#25 China Cat (Tending to the Flowers)

She wrestled with mattress, and laid it, bloody side, down. Monday was garbage day. They see the blood was at the head, but what did they know; they don’t know what’s up or down or who sleeps where. The garbage men would assume some lady ruined a mattress with her period. She would sleep on the couch in the meantime.

Even though she got to sleep late, she went to church anyway. People asked about him, so she started her story that he left her, right away. It was basically the truth; she had woke-up Saturday, and he was gone. She cleaned up after him, made a meal, and never heard from him. After everything she did for him. She was a perfect wife, supporting him in every way, but she knew he wasn’t coming back. They prayed for her.

The next day, China went to work, took him off the benefits, said they had a fight, and he left. It was more common there. All the way around, it was cheaper, and less work, to not have him around. She was lonely, but she was better off without him. She just went back to talking out loud to herself.

On Saturday, she tended to the flowers. Every Saturday, six feet at a time, she dug up, and replanted bulbs, but she never had to dig down four feet, because she was never going to get married again. First, she cut them down, then she dug up more tulips, daffodils, hyacinth, crocuses, and Irises. She separated and replanted the Phlox and Ostrich Feather also. She did the other building too. She reseeded the grass every Saturday when she cut it. China didn’t mind that the tools were old, rusty, or manual. She fixed, or oiled, or sharpened them. She was used to that. It got so people used it, coming to sit in the beautiful courtyard, and China started to make friends. She told them she was waiting for him, and they felt sorry for her. Someone brought in a barbecue. Saturday afternoons, and evenings, became a time they got together, shared a meal. Everyone brought something, and they took turns playing music. They dressed up. They were a community. When the landlord tried to jack up the rent, they talked; he couldn’t, because they were protected by the law.

During this time, a cat came. He had watched her bury Thomas, do the gardening, and stayed with her the whole time; even through the barbecues. She fed him at the barbecues, but he was still scrawny, and never left the courtyard, so she started feeding him everyday. She bought him his own special cat food. She understood about his eating meat; cats were carnivores. She got some medicine to deworm him, and after that, he wasn’t so scrawny, but still, he wouldn’t leave the courtyard. She especially felt pity when it rained. He would just sit in it, and stare up at her. She was lonely. She took him to the veterinarian, and he got all his shots, and neutered. She took him home to recover. She told herself it was only temporary, but he didn’t want to leave, so she kept him a little longer. No one even knew she had a cat, because every time someone came to visit, he ran under the bed. She called him Fradeecat. When she tried putting him out, he just sat there looking at her longingly. Eventually she let him in, and told him she would let him stay one more night, so she accepted him as forever, and set up a litter box,

He started biting people. As time went on, she made more friends, got more visitors, and did more visiting. They figured he had a family somewhere else, found someone else to screw around, probably both, but someday he would come back to divorce her. One time, Hilda was visiting, then the cat ran out from under the bed, and attacked her. He wrapped himself around her leg, digging in with all fours, and gnawed on her ankle. Hilda screamed, hopped around, and held up her one foot for China to get it the f off her. China never swore, so it took a moment, but Hilda was distraught. China took ahold of the cat, and pryed off Hilda. The cat responded to her words immediately, but left her knee-highs in shreds. Hilda