“Honeybear,” cooed Marina Elliott to
the small, bedraggled cat standing on the back steps of the house.
“Honeybear, I’ve got mushies for
you, the kind you like.”
The cat kept her distance, making
short plaintive meows. Her face was pinched and projected distress.
This little grimalkin suffers,
thought Marina. She noted a bony appearance, a weathered coat, and that her
right eye had a silver circular covering descending from the upper lid. The cat
wolfed the canned cat food as Marina watched just out of reach. The cat
shivered. Winter had already frozen the ground.
A flat box was delivered the next
day. Marina was not the only animal lover in the household. Her son, Josh, had
ordered an outdoor ho27 Wabi Sabiuse for outdoor cats online. She assembled a cat shelter
with tent-like walls that velcroed together and a roof that zippered on. Marina
fitted thick Styrofoam inside the walls and roof. The best part of the
nestinghouse, as she referred to it, was that it came with a heating pad inside
a cushion for the cat to rest upon. An insulated cord would be plugged into the
outlet in the garage.
The nestinghouse was placed atop two
stacked, slatted wooden frames to keep it from the damp ground. It looked like
a wrap-around porch. A round resin picnic table was positioned over it for
added protection. Food placed in the house enticed Honeybear inside. It didn’t
take long for her to discover the warmth provided. Marina sewed two wool
scarves into a circle wide enough to curve around the little cat’s body and
placed it on her warm bed. Success. Until it snowed.
Honeybear’s ears curled around the
edges. Marina’s husband, Pete, noticed
that the cat’s tail appeared to be frozen half way from the end. It was coated
with ice. Marina grabbed an old towel and plucked Honeybear out of the snow.
She seemed too cold and miserable to protest. Pete and Josh prepared the old
puppy training crate in the kitchen next to the radiator. Honeybear was placed
inside with all of the amenities.
She did not resist capture but set
to eating the cat food immediately. Marina made chicken soup with a chicken
neck, giblets, and herbs. She knew that parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme were
the musical equivalent of low-level antibiotics. Honeybear consumed three doses
over the next two days.
Marina placed her back outside when the
snowfall had melted and noticed a change. Honeybear’s agonized expression had
softened. Her eyes gazed at Marina with a calm aspect, no twisted brow, but now
a smooth furry feline face. She sat on her porch before disappearing to conduct
a perimeter check of her garden. Marina felt confident that she could bring
Honeybear indoors for a warm when the temperatures were freezing whenever
necessary.
The beneficial effect of practicing wabi
sabi is the satisfaction akin to joy when something old and worn is preserved,
and valued.
(490 words)
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