...like we do!
by
Jerome Pooler

Alex is the worst when it comes to caring for a pet. Before an animal
can look to him for support, it must first look to itself, is the way he sees
it.
He had one once, a pet named Caesar…and against his better judgment,
thanks to the advice of a significant other, he had the little guy fixed.
The next thing he knows he's out of work. Without money both the pet and
he are soon slated for eviction…an experience that leads him to swear-off
ever having another. How about that? homeless and saddled with an animal
that can't defend himself! or even make a baby.
On the last day, as the two of them lounge in front of the TV, Alex
strokes Caesar's back…Alex has always loved the animal's coloring. The
layers of yellow and orange and black flow like silk through Alex's touch as
he pulls his fingers from head to tail.
When Caesar had enough he would roll over and allow his belly to be
caressed. The motion of Alex's light tickle among the longer, thicker and
more coarser hair, was always certain to extract what seemed to be a smile,
and a hind leg that pumped around in a circle at a hundred miles an hour, yet
went nowhere.
But beyond any of this, the truth of Alex's love draws it's devotion from
Caesar's independence; the aloofness and self-relying attitude. One can tell
Caesar had never quite taken to this being a pet stuff. Alex didn't own him,
nor he Alex. Co-exist is what they do…share the space is the explicit of it,
and there is no better evidence of the depth the bond tightens than what
happens next:
When Alex finishes the rub down, Caesar returns the kindness by a stretch
along Alex's chest, and plants monster-like licks upon his face (Caesar's way
of stroking is my guess).
Yet it's time. Alex must leave. With tears running down his cheeks he
breaks out a special purchase, a 20 lb bag of food and a brand new tray, and
places them against the wall with a note, a note that reads:
Dear New Tenant,
I love this cat! Be good to him, he's been de-clawed.
P.S. He uses the commode in the bathroom for his business, like we do.

BIO
Jerome Pooler Jr., born in 1939, is a native of Madison, New Jersey. He began to write in earnest when he moved to Spring Valley in 1974 and became interested in the work of area authors. His numerous works include both prose and poetry and his pen communicates at a level of real life that people can understand. "Down to earth" he calls it, and his works are lace with the wisdom of the experiences. Jerome's background in graphics, publishing and writing reveals him as a people's person at heart.