Cats

Gave Miles nightmares. In fact, just the other night, Miles dreamed that there was a white cat up in Harold’s attic. The cat’s name was Lilith, and it perched in the corner, watching Miles. Mile’s decided he needed to order a book about symbols in dreams. Perhaps Lilith, possibly on another plane of existence, was trying to contact Miles and deliver a message for Harold. Perhaps, Miles mused, he should cut back on his consumption of alcohol.

Harold got up from the rocking chair with creaking knees. “Miles,” Harold shouted, “What do you think about my new lyrics.”

Whenever Miles didn’t respond to Harold right away, Harold treated Miles as if he were deaf.

“I can hear you, Harold,” Miles replied.

“I thought you had your ear plugs in,” Harold moaned.

“No, the ear plugs have disappeared, as surely as…”

Miles paused. He didn’t want to go down this well trod path again. Harold seemed to be in good spirits, and just because Miles was thinking about cats, mysterious disappearances, and Lilith, didn’t give him the right to bring Harold down.

Harold stared at Miles. His smile turned upside down, and his translucent face began to disappear completely.

“As surely as the bottle of rum I bought last week,” Miles said.

Harold’s face reappeared. His full lips turned upward, revealing Harold’s rather crooked front teeth.

Seeing the teeth reminded Miles of Miss Kitty. “I would like to deposit $2000 into Miss Kitty’s PayPal account so she can go to the dentist,” Miles said.

“Oh, splendid,” said Harold. “Do you think that will be enough? Such a delightful girl. Sure, she’s not very tall, but she’s mighty, isn’t she, Miles?”

“Yes,” Miles said with a smile and a wag of his tail. “Mighty Miss Kitty.”