Bud's Pet Series: Lucy
“Oh my god Lucy, it smells terrible in here” Arnold groaned as he brought his forearm to block his nose from the pungent malodor of pet dander and cat urine which filled his younger sister Lucy's home. The home had been left to Lucy in their mother’s will 7 years ago and since then, neglect and Lucy’s numerous cats, destroyed the once beautiful home. “Ahh Luce? Is that another cat? Where did that kitten come from?”
Befuddled, Lucy looked around to see which of the ten or more small cats in the living room her brother was talking about. She noticed a tiny, beige and orange striped kitten nuzzling her leg and meowing. Her demeanor relaxed in an instant as she bent over to scratch the young kitten on its head between the ears.
“Dats just David and he’s so cute, yes he is.” She said in a child like voice as the kitten purred with affection. Lucy had always lived in this house, at the age of 47 she still had never had any real relationships. No husband, no children, no best friends and no coworkers, all she had was her “children”, the numerous cats scattered about the house and the occasional visit from her well-to-do older brother, Arnold. “Ain't he a cute little guy?”
“You know what Lucy? This is getting out of control, I swear every time I come here you have another cat, another hole in the screen, another stain on the carpet and sis, I’m sorry but the smell is so bad I think one of those cats may have died in here somewhere.” He motioned around the room, his arm swinging caught the attention of a few of the cats, most didn’t look up from self cleaning or their midday naps. “What would mom and dad think if they saw the state of this house? This is crazy, I’m going to contact animal control and a cleaning crew to handle this mess!”
Do not permit that, a harsh voice snapped in Lucy’s head, her eyes grew wide and her lip began to tremble.
“Arnold, no, it’s fine there’s no need to do all that.” She chuckled nervously, her throat tightened and she began to sweat. “The cats are fine, I just didn’t expect you to come over today so I didn’t get a chance to clean up.”
“No Lucy, this has gone on too long. The house is destroyed and you keep getting more and more cats, this is no way to live!” Though Arnold’s tone grew more harsh, there was still a hint of sincerity remaining. His sister’s well being was clearly his utmost concern.
Silence him mother, the voice in Lucy’s head also grew more harsh but there was no sincerity, only self preservation.
“Now Arnold, you listen to me, everything here is fine,” Lucy raised her voice and with an outstretched trembling finger she pointed menacingly at her older brother. The meowing and purring of the cats grew silent as all feline eyes fixed on the arguing humans. “How dare you come into my house and tell me how to live my life!”
“Your house? This is Mom’s house and you’ve destroyed it with all these filthy cats.” The sincerity had left Arnold’s voice.
He has to go mother, hurt him! Make him leave, the voice grew louder and more angry, Lucy nervously swallowed hard but still submitted to the voice in her head unleashing a flurry of insults towards her brother.
“Don’t talk to me about Mom, Arnold! You weren’t there for her in the end like I was! You didn’t have to bathe her or remind her every day that dad was dead because you were too busy with your whore wife and your bratty little children to care and now you want to talk about how Mom’s house looks?!” Tears began to stream down her face, she didn’t mean the words she said but the voice encouraged her to say them and she dared not disobey the voice of her children. She began to push her brother towards the door and force him out of the house, “get out of here Arnold! Go back to your Jezebel and ignore me like you ignored Mom!”
She shoved her brother out the front door and slammed it close behind him as she collapsed in a heap on the floor sobbing and crying. A long haired, black Main Coon cat with pure white paws sauntered up to her and began weaving around her body in a figure eight pattern flicking its tail upwards towards her face with each pass it made. The cat eventually plopped on the ground next to her and began cleaning its paws.
Very good mother. The voice in Lucy’s head said with joy as the dark black cat stared at her with its pale, blue eyes as it continued to clean its fuzzy white paws. We couldn’t have him disrupting our family now could we mother?
“Why, Mittens, why did you make me say those horrible things?” Lucy asked, still sitting on the floor in a slump, tears streaming down her cheeks, “Arnold was the only human I actually talked to, why did I have to be so mean to him?”
From her legs she heard a hiss from a large orange Tabby cat who swiped and clawed at her bare leg. She winced and reached for the fresh scratch but was met with a bite on her knuckle from the small new kitten, David, who she had earlier petted. Why do you need a human? Are we not good enough for you mother? Do you not love us? The voice in her head now multiplied and grew louder and more menacing as she soon found herself surrounded by at least ten of her cats, meowing and purring as they gathered closer to her.
“No, no, no, I love you, I love you...” she pleaded in a panic and forced a smile on her face to calm the multitude of felines that seemed to have doubled as she continued to sob. “I love all my children…”
Very well mother, but all this stress is not good for the young ones, the voice was no longer menacing and now had a sympathetic tone of concern. Please, let me check on the young ones.
Now sobbing harder, Lucy began to lift her shirt, revealing her torso which had four small round pulsating sacks secreting a rancid, yellow puss. Each puss filled semi-circle bump on her body contained a small kitten embryo swimming around in the fluid just below her pale skin. A thin gray Siamese cat slinked through the crowd of cats surrounding the woman and climbed into her lap and began lapping gently at the festering boils on her body.
The babies are fine, the voice confirmed and the Siamese cat rolled onto its stomach looking to be petted, meowing softly. We are hungry mother, feed us mother, feed us. Lucy cried harder and harder as the cats, now numbering around forty surrounded her, meowing, purring and chirping at her.
Lucy, for a moment contemplated suicide but the voice in her head spoke loudly. Don’t leave us mother, we need you …
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