I could not take this. Not even for one more day.
I had to make that bloody black cat love me, whatever the cost. It was a matter of saving my honor and pride now. All cats loved me and the furry jerk-face was going to have to love me too, god dammit!
So far, I had tried every trick in the book to make him at least like me a little, but he was dead set on hating me. He looked at me like I was the worst person on Earth.
"Stop looking at me that way!" I admonished him as soon as I entered the Clinic's recovery room.
Lucky let out an indignant huff from inside his cage and looked down on me with even more disdain than he usually used to do.
"I came to have a talk with you, Lucky. A heart-to-heart, if you may." I announced as I grabbed a chair to sit right in front of his cage.
He purposefully turned slowly around, giving his back to me to stare at the back of the cage. That meant 'You talk to me when I let you talk to me, puny human'.
Of course, he was going to be difficult. What else did I expect?
"Look, I know that giving you space is clearly not working out," I began with my speech. I had tried leaving him alone at first. It didn't improve the levels of hatred in his glares, not one bit.
So I tried the next trick. "And I know bribery doesn't work on you either." Because I had prepared a small plate with the most delicious fish slices for him (behind Marie's back, obviously. If she caught me handing out her expensive fish filets to the stray injured cat, she'd surely had me neutered right there and then).
He had barely batted an eyelash to the plate. He ate it all, eventually, later when I wasn't looking. And when I went to retrieve the empty plate from his cage, he had looked at me as if he had made me this immense, long-sufferingly favor of gobbling it all up and I should be thankful for his oh-so charitable spirit.
The cheeky jerk.
"So I'm going to try to be honest with you now," I told him in a serious tone. Maybe honesty would do the trick. Most animals responded well with honesty, it was worth the shot. "I am aware you hate me. You think I did this to you. I have apologized already, but maybe I haven't done it properly."
Animals also tend to spot right away when you don't really mean it.
"So here it goes. I didn't ask for that car to drive at the exact time you were crossing that road, but I was the one who called you. So that was my fault and I'm very sorry. In my defense, I only did it because I really love cats. Cats are the coolest thing in the world. And I'm not saying that to butter you up, I really mean it. I can't blame you for thinking I'm responsible for your accident, but..." I paused for a moment and watched him as he flicked his ears back and forth to listen to what I was saying. "But, I'm sorry for causing you all this pain, Lucky, I seriously do. I'm really glad you recovered fast and that you're okay now. And I hope you can forgive me one day. You're almost healed so I'll let you out soon, I promise."
I peeked inside the cage to gauge his reaction. He was lying outstretched and still had his back to me, but his tail was lying still and the muscles on his back were relaxed, a sign that he wasn't angry, for once.
I guess that was the most forgiveness I would get from him.
Then I heard the bell from the Pet Store front door ringing, announcing the arrival of a client. "Well, you can't say I haven't tried to be friends. I'll get out of your hair now." I finished with my apology and quickly headed to the back door that connected the Clinic to the Pet Store.
"Oh, hello." A middle age woman greeted me as soon as she saw me walking into the store. "My son asked me to look for something for his hamster. He's running out of things to chew on. The hamster cost me only one dollar, but the paraphernalia I had to buy for that thing has reached two hundred bucks already! I've never regretted buying a rat so much in my life!" She complained with a long-suffering sigh.
I stifled a laugh and walked to a basket full of wood blocks that hamsters usually like to gnaw. "Here, why don't you try these? Hamsters love chewing off these."
"At least it's not expensive..." She muttered, eyeing the package's price tag. "What a lovely cat you have." She commented absent-mindedly.
"What?" I asked confused and glanced around to find Lucky half strutting, half limping towards us. "O-oh, y-yeah... l-lovely." I stammered, trying to hide the panic in my voice. I couldn't let the client notice how terrified I was of seeing the furry menace walking freely around the store. I certainly couldn't tell her we were about to be mauled to death by that 'lovely cat'.
"H-he doesn't like people very much, so you better step back just a little bit..." I tried to push her away from him while I calculated in a panic the costs of the lawsuit that was bound to happen.
How did Lucky manage to get out of his cage? I must have left the damn lock open, darn it!
"He looks very friendly." She pointed out while Lucky stopped right next to her feet.
"Yeeeah, but noooo," I said, watching him cautiously while trying to avoid setting the fury of his deadly claws on the client. "He's really not--" I stopped mid-sentence when I saw Lucky rubbing against that woman's leg, all friendly and adorable, like the most amiable cat in the world.
"Aw, he's so cute!" She reached out to scratch the back of his ears. "Hello there, pretty kitty!"
I cringed in fear, expecting to hear a mighty yelp from her. He was going to bite her hand off so bad! But she straightened it up and instead of bleeding limbs, I only saw intact fingers.
"Well, how much do I owe you?" The woman asked as she headed for the cash register.
I gawked at Lucky. He was sitting peacefully in the middle of the store, acting very docile and calm. What in the world was happening?
I tried to finish the sale as fast as I could and only after the client had left the store that I managed to breathe again.
