tell you. I remember my grandpa telling me that years ago a crazy old man lived up here alone. He told me the guy was a mean old bastard that would have nothing to do with anybody in town. I guess when he was a young man he caught his wife cheating on him and after that he became a loner. He lived up here for forty-six years by himself. Now that I think of it my grandpa said he had a cabin full of cats that he cared for. Said that somebody came up here to ask him something about the property and that the inside of the cabin smelled so bad of cat feces it brought tears to his eyes. The cabin mysteriously burned to the ground with him and his cats in it a long time ago.”
I stared at him with disbelief. Had this old man’s ghost returned? It had to be the only explanation.
“I’m sorry about bringing you all the way out here for nothing.”
“That’s all right. There’s not much that goes on in this town anyway. I tell you what though, just to be on the safe side, this gravel trail goes all the way down to Caveman’s Park by the lake. I’ll bring the dog up here for a walk tomorrow during the daylight hours and have a peek around.”
“That’d be great,” I said as we began our walk down the hillside.
When we reached the bottom and the city sidewalk the sun was just beginning to break the horizon.
“I’ll bet you a thousand dollars that Clarence is sleeping when we get to the patrol car,” Jerry said.
“I’m not taking that bet.”
Jerry crept up to the side of the patrol car and quickly opened the door.
“Clarence,” Jerry yelled out.
I chuckled as I watched Clarence jump and hit his head on the roof of the car. I took a seat in the back seat and watched Clarence rubbing the top of his head.
“How was your nap?”
“I really wasn’t sleeping Jerry, I was…I was just resting my eyes.”
“Really, the city is so much safer with you at watch, Clarence.”
“I’m sorry boss. Did you find anything?”
“Nope, we couldn’t find anything.”
Clarence turned to me in the back seat, “Tom, have you been taking a few nips of that booze you’ve been serving?”
I didn’t answer him but gave him a nasty scowl. He chuckled and returned his stare straight ahead. The patrolmen dropped me off at my apartment and I walked in exhausted from the nights explorations. I disrobed and took a shower, hoping the hot water would wash away all my fears. After drying off I jumped into my four poster bed and tried to sleep but the cat’s meow kept playing over and over in my mind. His words also played on, “I am who I am and I know who I know.”, “It’s your decision either give me a victim or become the victim, you decide.”
Somehow I had gotten a few hours of sleep. I awoke and began to make my self something to eat. As the pork chops and hash browns sizzled on top of the stove, I happened to catch the smiling face and dazzling brilliance of my deceased wife’s eyes in a picture that hung from the wall. I still mourned over Sandra’s death. She had been killed in a freak accident five years ago when an old man died of a heart attack while driving his pickup truck. The errant truck jumped the curb of the street killing her instantly. What made things worse was had she not forgot that she had my cell phone in her purse and returned it, she wouldn’t have been at that spot at that particular time to begin with. If only I would have taken the phone out myself the night before she’d still be here today.
I flipped through the newspaper as I ate my dinner, but I couldn’t concentrate on the words. The revolting scenes from last night lingered in my mind and I tried to convince myself that it was only a dream. At 1:30pm I was out the door. I opened the bar at 2pm and closed it at 2am everyday except Sunday.
I walked down the sidewalk and then stopped dead in my tracks. There ahead of me was the cat. He let out his sick sounding meow toward me, scampered down the street, and ducked into the safety of an alleyway. I almost returned to the apartment and got a baseball bat but instead I continued my walk. Was this damn cat here to be sure that I didn’t run or vary from my daily routine? Or was it reminding me that I had to make a decision? The vision of him sitting on the man’s lap, licking his blood caked paw flashed back in my mind.
I stopped at the alleyway where the cat had disappeared in and gazed into the maze of discarded cardboard boxes and battered metal garbage cans. I didn’t see him amongst the rubble but the sudden thought of him diving in mid-air at me caused me to walk onward down the street a little faster. I reached the front of the bar and unlocked the door.
