I saw a cat on my walk to work this morning.  I made clucking sounds and threw out my usual, “Hey Kitty,” rap.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.  This time it did.  The large, pure white fluff galloped over to where I stood with my hand extended in a friendly, “I’m a nice person,” gesture.

This cat had eyes like I had never seen.  They were completely black even as the morning light hit them.  They were eyes like polished coal. 

I bent at the knees and stroked the white fur.  It was surprisingly rough…bristly to my touch.  I pulled my hand away and saw that all  three of the fingers of my right hand were bleeding from the  tips. I thought there must have been burrs hiding in the cats amazingly clean looking coat. 

I held my hand away not wanting to get blood on my clean work clothes.  I had to maneuver carefully to get my back pack off of my shoulders, so that I could remove a wad of tissue from the front pouch. 

While I worked on my wounds, the large white cat sat directly in front of me as if blocking my path.  It was purring.  I wasn’t sure, but I believed at the time that this was a male cat.  It probably had some clichéd cat name like “Mr. Clean” or “Ajax.,” but the name that was on the tip of my tongue as I observed this bold creature who now seemed to be laughing at me was “Wicked.”  If this were my cat, I would name him “Wicked.”

I had left early for work that morning, so I had plenty of time to linger and contemplate the cat who still sat in the way of my progress.  My plan was to wait the thing out, just to see what it would do.  It was like a contest of wills.

About two minutes into the stand-off, my cell phone rang.  It was a number I didn’t recognize.  It had a lot of sevens and threes in it.  

The voice that I heard when I answered was husky and thick, definitely a male voice, but not definitely human.  “Make a wish,” the voice began without waiting for me to say “Hello.”

 “You only get two,” and then the line went dead.  Later when I looked, I could find no evidence of the call.

The cat was gone.

In it’s place were two perfectly black, perfectly smooth stones about the size and shape of large marbles.  I picked them up.

Make a wish…You only get two.

I held the stones tightly, one in each hand. 

I made my first wish.  “I wish to have enough money, so that I’ll never have to work again!”

The stone in my right hand vanished, and I felt suddenly sick.  I knew what was coming.  I would be crippled in such a way that I would be unable to work.  I would die before I could spend even the meager amount in my checking account.

“I wish… I take back my first wish!”

The stone in my left hand vanished. The cat was back looking slyly up at me with it’s perfectly normal yellow eyes.  I took a step toward him, and he ran under a nearby shrub

Tomorrow, I will drive to work.

Frankie Valinda Ghee