Once I had Luck

It was a cold Christmas shopping season day, black Friday to be exact in 2001. Caught up in the emotional aftermath of 9/11 my ex girlfriend and I decided to shop to shop at Macy's in midtown Manhattan. We went with my daughter's and her son who is autistic. I was the only person he listened to for some reason so we felt it would work, and it did. The crowds did not bother him at all. On the way home we took the N.J. turnpike and stopped at the first rest stop. Pulling into a parking spot, I saw two bright little eyes looking out from under a parked van. "There is a kitten under there." I said. When we got out everyone laughed as there was no kitten. Thinking I had a Jerry Garcia moment we continued into the building. There in the lobby was a woman holding a kitten and asking people to give it a home! Ah so...I didn't listen to too many Dead records after all. Well my kids convinced me to take the kitten which was not a hard sell, even though we already had 3 cats. What a cool cat and he turned out to be a male while the others were female, finally "My Boy cat". He was so cute, playing with a toy hanging from a string and doing all the kitten stuff the older cats did not have time for. I named him Lucky, or Luck for short as he could have easily been road kill. Luck turned out to be a lap cat, and was very odd as he followed me around from room to room. I looked on the Internet and found he was a British Blue, a breed that is known to remain kitten like for years, follow you like a dog, and has a meow that can talk. When I came home his meow greeted me with a howl that sounded like hello, which he would do daily upon my arrival home. Extremely affectionate, he always wanted to play, and his feelings were hurt if he could not curl up on my lap.

Eventually times got hard and lonely. My business fell apart due to 9/11, I was in financial services. All I had left was the music i always wrote and played and some coffee house gigs that I never stopped doing even as a stockbroker. My girlfriend turned out to be interested in money first, and mine was going fast. She married a man she did not love for his bank account, always saying she wished it was me. Yeah right. Got a few good songs out of that deal, and I got Luck. On the saddest of days feeling confused, and lost luck always said hello and jumped into my world of depression. I was alone, My daughters wrapped up in their lives, and one stopped talking to me for some unknown reason. Luck always got me out of a funk, purring and cuddling with me. He was always there, following me, playing and generally keeping a concerned watch over his sad human.

After a few years things got way out of control in Philly, and I called an old friend and asked if I could come to Kentucky to stay for a while. She was delighted, as we had been friends for years and were close. Luck came along with his fur family as she lived on a farm and said it was OK to bring the cats.

I was a bit misled as the place I ended up was not very clean or even close to kept up. There were holes in the floor, and roof. Trash and garbage was laying on the floor, cobwebs, and dead bugs covered the spare room I was offered. But I was thankful as it was a place to get away and get myself back together, and i could write and play music which the family was very supportive of. It was a friend platonic relationship as I was not interested, or in the right frame of mind for anything else. Little was done to attract me anyway as the woman only washed once a month, smoked four packs of cigs a day, and lived in a world of soap operas and home shopping channels which were never turned off. However she was nice most of the time, supported my creativity, but nothing else.

Then one day I got a call that The State of Pennsylvania snatched my Grand kids out of day care. Knowing my daughter had an insignificant other that never supported his family, I accepted it as a good thing. Then I heard more. She was rid of him, making a new life, and as I have written here on Gather the victim of a vicious phone call to protect a drug dealer. For more on that read some of my earlier writes. We rallied around and decided to help and save the children. My ex-wife was involved back in Philly and I started talking to her along with the woman I was roommates with. It was decided that the place would be fixed up and we would fight for the kids. This never happened and my ex who is still fighting a 15 year old divorce, started convincing my friend that I was not to be trusted. I should have known as she had turned my best friend, and song writing partner, against me in earlier years. The roommate  bought into it and the first thing she did to get back at me was throw Luck out in the rain! Why I asked. He pissed was the answer, which was not true as he was very clean and used the litter box. I heard him all night crying "Hello, Hello", and I could do nothing as the woman was now as nasty and vicious as my ex. Guess she couldn't believe that with a bath things may have been different. But there is no sex appeal or attraction in that way when there is a putrid smell coming from a person. The only reason I didn't run was that she was nice in other respects an I thought maybe a change would hit her. It did the wrath of a nasty ex who was supposed to be helping.

I went out of the dump to sit and get fresh air and saw luck, wet, confused, and hiding under a step. He came to me and jumped on my lap and looked at me with eyes that cried for help, I could do nothing and could not convince the woman to let him in. I told him I was trying as he cuddled and purred in my lap.

The next morning at 4am. the woman barged into my room, woke me up and started looking under the mattress for a cat. She tore the whole room apart and I felt like i was in some sort of prison. The room was no bigger than a cell to begin with, and there was no place to put the few belongings I had except in neat piles which she was throwing all over. I begged her to stop as she yelled insults at me. Then she demanded I leave immediately. I asked for some time so i could gather up my things and was told no. With what I could carry, and no money as she had stolen what I had out of my wallet, i walked with 3 guitars and a leather satchel towards the town. It was about 10 miles away. There I called a friend who bought me a bus ticket, and i rode hungry, hurt and tired for almost a day.

But I had to leave Luck. Always there when I was down, and a companion I could depend on that depended on me of course. A dog like cat that had so much feeling, I couldn't save him and if alive he is on the side of a mountain hungry. I pray the little guy is OK on his own, but I doubt that as his breed is very dependant on love from humans. He won't get that as they are dog lovers, and don't even remember to feed them.

I have been a bit sad of late, and can only think Once I had Luck