I had bought this bar twenty years ago with my wife. She actually named the place the Eagles Nest because of her love of watching them fly over the cliff faces along the banks of the lake. I turned on the lights and even now the memories of her still linger on. The pictures that we hung of eagles flying over rocky mountain scenes. The two carved wooden eagles that guarded each side of the bar still remained there exactly where she had placed them many years ago. I took out a broom and swept some missed dust from the night before off the wooden dance floor. The nights we spend embraced together on this dance floor, swaying to old love ballads that played on the jukebox. I can still smell her perfume and see that smile that made my heart ache with so much desire. Her laugh still echoes inside of these confines. I put the broom away and begin taking the chairs off the tables.
I had thought of selling the place many times but the thought of some one turning this into one of those sport bars just turned my stomach. Besides it had become almost a shrine to me because I know my wife still lingers inside of here. I turned on the lights above the bar and begin to check the cooler. Over the years I’ve had some ladies chase me with some interesting propositions but I just couldn’t leave or change my old habits. I walked to the backroom and carried out a case of Budweiser bottles and began filling the cooler. Those propositions were getting less and less as the years passed and I knew I was going to have to make changes soon or I would be bound here forever. I found a garbage bag that I had forgot to take outside last night and walked to the back door. But being bound to stay seems to be my underlying desire anyway. God how I miss her. I placed the bag down at my feet and unlocked the door. I stepped outside and threw open the lid of the dumpster. Just as I heaved the bag over the edge, the cat came diving out and landed squarely on my chest. The blow knocked me to my back and I madly tried to grab the beast from tearing at my neck. The cat hissed and leaped out of my reach and before scampering off it turned and again meowed at me.
My heart raced at a hundred miles an hour and I gasped to catch my breath. My God this beast is relentless. It almost appears that he is trying to keep me inside of the bar. I unbutton my shirt to reveal the prick marks of the cat’s claws on my chest. Tiny droplets of blood had formed in the puncture wounds. Getting up to my feet, I brush the dirt off my jeans and return inside. My thoughts ramble on about what am I going to do. There’s plenty of candidates that I could send to the cats. Several of them I’m sure wouldn’t be missed. But can I put myself up to do such a task?
Like clockwork Gus is the first one to enter the door. Everyday he shows up at 2:30pm from his maintenance job at the sawmill.
“Hi Gus, how are you today?”
“Same ole shit, just another day.” Gus answered. His response was always the same, I don’t know why I even bother to ask. For myself I wished it was the same ole shit. I watched him walk over to the video poker machine and put in a dollar. I reach into the cooler, pull out a bottle of Bud, and walk it over to him.
Fifteen minutes later Sam meanders in. He is another regular that comes in every day and he takes his seat at the far end of the bar. I mix him a whiskey-seven and take his money.
“Anything new going on Sam?” I ask, knowing that I’m going to get an ear full of politics.
“Do you know what that damn governor is doing now?”
“Nah, what now?” I ask and then pretend to be listening. I nod my head once in awhile to make it appear I give a shit.
Soon afterwards a few more people wander in. At 3:30 Carla came in to wait on the tables.
“Hi, Tom.. Everything going okay?”
“Yah, everything’s fine. Just a little tired.”
“A little tired huh? You finally asked Sherry out for a date and you stayed out too late, right?”
“No, you know I told you that she’s not my type.”
“Nobody’s your type. You know, I’m going to find you a woman one of these times come hell or high water.”
“You need to just give it up.”
“Never, ever, one of these days I’ll fine the right one,” Carla said as she left to wait on a couple who had just sat down at a table. If the truth were known and Carla wasn’t 17 years younger than me, I would very willing go out with her. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
Debbie another waiter came in at 4:00, as the double bubble stretch till 6:00 was about to begin. The three factories in the village closed at four and the after-work crowd would be flowing in. I wiped down the counter when Carla came up from behind me.
“Tom looked what I found outside.”
I turned and took several steps backwards. Nestled in her arms was the cat from hell. As it stared directly at me I could hear him purring in spite of my obvious look of terror. The cat appeared to be smiling at me.
“Get that fucking cat out of here,” I blurted out. I think everyone in the bar stopped talking to that blunt outbreak. An acute moment of silence filled the air until Carla spoke.
