Tales of Ella the Circus Dog
2006-04-20 11:08 PM
Part of Cat's Story.
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Tonight I finally get part of Cat’s story. I have been noticing that he comes inside more, even though Labrador, Poodle, and me Chihuahua, Deer are usually around. I figure he’s calmed down and knows that I mean him no harm. Tonight the People bring him upstairs, and he drinks water from a tall glass on the bathroom counter. He is so spoiled. He drinks all the while the People are getting ready for bed. A drawer is opened, a drawer Cat must not have seen for a long time, and he tucks himself in a corner of it and settles in for the night.
The People are in and out. I take the opportunity to ask Cat What’s up with your being inside? He doesn’t answer me. For a long time, he pretends he is sleeping. I am patient. I live with Poodle, after all. Finally, he opens one eye. When he sees me there, he closes his eye. I can’t do one eye at a time.
I’m about to give up and go find a Greenie when Cat begins to purr. I am not who you think I am, Cat purrs. I am not much now in your eyes, I am sure, but once I was mighty. The People took me in. My name is Zignacious. I am not who you think I am.
For once, I don’t speak.
Cat continues: I lived in a yard with a high wall, but I loved to climb. I was a bad boy from the start. Sometimes I found myself on the roof of the garage, and the People would stand on a ladder and coax me onto shoulders and into arms. I did not learn. About six moons into my life, I woke feeling electric. I had to break out. I climbed the wire fence in the avocado grove and ran free. Here! There! Near! Far! Beyond far! From out of nowhere, I suddenly felt no breath, no air at all, only pain and terrible sounds, and I was thrown to the side of the road. I should have died. Instead, I lived. I crawled under a bush and lay there. That night, I thought I could hear the People calling me. Ziggy! Where’s my boy? Ziggy! It might have been a dream. A few days later, I crawled to my house. The People found me on the front porch as I was trying to summon the strength to jump the wall into my back yard. I didn’t have to jump. Doctor said I would never jump again. It took four more moons of my life to heal. Ten years ago. I walk with one hip higher. But I jump.
I know that Cat is telling the truth. I have seen him leap from the terrace down onto the deck below. And when Poodle and I chase him in the back yard, he flies up and over the fence like a bird.
But I learned, Cat says, opening both eyes and looking straight at me, to stay out of the street.
Cat! I can’t believe Cat remembers when I was bored and escaped from my yard to play in the street and the cars had to stop and someone took me home in a van and had to call Doctor to see where I lived and no one was home and I got to eat supper with new People who said my manners were not very good and they kept calling my People until they came and took me back to my house scolding me all the way. That just proves that even though this is part of Cat’s story, it really is all about me. Ella the Circus Dog. Chihuahua, Deer.
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