2 posts tagged “cats”
The Emergency Veterinary Clinic
Seated in my plastic chair, with a
clipboard of forms to fill out, I realize
this is the fourth time I've been here
in my life, always in the middle of
the night, and never alone. This time
my oldest cat is in the carrier
on the chair beside me, his golden eyes
staring out through the bars of the door
like lanterns in a cave. He is scared,
and so am I. Across the room an old
man in flannel shirt and jeans sits with
an aged retriever sleeping at his feet,
the leash laying slack in his hands,
the dog's gray haired muzzle just
as grizzly as the man's unshaven
chin. A few chairs to his left a young
woman sits, her black hair still mussed
from bed and her eyes are blurred
from crying. She rocks a small
tan and white cat wrapped in a towel
in her arms and whispers gentle
assurances into the animal's warm,
triangular ear, though I think it's more
for her comfort than the cat's.
The clinic is too bright, the muzak
is too low, and the receptionist
sleepily shuffles files and papers
at her desk behind the wall.
It's like I'm not even on earth
anymore, but in some waiting room
a few miles west of heaven, wondering
when it's going to be our turn to be
called. Then it's into a small, even
brighter room, where God will put
his monacle up to his compassionate
blue eye and study the loved one
I've brought before Him. And a
decision is made then, on whether
things will be right again, and I can
wrap the poor fellow up and slip him
into his carrier, and take him on home.
Or maybe
I will get the other news this time,
that it's time to part, but only for now,
only for a little while. And as he's
taken away, the soothing helpers come,
dressed in pastel and soft sneakers,
smelling faintly of soap and disinfectant,
to lead me away and share my tears,
constantly reminding me that,
in the end, I did all I could.
Pic of two of the cats concentrating on
a goldfinch on the balcony... the goldfinches
love the sunflower seeds when the flowers
bloom.
