I pulled the black plastic lid off of
the large red bucket of ground coffee. It was maybe a quarter full
but the scent sailed out with rooty splendour all the same. I took a
deep gratifying breath of it and bent down to the small,
wide-cheeked, feral-ish cat that sat next to me on the kitchen
carpet, kneading with his forepaws ready to explore whatever
mysticisms in-house living had to offer. I held the bucket under his
face, and dutifully he took a deep sniff himself at the flaky
material, and backed up w/ a glance up at my face as if to say 'no
wonder you crazy.' The offense at my morning drug did not linger, he
kept on kneading until he caught the side-long glare of that other
cat; the one that had been staring at him earlier from the black
shiny surface of the washing machine. This time the other rippling
bobcat face was staring at him from the stove. His shoulders raised
and his head moved back and forth in gestures just as inquisitively
as the other had, and he did as well, in perfect cadence.
“That's
you, handsome. “ I reassured him, although he was not nervous, just
on peak and curious. “Damn humans and their reflective surfaces.”
I crouched and scratched his head, just as the mystery fingers in
the stove-face scratched the frowning stranger cat. His lidless eyes
deepened with shadow as his brow fell into a 'v' shape and
momentarily doused his Sphinx-ish serenity. Any unimaginative human
would have called it evil, a demonic haze that had crept over his
features.
The kitty in the stove began to wash
it's black-padded paw delicately. Then Genghis, the furry,
coffee-repulsed gentleman did too. Did I see..that? Did the stove
kitty move first..?
The coffee gurgled into the carafe behind
me on the counter. I leaned back into the white and gold speckled
formica niche and folded my arms. I wondered about space, time and
cats. And magick.
“Humans and their reflective surfaces.”
I mumbled, again. “Sometimes it's all we have.”