"Okay. You were not supposed to leave your cage, Lucky," I said, watching him wearily. "I'm afraid I'll have to put you back in."
He let out a threatening low rumbling and squished himself close to the floor.
"It's not my call, okay? If Marie finds out that I let a wild feral cat roam free inside the store, she'll freaking kill me, dude! We can't afford the lawsuits!" I grabbed a pair of thick, protective, long gloves and advanced cautiously in his direction.
He flattened his ears and hissed profanities at me, but I moved quickly and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. He had all his claws sunk deeply into the glove and gnawed viciously at the material while I carried him back to his cage.
"Sorry, but it's house rules," I said while I put him back into the cage and checked the lock to be sure it was working before I clicked it shut. "If you didn't have such a bad temperament, I wouldn't freak out so much when I see you near the clients, you know."
I headed back to the counter to organize some pamphlets when Mrs. Eunice arrived in a hurry at the store. She used to come to pay a visit at least once a week to buy treats for her beloved Chihuahua. Today it seemed to be a medical visit of sorts though.
"Mia! My dear Chu-Chu is sick at home with the most horrible case of diarrhea!" The old lady wailed dramatically.
I shook my head at her. It wasn't the first time that Chu-Chu – her over-weighted Chihuahua – had come down with this sort of emergency. All because old Eunice couldn't stop feeding the damn dog. It wasn't only food, treats, and biscuits that she gave him, it was all sorts of candies, pastries, junk food, and fried things that weren't even the healthiest choices of food for humans, let alone for the dog.
Marie and I had tried to explain a thousand times to Mrs. Eunice that she couldn't keep doing this to the poor animal, but the stubborn buffoon wouldn't listen to our pleas.
"Mrs. Eunice, have you stopped giving him junk food? You've promised not to do that anymore, remember?" I arched an eyebrow while she fretted quietly on her spot.
"O-of course, dear!" She lied through her teeth.
"Mrs. Eunice, I only say this because I worry about Chu-Chu's health. All that junk food is really bad for him. You don't want to make him sick on purpose, do you?"
I swear, not even toddlers were as daft as Mrs. Eunice. Some people should have their rights to own a pet revoked, honestly.
"Of course not!" She stated fervently. "But I'm going to buy these just to stock them up," she said and handed me a small bag of biscuits she had grabbed on her way to the counter.
"You can't give him this while he's with diarrhea. And no junk food too. Seriously, Mrs. Eunice. Wait until he's better, okay?" I tried to reason with her one last time.
"Of course, of course." She nodded in agreement. "It's nice to see a pet again in the store, Mia."
"What p-pet?" I asked and froze when I realized Lucky was perched on top of the counter right next to me. He was so close that one wrong movement and he'd have my face clawed off for sure.
How in the hell was he doing this? I was sure that his cage was locked before I left him there!
"O-o-h, t-this is a rescued s-stray we have that has been recovering back at the Clinic," I explained as I turned my face slowly to him. He was now lying over the counter quite unfazed while he watched us with a bored expression on his face.
Mrs. Eunice petted him on the head and he let her, giving me a pointed glare just to prove to me that he wasn't a threat to society.
Only a threat to me, apparently.
"He's supposed to be locked in his cage, but he keeps getting out," I said and he gave me a defiant look as if silently saying:'House rules my furry ass. If I want out, I'm getting out and it ain't nothing you can do about it.'
"Oh, why don't you keep him? I miss seeing you in the store with a cat next to you all the time. It's time you give another kitty a chance, Mia. You have to get back on that saddle, you know?"
"I'm fine and I don't need any cat. Here's your change, Mrs. Eunice. Come back to see Marie if your dog's condition doesn't improve, okay? Have a nice day."
I turned around so I wouldn't have to face her anymore and pretended to be fixing something on the shelves while tears brimmed in my eyes and blurred my view.
She sighed softly. "All right. You take care, dear. Bye, kitty cat, you watch over her, yeah?" I heard her say and then the doorbell jingled as she walked out of the store.
I dabbed at the corner of my eyes with the sleeves of my hoodie and turned to the counter, sniffing quietly. Lucky was watching me with big round eyes, one vivid green, and one hazel gold. He meowed at me as if asking what was going on.
"She should stop being so damn nosy. She can't even take care of her own damn dog, why is she giving me advice on what she thinks I need to do anyway?" I said.
He looked at me as if he couldn't understand what the hell I was talking about.
"Never mind. It's a long story," I mumbled and then I put both hands over my hips and stared at him. "And what am I going to do with you, Mister Prison Break? Locking you back in your cage is clearly not achieving its goal."
He gave me a 'human goals are stupid' glare and stood up slowly. I stepped back in fear he might attack me again, but he paid no attention to me and just jumped ungracefully to the floor since his leg wasn't a hundred percent healed.
He began to inspect the store, like a customer would do, stopping from time to time to squeeze a product with his paw or sniff at something he thought was interesting.
"Let me know if you find anything interesting that you like!" I joked and he meowed something that sounded incredibly like 'mkay' from behind one of the bags of bird seeds.
Then the doorbell rang again, announcing the arrival of another customer.
...