“Jeez, Tom its just a stray cat. Look at him he’s so scruffy looking, he just needs some loving.”
“Get him out of here,” I again scream at her, pointing toward the back door.
As she walks away, giving me a scornful look, the cat gives me a screeching hiss. The bar returns to its usual chatter of normalcy. I watch Carla get a dish out, pour some milk in it, and set it outside of the door. She walks by me without saying a word and waits on another couple who have just arrived.
Another hour passes and Cliff enters the bar to work in the kitchen preparing sandwiches, fries, onion rings, wings, and pizzas. The bar is extremely busy and there’s little time for talk as orders for food and drink overwhelm the crew and myself. We’re all used to crunch time and the beauty of our cohesiveness flows to every corner of the bar. We all know exactly how the other one moves, where everything will be placed, and what is expected of each other.
At eight pm the crowds begin to thin, and I take a little time to go into the kitchen with Cliff and eat some chicken wings. I was just into eating my third one when Debbie came into the kitchen.
“Tom, there’s a police officer here that wants to talk to you.”
My first thought was that it would be Jerry coming here to tell me what he had found on his walk, but when I came out of the kitchen there stood Clarence.
“Clarence, what’s up?”
“Tom, we can’t find Jerry.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, noticing that Clarence is sweating profusely and his forehead is streaked with dirt.
“We found his car at Caveman’s Park this afternoon. When he didn’t report for work we got suspicious and Chuck and I went up the trail to look for him. What’s going on up there, Tom?”
“I explained that to you last night. You never found him?”
“No, all we found was this.”
Clarence handed me a dog leash. “God, he told me he was going up there today to have a look around with his dog.”
“Something’s up there, Tom. Something was running around in the grass but we couldn’t see anything, but there was hundreds of them, I’m sure of it. It was invisible small creatures scampering here and there and watching our every step. We got pretty spooked as it neared dusk so we ran all the way back to the park.”
“Clarence you have to muster up some extra men and keep a watch outside of our place. The man said he was coming here tonight to take another victim. Maybe we can stop him before he arrives. Tomorrow we can get a search party together to look for Jerry.”
“Yeah, okay Tom, I’ll get it all set up. We’ll talk later.”
I watched Clarence leave and stared at the dog leash in my hand. Jerry was a strong man, I could only hope he was still alive. I had my doubts about Clarence’s abilities, he was basically Jerry’s toad. I’m going to have to fend for myself. I was about to head to the office behind the bar when Carla let out a scream from the back room storage area. I ran to the back room and found Carla standing in front of the back door.
“Jesus, what the hell’s wrong?”
“My God, Tom, look outside,” Carla whispered, slowly opening the door.
I looked into the sky that was just turning to evening’s dusk and gasped at the sight of hundreds of cats milling about in the back alleyway. They covered the back dumpster, milled about the tipped over garbage cans, and jumped in and out of cardboard boxes.
“Tom, what’s going on?”
I looked into Carla’s stunned face and told her the entire story.
“Damn, Tom, what are we going to do?”
“There’s no ‘we’ in this conversation. As soon as your shift is over you’re going home.”
“Like fuck I am.”
“Goddamn it Carla, I don’t need you to put your life in danger because of me.”
“You dumb bastard can’t you see that I’ve had a crush on you ever since I started working for you. Your always shutting me out of your life. I fucking love you, damn it. I’m not going to stand by and let these cats kill you.”
I stood and looked at her as tears flowed down her cheeks. I had no idea she had any feelings toward me. Her words tugged at my heart and all of a sudden I had a new feeling of resolution that I hadn’t felt for a long time. A new reason to live.
“Okay, okay, I’ll let you stay. Let’s just take this one step at a time. We’ll go out and try to act like everything’s normal.”
“What’s going on back there?” Debbie asked as we came out of the back room.
“Nothing, Carla thought she saw a mouse.”
