The Lady and the Cat

If you had only one wish, what would it be? Would you try to end the suffering in the world? Feed the hungry, help the poor and bring peace to mankind?

Maybe your intentions are more selfish in nature and you'd wish for power, wealth, beauty and eternal youth?

Elisabeth needed none of the above. The only thing she longed for with all her heart was a child, a little boy or girl to love, cuddle and care for, but her prayers were not answered. And it wasn't as if she hadn't tried! There had been quite a few men in her life, some only simple one night stands, plainly for the fun, others were deep relationships, lasting for years until one thing or another drove them apart. She had even been married twice and both her husbands would have made great fathers if only fate had decided differently.

Now, slowly marching towards 70, mother nature wasn't in the mood for making an exception for her and so her chances of ever having a baby of her own died down into nothingness. Still she longed for one as she watched all the young couples strolling down the street with their buggies, a little hand reaching out to mommy or daddy once in a while.

She'd always greet them friendly, exchange a couple of words, chat about the latest gossip and then return to whatever she'd been doing before.

Sometimes she'd bake cookies for the school kids that always waited in front of her house for the morning bus. Their parent's didn't mind, knowing the old lady meant them no harm and the kids thanked her in their own way, helping her with her heavy grocery bags or mowing the lawn in her front yard.

She was like the grandmother every kid wanted. When they were sad, she'd listen to their problems and give advice, when they were happy she'd joke and laugh with them but inwardly she was always crying, mourning for her chance that had silently slipped away like a thief in the night.

One day in winter, it was snowing like it hadn't done in years, she was sitting in her favorite rocking chair at the fireplace reading a book as she thought she had heard something outside. It had been just a faint noise, barely audible but it had sounded like someone crying and, fearing that something bad might have happened, she lay her novel aside and went to the window.

At first she could only see gusts of fluffy, white flakes falling from the sky, hiding everything behind a curtain of floating white. Then she spotted something small, dark and furry only a few meters away lying motionless on the ground, a thin trail of tiny red droplets leading away.

Deciding that she didn't want to leave the poor creature out in the freezing cold to die there, she quickly got her boots and jacket, grabbed a small blanked and headed outside. Immediately the tiny pieces of ice and harsh wind began biting at her face and her breath created small clouds before her nose.

Cautiously she had to wade through the snow that reached up to her knees. The ground beneath was frozen solid and very slippery due to a hidden sheet of ice. More than once her boots lost grip and she had to regain posture, waiting a couple of moments before she slowly continued walking. She had no interest in tripping and maybe even hurting herself in the process.

Finally she rounded the corner of the house and came to the spot under her window and there it still lay: a young cat, barely more than a kitten. On its left hind leg was a long, deep gash and its fur was soaked in blood. It looked very thin and it was too weak to even protest as Elisabeth bent down to wrap the blanket around the animal's skinny body and pick it up. Through the fabric she could feel the cat shivering with cold and it was uncertain if her well meant efforts to keep it alive would be of any help to the injured creature.

Back inside she first tried to clean the wound. Gladly there was no dirt in it and she only put a salve on it to prevent infections and bandaged it, so the cat wouldn't try to lick or bite itself while it healed.

As she worked on it, the cat not taking any notice of what was going on around it, she took a closer look at it. It wasn't plain black as she had imagined at first. The pads on its left front paw were a grayish shade of pink and a few white hairs on its belly indicated that it wasn't a bringer of bad fortune, like many people thought they were, but an ordinary house cat.

Maybe it had been an unwanted Christmas present and its owner had just abandoned it. Elisabeth sometimes couldn't understand how someone could do that to an animal, treat it like an ordinary toy and throw it away as soon as they loose interest in it. Since it didn't show signs of fear, only emanating a low growl of pain as she began wrapping the leg in some sterile gauze bandages, it must be used to humans.

However, it seemed to know that it was in no condition to run away, let alone survive on its own. So after finishing her work she put the cat on the couch where it curled into a ball and fell asleep almost immediately.

Sometimes it would wake up, yawning and letting out a weak mewing sound and the old lady would hand feed it some pieces of cooked chicken or hold a bowl with some water mixed with milk before its nose so it could lap up a few drops.

With this loving care the cat slowly began feeling better. It didn't look as it was starving anymore and its fur became soft and shiny. As it could walk again it started following Elisabeth everywhere. When she did the washing it would sit in front of the washing machine and watch socks and shirts going round and round and the smell of cooking waving through the house always made the cat come rushing into the kitchen where it jumped onto its chair and wait mewing for its share.

Almost a year the two of them lived together, Elisabeth even forgetting her desire for a child since she now had someone she could care for, someone who loved her and looked up to her.

Then the fateful day came.

Elisabeth could feel it the moment she woke up. Something was wrong.

Unlike the other days the cat wasn't sleeping on the couch or waiting at its bowl for breakfast. Neither was it hiding in any of the other spots where she usually found the animal. She tried luring it by shaking the can of chewy treats, the rattling noise normally waking him even from his nicest dreams but nothing happened.

She even searched the whole house from attic to basement with not even the slightest sign of the cat anywhere to be seen. Except for a few lonely dust bunnies she found nothing.
A dark thought slowly crept into her mind. The cat was pretty intelligent for an animal and had even learned how to open doors. It just had to jump, grab the handle and its weight would push it down. Then it just had to push itself through the gap or paw at it long enough to pull it open.

