I suddenly find myself holding back my laughter as I imagine this lady as a middle-aged woman who takes no shit. She’s probably the firecracker type—the type who would be happy to snap me in half with one wrong move. She’s also likely the kind who has a huge heart and loves all animals and probably still cries at all the happy, sappy, sad, and heartbreaking moments—the kind who still knows how to hope even in the face of extremely contrary evidence.
I try again, pushing my luck. “Blind?”
“Well, looky here. We do have a cat who is seventeen, and she only has one eye.”
Good lord. That will have to do. “Great. I’ll take it.”
“You can’t just purchase an animal, sir. You have to come down and meet them. You have to fill out paperwork, and we have to assess, from the visit, if you’re a good fit or not.” Her tone makes it clear she’d rather give the cat to Mr. Lucifer The Devil himself than let me adopt it. But then, maybe there’s hope for me yet. “She was just surrendered by her owners. She’s very delicate and sad as the shelter has been hard on her, and she’s so confused and lonely. When she came to us, she was terribly matted and had a large abscess in her mouth, and she also had to have five teeth removed. Caring for an elderly cat isn’t for the faint of heart. It can be expensive and trying, and she’s had enough stress in her life.”
“Good. I mean, yes, I’m ready for that kind of commitment, and finances aren’t an issue. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Alright, sir, see you when you get here.” The lady’s voice doesn’t sound hopeful, but she doesn’t sound like she’s counting me out either.
She hangs up, and I hope she thinks I’m just one of those guys who comes across as a jerk over the phone but is better in person.
I feel something strange after I set my phone down, thinking about the cat all covered in greasy mats, with rotten teeth, only one eye—god knows how she lost the other—and no family. She’s old. Her body is probably weary, and she’s tired. She’s probably been through a lot and also seen a lot. Maybe she’s got the kind of unbreakable spirit lucky few get, where no matter how bad life is, it can’t beat them.
I don’t even know the cat yet, but she kind of reminds me of my mom. Her own mom got pregnant at fourteen and tried to raise her, but it just wasn’t working and, well, you know how it goes. She never talks about any of it, the years between when she was nine—when she bounced from one orphanage to the next—and when she was eighteen, when she aged out of it. After eighteen, she had nowhere to go, nowhere to live, and basically no way to support herself. She had graduated from high school with good grades, but college was out of the question. Even if she had a scholarship, she couldn’t afford to study and live. At least, she didn’t think she could, and she didn’t have anyone to help her with it.
So, she worked. She got a room in a house for cheap and worked and worked and worked. I guess she dated on and off too because when she was twenty, she became pregnant with me. And my bastard of a dad did not bother sticking around.
So, I give my mom a lot of credit because if I were her, I would have been scared shitless. How does one take care of a baby when they can’t work? She did have maternity leave pay to scrimp by on, but after that, I went to daycare, and she worked three jobs. She was determined I wouldn’t grow up the way she did. She wanted to be a mother even though she had no real example of what it meant, and she was.
She was the best mother.
She made sure I went to a great daycare and then to a good school. She worked hard, and we had a decent apartment because of it. I met Sam in kindergarten, and we’ve been raising hell ever since.
I owe a lot of who I am to my mother, but I also owe a lot of it to the Winters. They took care of me after school, no questions asked and free of charge, so my mom didn’t have to pay for after-school care until she got home from work at seven each night. And when I was sick, I went to the Winters’ so my mom didn’t have to miss work. Holidays? Mom couldn’t afford them, so I went with the Winters. Mom is still very close with the Winters’. She’s never forgotten what they did for us.