Member-only story
Kat’s Cats
The healing power of animals — a short story
One Tuesday in April, Katherine gets up, and then out, of Dodge
She drives for three days straight
Drinks too many Dr. Pepper’s
Eats corn dogs
And sleeps in her car
In Wawa, she cuts her hair off in the bathroom of a Tim Horton’s
And afterwards, begins calling herself, Kat
She finds a place in a small town
A four-story walk-up with a rickety fire escape and plastic begonias in a planter out front
Nothing much happens there
And Kat likes this
Nothing happening is a good thing
Lacy shows up first, and sticks to Kat like glue, her demanding yowls loud enough to wake the dead
A month later, Beau appears
Beau, with his amazing capacity for sleep — a regular fixture on the red porch chair, head on his paws; tail a-twitch
Number three arrives in late summer, just after the crickets start singing
Schrodinger, who is sometimes around, and sometimes not
But sometimes
