The Crazy Old Cat Lady and her Hero

No one saw me the way Harry did. In a way, Harry was my hero. Back in my glory days of youth, I had been a sight to see! I was beautiful from head to toe and never a day passed by with out a man turning his head my way or trying ot win my affections. I was happy yes, but never tasted the satisfaction my heart yearned for: love. Love-I approached it as a goal to achieve in my ambitious youth, then in my middle age years I perceived it as a reward for good deeds, but now I realize that I viewed the subject completely wrong all those years.1

In my frustrations of searching for my divine satisfaction, I let age and all the unpleasant side effects with it take me. As I mentioned before, I always had men staring at me, gazing at me with hungry eyes, invisibly tearing off my garments behind their sunglasses; and I could never get over this. They always think that you don’t notice, but we always do. And this alone was probably my downfall from beauty to ugliness. Can you imagine how painful and heart-wrenching it is to have one person madly desire you for impure intentions without even the slightest hint of loving you? Can you imagine hundreds and hundreds of people torturing you with such a means? Too many days went by with this routine, too many years, too many decades; and time eroded my soft complexion and lovely figure to wrinkles and sags.2

I became too hideous and undesirable for men, the only stares I received from them were followed by pointing and laughing. They always think that you don’t notice, but we always do. I have to admit, I don’t blame them for such harsh remarks. Who wouldn’t sneer at a smelly old hag limping across the street? But I had given up on love and therefore gave up on caring about my appearance as well. I found myself spending most of my days in my townhouse with my adorable cats. There I could melt and fade away with out any disturbance from the outside world. 3

The world was pathetic- men doing everything to win the affections of a beautiful woman! Women making sure that they marry a handsome man who could protect them both physically and financially! Bah! I was sick of the triviality of this age old routine!4

I loved my cats and they loved me. It was the purested form of love I had ever felt before I met Harry. Felines don’t care about how nice you look, they just love affection, and if you give it to them, they will return it. They are so generous too! Every day at least one of them leaves a fresh kill on my doorstep for me, and I can always tell which cat killed what animal: Midnight brings skinned baby bunnies, Sherbet brings footless cardinals, Ami brings decapitated squirrels, and Hero has the habit of going into neighbors houses and bringing me their pets! During the previous week, Hero brought home Mrs. Fuentes’s parrot, and I opted to keep quiet and not tell anyone that it was Hero’s doing. And then the next day he brought back a dog collar that I recognized to belong to Mrs. Fuentes’s chiwowa, and ever since then, I haven’t heard that annoying dog’s barking at night! Besides, I just couldn’t stand that stupid dog’s resonating ear-splitting yapping throughout the poor quiet neighborhood!5

Hero is the most affectionare of all of them. He curls up next to me while I read and do my crossword puzzles, and I stroke him, cuddle with him, shower him with numerous kisses. Sometimes I run my lips gently over his head and playfully nip at his ears and caress his paws, and he will lick my face with his scratchy tongue! What a sensation! He is so intelligent and knows when I am sad and purrs on my lap, or does something funny to cheer me up like knocking over my pills or sewing box. Hero loves playing in the attic. He just loves lying on top of the costume chest I kept from my younger thespian days. It’s still a wonder to me how he get’s up there though! The only way to do so is by a ladder which needs to be pulled down to climb. My guess is that there’s a hole in the walls or roof or something. He’s so good at finding such things!6

I am getting off topic- So yes, Hero was my harry. I met Harry a year ago at a café here in Chicago, and from that day on, I’ve been the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life! I was living my habitual miserable day contemplating about how miserable I was, and wondering about how miserable I’d be in years to come(not that there were many left). Harry walked into the room and time stopped: he was my idea of pure representation of genuine goodness and male attractiveness. He was dressed in a military uniform and smiled so beautifully. From that moment on, I knew we were destined to be and that the love I had given up my search for was walking towards me at that very moment.7

Harry sat down next to me and I swelled up with excitement I hadn’t felt in years. He ordered coffee and a BLT and began to fiddle with his keys to pass the time. I was so transfixed with him, that I didn’t notice him return my stare until he started speaking to me! We introduced ourselves and conversed for the remainder of his lunch. I still couldn’t believe he would talk to me willingly! I couldn’t believe that he didn’t flinch at the sight of me! He just looked into my eyes and talked to me as if I were an old friend. I could feel the spark between up then, I’m sure he could too.8

In our conversation, I learned that Hero was a recruiting officer and sending boys off to war overseas. I never was for the war, in fact, I recall myself being completely against it, but Harry was for the war and he had to have some good reason for it. He talked about the military most of the time with a smile, and because he enjoyed talking about it so much, I swayed most of our topics towards that direction. I asked him if he ever felt bad about sending boys off to fight and get killed. He told me that last week he found out two Fuentes brothers were killed in battle and that he was having a hard time getting over the guilt of feeling somewhat responsible for their deaths. But he meant well! It’s not his fault if someone dies over there! That’s just what happens in war!9

Our conversation ended when his cell phone rang and he whipped out his map to find where the recruiting seminar was going to be held. He paid for his food, turned to leave then quickly lowered his phone from his ear and said to me with these exact words, “It was nice talking to you!” Those words were the most beautiful words ever uttered by anyone to me! Can’t you just hear the “I love you” underneath the breath of the phrase?10

I walked home as quickly as I could, which was surprisingly fast for someone with a limp! I had a date with Harry this evening and it was already getting late! He might even be at my house already! I jumped over many cats and ran up the stairs looking for Harry. I knew he was here, but I looked in every room and there was no sign of him. The attic! I forgot to look in the attic!11

I quietly pulled down the ladder and emerged into the suffocating dusty and dark attic. I didn’t call out his name when I didn’t see him because I wanted to surprise him. I finally was able to make out his figure in the darkness. He was curled up on top of his favorite costume chest. I snuck behind him as he slept, jumped out at him, hugged him, and ran my lips over the top of his head and soft ears as he purred. Harry and I have been together ever since. It is the purest form of love I’ve ever felt! Harry moved into the townhouse and I got rid of all of my other cats because well, I didn’t need their affection anymore now that I had my Hero.12