As if on clue she then saw the back door leaning slightly open in its frame, a chilly gust of wind, not uncommon for the season, blowing through the gap, gripping softly at her clothes.

Immediately she rushed outside as fast her old legs would carry her, calling for her beloved cat. This of course alerted the neighbors, who wanted to know, what was wrong and soon the whole street was searching for the missing pet, but it was futile. No one saw even a glimpse of dark fur or the tip of a tail.

Her only comfort was, that they hadn't found any roadkill either. At least now she could still hope for the cat to return, but it didn't. Even two months later the cat stayed missing and the possibility of it returning lessened with every passing day.

On the other hand, Elisabeth was beginning to feel ill.

At first she thought, she had eaten something wrong as she stood bent over the toilet wiping a few drops of vomit from her lips with a tissue. Maybe it had been the canned beans from yesterday. They did smell a bit funny as she had opened the glass.

Deciding that she wouldn't take the chance she began cleaning out the cupboards, looking for all the home made conserves that might be out of date and flushed them away, feeling no regret for the food she was wasting. She didn't want to risk her health just because of a glass of pears or plums.

It didn't get better. In fact, it got worse.

That was a bad sign. She wasn't the youngest anymore and some of her friends of old had already perished due to heart attacks, cancer or strokes. She had tried to lead a healthy life, even stopped smoking some years ago when she had noticed that she was becoming exhausted faster than usual.

And since she didn't want to take a risk, a visit to the doctor was necessary.

But what he told the old lady almost knocked her out of her shoes.

"Excuse me?" she asked, thinking she must have misheard the man and he himself seemed to have noticed his error, taking another look at her file. What he read there made his brows furrow.

"I honestly have no explanation", he stammered slightly, "You're probably one of the healthiest 67 year olds I've ever met. Blood pressure is ok, cholesterol and blood sugar just a bit above the norm and a slight rattling in your left lung. The only thing that's worrying me a bit is your pregnancy. At your age it should be impossible and can be dangerous. Still, if you wish to keep the child, I will see to your wellbeing."

Elisabeth couldn't believe what she was hearing. Pregnant. That was utterly impossilbe. The closest she'd been with a man was a handshake or a friendly hug and decades had passed since the times when she had still believed that babies were created by kissing.

There was probably a mixup at the lab and now some young lady was recieving the shocking news that she had some old granny disease. It had to be that way, there was no other possibility.

Ignoring the doctor's words she went about her days as usual, still sometimes feeling nauseaus or exhausted and she just shrugged it off as something that came with the age. Only her belly told the truth of what was happening with her as the first slight bulge became visible.

Elisabeth had no idea if she should feel afraid or happy, because on the one hand she had dreamt about having a baby of her own since she was a young girl. On the other hand she had no idea how it could have happened and dark thoughts about evil men with even worse intentions came to her mind. Surely there were drugs out there to make a girl willing and have her forget everything afterwards but why on earth would someone do that to her, an aged, wrinkled woman, old enough to be their grandmother?

Still it was the only logic explanation and as bad as it seemed, she clung to it like someone drowning to a floating piece of wood.

Months passed and the child grew. Regular examinations showed that everything was fine and as the day of her delivery came the only thing she felt was anxiety because during all her pregnancy she had wished not to be told what gender the child had. She wanted it to be a surprise. When she was born her mother hadn't known if she was carrying a boy or a girl beneath her heart and Elisabeth wanted it to be just the same.

To say it was an easy birth would have been a lie. After almost nine hours of labor it became clear that the natural way wasn't working. The woman was already beyond regular exhaustion and the longer it took the more dangerous it was, both for mother and child.

The decision was made to do a C-section and Elisabeth agreed unwillingly. She knew she couldn't endure this much longer. The pain was bearable, due to some sedatives but she could already feel her strength leave her body. She was drained, weak. It was just too much for her. The last thing she saw was the blinding light above her head and a chubby nurse wiping the sweat of her forehead before she was lost to the land of dreams.

As the first cries of a newborn life echoed through the sterile white room, it mingled with another sound, the monotonous computer generated beeping of an electrocardiogram becoming a flat-line.

The doctors did all they could, but nothing would wake Elisabeth up. Her greatest desire had been fulfilled. Now her time was up, there was nothing more in life for her to achieve. She died with a faint smile on her face, subconsciously knowing that the child would survive.

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Five years later.

A young girl sat beneath a maple tree and watched a small, green caterpillar crawl over her hand. She ignored the other kids that were chasing each other across the playground or took turns on the swings. She usually stayed to herself.

The other children didn't like her. They sometimes called her names or played tricks on her but she had gotten used to it. She was five now. Soon she'd be six and then she'd go to school and would be able to read all the interesting looking books she had seen in the library.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a cat. It was dark, almost completely black only for a few white spots of fur on its belly.

"Hello there", the girl whispered and held her hand out to the cat, trying to make it come closer.

The cat graciously jumped over the narrow fence in a fluid motion and slowly trotted over to the girl, cautiously sniffing at the extended limb. Deciding that the girl seemed no threat it gently rubbed its head on her hand, urging her to pet it and the girl smiled.

"You know, pets are not allowed. Besides it's time to get back in", a soft female voice called from behind her and with a saddened expression the girl pat the cat one last time before returning to the orphanage, her black hair floating behind her in the wind like a wave of dark silk.

Only one white strand shone in the evening sun like molten silver.