trouble
i went to visit my great-aunt today in windsor locks, connecticut. it was the first time that i'd been to the nursing home where she now lives. there are birdcages mounted on the walls in the halls every 10 feet or so, with their name printed on a sticker on the cage. a white and light blue one was named precious - reminding me of the pregnant dog at one of the sites (aka obnoxious) who one day gave birth to a bunch of puppies while my friends were working there. they announced it before dinner in the cafeteria as a 'god moment'.
my aunt asked how trouble, my grandfather's cat, was doing. i told her about another cat named trouble. just like my grandfather's, he was a thin black cat. he belonged to joyce, the woman whose house i was working on. i never actually met trouble; the first knowledge i had of his existence occured when joyce noticed him by the side of the road, across the street. he had been hit, presumably by one of the numerous coal trucks that frequented that road. i listened to joyce describe what a great companion he had been to her as chris mader walked across the street with a trash bag to pick up the cat. he later told me how trouble had felt "as hard as a rock". i didn't tell my aunt about that.
my aunt asked how trouble, my grandfather's cat, was doing. i told her about another cat named trouble. just like my grandfather's, he was a thin black cat. he belonged to joyce, the woman whose house i was working on. i never actually met trouble; the first knowledge i had of his existence occured when joyce noticed him by the side of the road, across the street. he had been hit, presumably by one of the numerous coal trucks that frequented that road. i listened to joyce describe what a great companion he had been to her as chris mader walked across the street with a trash bag to pick up the cat. he later told me how trouble had felt "as hard as a rock". i didn't tell my aunt about that.