Everyone chuckled and continued on with their conversations. As the evening wore on Carla and I exchanged nervous looks at each other. Cliff and Debbie left at ten. There were four couples sitting around a long table by the dance floor and Sam and Gus remained at the bar. Both of them appeared near the point of passing out very soon. It was lucky that this was a weeknight, had it been a weekend night there would have been a lot of people listening and dancing to a live band. It would have been so easy to let the stranger take either Gus or Sam but I wasn’t going to fall for that trap. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself knowing that I let him have them.
At 10:30 I called for a cab to pick Gus and Sam up and take them home. Shortly after the cab left, Clarence walked in.
“Okay Tom, we’re ready. Chuck is with Andy up the street from the front of the bar and I’ll be with Shorty on the opposite side.”
“Thanks, Clarence. All we can do now is wait.”
He left and a half hour later the remaining patrons paid their bill and left also. Carla had gotten the push broom out and was beginning to sweep the floor.
“Put that broom down and come here.”
“Okay, but don’t you think we should finish cleaning up?”
I didn’t answer her question but when she approached I embraced her. She looked up at me with her deep blue eyes and I gently kissed her lips. She affectionately returned my kiss with one of her own. I hadn’t felt like this for such a long time. I was about to give her another kiss when we heard the first shots fired outside.
“Damn, he’s here. Get ready,” I yelled, letting her go and rushing to the office. Inside of the office I pulled open the desk drawer and retrieved my pistol. I slapped in a clip, and found Carla behind the bar with a baseball bat.
“I want you to stay down. Let me handle it.”
She just looked up at me with a pleading gaze as we both stared at the front door. We heard more shots outside. An eternity seemed to go by as we waited. Finally the door swung open. The man wearing the hooded sweatshirt over his head entered, followed by a finger of fog from the night sky. He slammed the door shut. I got up from my crouched postion not wanting to give away Carla’s hiding place.
“Well, Mr. Scanlon, it looks as though, seeing that you are by yourself, that you have come to your decision.”
I held the pistol out in front of me and carefully aiming it straight at his head.
“You’ve disappointed me actually. I was hoping you would give me a few of your more worthy drunks first. But drunks, being what they are, will eventually come my way.”
I shot the pistol and continued to bury each shot into his head. I knew each bullet found its mark, there’s no way this son-of-a-bitch would be able to withstand these shots. As I fired I walked toward him. Empty…I loaded another clip and continued to fire. Carla came out from behind the bar, emitting some kind of burly yell with her bat held high over her head, she charged.
The stranger with one wave of his arm knocked her into the air. Her body became airborne and with a loud crash she landed on top of a set of table and chairs. Rolling into a ball, she slammed into the wall. I looked over at her for an instant and could see she wasn’t moving.
“You mother-fucker. Die you son-of-a-bitch.” I continued to fire….empty. I threw my pistol at him.
“Don’t waste your time, bullets have no effect on the living dead.”
At once I felt my body enveloped into a pocket of air.
“Now, Mr. Scanlon we must return to the cabin. My cats are patiently waiting for their nightly meal.”
As we left the bar my body did not take any steps but was floating along behind him like a helium balloon tied to a string. As we continued down the street we passed Clarence’s body laying in a pool of blood. What was left of Shorty’s body lay half in and half out of the imploded windsheild of the squad car. Down the street was the other car. Smoke still floated upward from the car that was covered in black ash. Two charred silhouettes sat in the front seat. At the bottom of the street sat a classic teal green 1960 Plymouth Savoy. It appeared like it had just came off the assembly line. There was no mistaking it with its high tail fins that made it look like a rocket ship. The doors opened and I floated into the seat. The stranger sat behind the wheel and the 383 engine roared to life.
As the car roared down the highway I hung my head. Once again I had killed someone who loved me. First Sandra and now Carla. I should have demanded that Carla went home, now she’s dead. It’s all my fault. Now I could care less if I’m given to the cats or not. The car took a turn at Caveman’s Park and I observed Jerry’s car in the parking lot. The car drove right through the chain and sign that said ‘no motorized vehicles’ and climbed up the hill.
When we reached the top of the hill the cabin was back intact as it had been on my first trip up the hill. Once again a roaring fire rose from the stone ring. The stranger drove the car next to the cabin and we got out.
