I -C- U - CATS

artwork by Michelle Branch Villarreal - https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/michelle-villarreal )

There was a little girl named Estie who had a beautiful cat named Bubbie. Estie and Bubbie were always together except when Estie was in school.

Bubbie enjoyed licking the cheese off of Estie’s snacks. Of course, she had to make sure the snacks were safe for her human to eat, so Estie always let Bubbie lick the first two chips, then Redbow dog would finish the chip off with a crunch and a chomp.

Bubbie was always on Estie’s lap when she watched her favorite tv shows. Of course, she delighted in telling Bubbie every juicy detail. Bubbie would motor-purr with delight while making squinty love eyes at her beloved two-legged animal. The two were inseparable…

Este would sometimes lie on her bed when she was sad. Bubbie always knew when her two-legged animal was feeling blue, and she would jump onto the bed, nudge her head against Estie’s wet cheek and lick a few tears away. If that didn’t do the trick, she would make a loaf of bread on Estie’s tummy by climbing onto her two-leggeds belly and knead and knead with constant depth and precision, while her motor-purr would bring her mommy back to the land of peace and happiness. They were always there for each other. The best of friends through anything, and that was about to be put to the test.

One terrible day Estie got sick and had to go to the hospital. She was very close to dying. Bubbe watched helplessly as some strange two-legged animals carried her mommy out of the house on a rolling bed. A neighbor kindly looked after Bubbie, but Bubbie wouldn’t eat. She couldn’t sleep, and even though the neighbor was very kind to her Bubbe missed Estie and needed to find a way to go to her.

That night Bubbe saw Estie walking through the house. Estie stopped in front of Bubbe and smiled, then walked over and stood looking down at Red Bow as he snored with his eyes twitching about.

Bubbe followed her mommy into the bedroom, where daddy was curled up and very sad in his bed.

Estie climbed onto the bed and laid behind Bubbe’s daddy as he sighed deeply and fell deeply asleep with her arms around him. Then she saw Estie’s body dissolve into thin air as if vaporized.

“Had she been here?’’ thought Bubbe. She wondered where she went this time.

One night after the neighbor had checked in, fed her, and left, Bubbe sank into despair. She curled up in a ball under the sofa, hiding. Where did they take her? How would she find Estie? Bubbie’s dog brother Redbow crawled under the sofa on his belly like a G.I. Joe.

“Bubbe,” he said, “You need to snap out of this despair. You have always been connected to our Mommy in spirit, heart, and mind. Only despair and fear are blocking you now.

Come outside with me and watch the moon rise. The neighborhood dogs say it’s going to be full tonight, and a bunch of us are planning to sing. Come sit among us, Bubbe and use your heart, mind, and spirit to find and connect with our mommy.”

The moon was ascending in the night sky. Red bow and Bubbie sat on the grassy hill overlooking the lake. Red bow told Bubbie to go ahead and begin without him as he had a very important matter to attend to. Bubbie gazed at the moon and called out to Estie, in hopes of, of....

“Redbow! Stop licking your booty; how can I be spiritual when you are licking your booty,” shrieked Bubbie.

“Booty licking to a dog like myself is a very spiritual thing Bubs,” said Redbow, and he returned to his very important business.

Bubbe did her best to block Redbow’s licking sounds from her ears.

She walked a bit further towards the lake, leaving Redbow to, ugh, whatever!

Then with every fiber of her being, she called to the four directions, to her spirit-guide cats to come to her aid. Suddenly, the wind picked up, pushing a wispy cloud in front of the reddish moon. She saw the spirit cats in the night sky all around her.

The hairless cat spoke first, “What is it you want from us, Bubbie? It’s darn cold out here, so make it quick.”

The big stray moved beside the hairless cat and in a deep voice said,

“Let Bubbe speak.”

Bubbe explained as best she could to the spirit cats, “My two-legged animal is in a place but I don’t know where. Two other two-leggeds came and took her out on a rolling bed. She has a perfectly good bed here!”

“No worries, we will find her.” the Persian Calico said in a sing-song voice.

“Yeah, you stay here. We will be back.” added the hairless cat.

