The Cat That God Sent by Jim Kraus

Author:Jim Kraus
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abingdon Fiction
Published: 2013-08-14T04:00:00+00:00

8

Jake walked out of Jubilee Foods with two bags of groceries. His cat food supply was already low. Petey must be making up for lost time of not having enough food to eat for so long by eating a full can of tinned food every day, plus nibbling on dry kibbles all day. Jake thought that level of consumption was a lot. He made a mental note to ask Emma about the proper amount to feed a cat the next time he saw her.

He loaded the groceries in the front of the truck. Petey had stayed at home this morning, barely raising his head from his morning nap position on the chair in the living room. It was his first stop on a standard rotation: morning nap—living room chair; midmorning nap—windowsill in office; after lunch nap—sofa in living room; predinner nap—the unused pillow on Jake’s bed; and prebedtime nap—one of the kitchen chairs. The variety of sleeping spots Petey selected and how quickly he fell asleep and woke up fascinated Jake. And how varied his sleeping positions were: the prone cat, the cat on his back, the cat curled into an impossibly tight ball, the cat with his head upright and eyes closed, the cat with his head on his paws, the cat with a paw on his face, and the cat stretched out to twice his length.

As Jake walked around his car with his groceries, he spotted a tall, very thin, younger man walking toward him, with very long blond straight hair, worn well past his shoulders. A full beard flowed around his face and chin—a long beard, full and bushy, a bandana covered his head. He also wore torn jeans and a very tattered jean jacket. It appeared that he was coming straight at Jake. Granted, Coudersport was out in the country—well out in the country. And there were folks who lived even farther out in the country—miles away from even a small town and miles off any main road, and some, miles off even a bad, semi-paved road. Almost off the grid, if the truth be told.

One of these wilderness-looking men attended Jake’s church. He heard him referred to as a “mountain man,” a person who simply wasn’t comfortable living in close proximity to anyone. He lived in a small cabin deep in the nearby Susquehannock State Forest, virtually hidden from view. His name was Mylon Fedders, and he slipped into church as it started and exited as they sang the final hymn.

The man approaching him was not Mylon but apparently went to the same barber and clothing store as the church’s mountain man.

“Hey there, you the new pastor fellow, right?”

Jake extended his hand. “I am. Jake Wilkerson.”

“Yeah, that’s it. I saw you with Doc Grainger the other night.”

“At the movies?”

“Naw. I got no use for movies. I was heading out of town and saw you walking. Me and Doc Grainger go way back. We went to high school together. She was real smart back then. Well, I guess she still is.

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