“If the townspeople would have just let me be, this wouldn’t be happening right now, Mr. Scanlon. But no they wouldn’t leave me alone. I was fine up here by myself. Just me and my cats. We didn’t harm anyone, but those four teenagers came up here and burned down my house with me and my cats in it. Now all will pay including you.”
The stranger took me just past the fire ring where there on a cross was Jerry’s remains. He had been tied there and the cats had disemboweled him. His eyeballs had been plucked out. His entire face was withdrawn and his mouth formed in the shape of an oval howl. Below him was the remains of his dog. I bent over and vomited at the smell and sight of it.
“My God, what have you done? These people you have killed had nothing to do with what happened here forty-six years ago.”
“All of the townspeople will pay for the sins of their sons and daughters. My job here has just begun.”
He began by tying my wrist to another cross he erected next to Jerrys. After my wrists were secure he crossed my ankles and ties them to the post in that position. The stranger walks back to his chair by the campfire and waits. For a few minutes nothing was going on. The moon had now popped out from behind a cloud and the light opened up some of the more hidden parts of the hillside. Then I saw them coming. Their slender bodies bouncing through the high grass, sneaking up closer through the trees, and bounding steadily up the trail. Hundreds of cats were approaching, they started meowing to each other. Sending messages to each other in an unexplained language.
The cats were within twenty feet of my feet when from behind me a brilliant white light lit up the entire area. The stranger stood up from his chair and walked past me. A few moments later I could hear his screams. He ran past me completely engulfed in flames. He stumbled toward the cabin and stepped in it setting it ablaze. A ball of white light came past me and the encroaching cats were now in full retreat. They scampered into the black parts of the woods. The smell of burnt hair filled the air. My mind raced with what this possibly could mean. I trembled as the white ball of light approached me.
As it approached the body of a woman could be seen. It was Sandra, she had come back to save me.
“Sandra, you’ve come back. I love you Sandra.”
“Don’t get too excited Tommy, I can only stay a few minutes longer. It wasn’t your time. I was allowed to return as long as you didn’t sacrifice anyone besides yourself to the stranger. Had you sent someone up here besides yourself, your soul would have become one with him. He would have controlled you for the rest of your life but you did the right thing. Now there’s a girl down in our bar that needs your help. Hurry and get to her before it’s too late.”
“But I can only love you and no one else.”
“Don’t be a fool, years from now all of us will live in the same house and we will love each other till the end of time. Now hurry.”
With that she disappears and at that instant the ropes that had bound me to my cross fell to the ground. I ran to the old Plymouth. The house was totally enflamed and just as I pulled away it collapsed where the car had been parked. I took a deep breath of fresh air in relief. As I’m driving down the trail toward the park, I look down at the front passenger seat and there sits the gray-striped cat. Its eyes are no longer green but blood red, its fangs our dripping with saliva. The devil cat jumps at me and latches onto my arm, sinking its fangs into me. I let out a scream, pull the beast off me by the back of the neck, and give it a heave out the window. At that exact moment I hit the gas pedal and the thump-thump of running over it could clearly be heard.
With blood running down my arm I enter the bar. I rush to Carla who is curled up in a ball in the same place I had last seen her. I kneeled down beside her, shaking her shoulder. Tears are running down my cheeks. She’s not moving, I must be too late.
“Carla, Carla, damn it wake up.”
“Oh damn that hurt. Son-of-a bitch, Tom, How’d I do? Did I get him?”
“You did great, Carla. We got him.” I helped her get to her feet, grabbed her under her arms and helped her walk to the bar.
“I did good, huh?”
“You did great. Lets go to my place and get cleaned up.”
“Sounds like your trying to take advantage of me.”
“That’s right. There’s no doubt in my mind. Hopefully, I’ll be taking advantage of you for a long time.”
They reached the bar and heard a weak meow.
“My God, now what?” I asked.
On the corner of the bar next to one of the eagle carvings was a wicker basket. Inside, cuddled in a dark blue blanket was a all white kitten.
Carla turned and looked into my eyes and without saying a word picked it up and brought it with us.











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