Bubbe waited and waited as the dogs howled at each other around the neighborhood.

“Why aren’t you howling, Red Bow?”

“I don’t know, Bubbe. I guess because my early homeless-pup years were spent having to be quiet and invisible to survive.

Not all two-legged animals are nice, like mommy and her parents. Some of dim dar two-leggeds threw things at me and kicked me mon. We are mighty lucky to live here now, Bubbe. But just in case, I’m keeping my yapper shut!”

“Very well then,” said Bubbe.

She walked back and forth. Where could they be, she wondered.

The spirit cats finally returned and told Bubbe that Estie was in a place with ‘ICU’ written on the glass.

“She doesn’t look good. I heard the doctor say that she might die. Also, we can’t get in due to all the tight closures, security alarms, and all.” said the hairless spirit cat. “Yeah, and there are no four-leggeds allowed.” added the big stray, “and I got no use for rules and regulations.”

We will have to connect the power of our minds to come up with an answer. Just then, a crow flew by. “A crow at night”? “That’s odd, thought Red Bow.” Then he remembered that it was Estie’s crow friend Poe and he was connecting to the energy and the message that Estie was in danger.

“I have an idea!” said Bubbe,

“I know a few spiders, and they know how to get into all sorts of places.”

Just then, a bunch of spiders dropped from spider webs in front of Bubbe’s face.

“How did you all know that I needed you?” Bubbe asked.

We are all connected in the Web Of Life, Bubbe all the spiders chimed in unison.

Whenever another being is in need, it sends out distress signals, and we can feel the energy within

The web of life.

“We get all messages through the universal web,”

answered a big black spider.

“We can go through the vent, and the spirit of these cats can ride in our webs through the vents.”

said an even bigger black spider.

The biggest of the spiders then added,

“Once inside the ICU, we can change into our cat spirits and help Estie.”

“But nobody except family is allowed in there.”

said the Calico cat.

Bubbe and Redbow shouted out at the same time towards the moon,

“We ARE family!”

So that is what happened. The spirit of the cats rode in on the black, wispy spider webs. They were long black, smoky-looking webs that could drift easily through the air depending on the direction of the wind. They floated through the air vents and under cracks in doors, around lights, and out of electrical outlets.

Once in the room, as soon as they hit a surface, they turned back into cats. Some of the webs landed on Estie and entered her body, where they turned into spirit cats. They kneaded and purred inside her body, heart, spirit, and mind. Estie groaned with pleasure, and a smile came to her lips. One by one, the spirit cats transferred Bubbe’s love energy into Estie.

By morning they were gone.

Este was still very sick, so she had to stay away from Bubbe for a long time. Bubbe tried to stay happy by playing pranks on Red bow. Silly self-indulgent pranks like pretending to touch his doggy bone while sleeping and then running away as he chased her. But this wasn’t enough to take her mind off Estie. She missed her two-legged animal so much.

One day Bubbe heard the key in the lock on the front door turning.

Bubbe saw her daddy was helping mama Estie into the house.

Estie was very skinny and had trouble walking.

Bubbe had to stay away from her mommy’s belly because that was where her hurt was.

Once settled in bed, Bubbe jumped next to Estie and gingerly tip-toed up evenly with Estie’s eyes. She nudged her forehead against Este’s as Estie said,

“I had the strangest thing happen to me in the ICU Bubbe. There were spider webs that turned into Caa-cough!”

Bubbe stopped Este from finishing her sentence by head-booping her in her mouth.

Bubbe looked deeply into her beloved two-legged human’s eyes and said,

“I know what happened. I sent them there. Now that you're home, I have one question for you.”

“ Aww, What is it, Bubs?” asked Estie

“Now that you're home, do you think maybe, uh, um... you know, could I possibly,” Bubbe stammered

“Possibly what?” asked Estie

“You know, possibly lick your snacks and watch a movie?” begged Bubbe, “Please, please, please?”

“That sounds perfect.”

Estie giggled as they snuggled together to Bubbe’s motor purrs, drowning out the TV sound.

The End

Written by: Pamela Nations-Weissman (Namdag Tsomo) 2-18-2019