Commitments

He stood impatiently by the door with his hand on the knob.

“Ava! Are you coming or not?” His irritability could be heard seeping through his voice.

“Just getting my coat on, Lucas. You don’t have to be in such a rush.” Ava said from inside a closet around the corner from the front door.

“I don’t really want to be paying to heat the whole neighborhood, and Yancey is eying the door.”

“That old cat is always eying the door.” She said with extra emphasis on the word always.

Lucas tapped his foot loud enough for the next-door neighbors to hear, as he impatiently stared down the cat. Yancey was a rescue cat. Ava and Lucas had always wanted a larger family, but weren’t quite ready for a large commitment. So they went to the local animal shelter and looked around for a new family member.

The interesting thing about rescue animals, is you don’t so much pick them, as they pick you. One has no idea what criteria each animal has, but they size up each and every soul that comes in looking for companionship and know who deserves theirs, and who doesn’t.

Yancey had obviously has a very full early life. He was missing patches of fur on his right cheek and his left hind quarters. His right ear drooped much like a lop eared rabbit, and his left ear was split down the middle from tip to base. What was left of his fur was a black and grey striped pattern from nose to tail, cropped short against his body.

When Ava and Lucas entered the shelter Yancey was almost entirely upon them. Even despite their protests. They were looking for… well, a more “normal” cat, but Yancey wouldn’t let off them. So in the end, he was the cat that became part of their family. And they ended up being very happy for it, just not until after they hosed him down and gave him a proper bath.

Yancey was folded in a crescent next to an air duct on the floor. One could see his fur tufting in the light wind being expelled from the duct. The cat opened one eye lazily toward the slight opening in the door and curled up more looking to deflect the chill. There was no chance this cat was going to trade the warmth and happiness he had now for an autumn romp.

Why had they decided to do this, Lucas thought, as he felt the bite of cold wind on his skin tight denim jeans. It sounded like such a good idea months ago when they first talked about it, “let’s go out and walk in nature! We can get back to our roots.” I mean on the face it was a great idea. But now he was staring at Yancey and thinking, that warmth of the register did seem pretty nice.

“Do we have to go outside?” Lucas asked, a slight pleading in his voice.

“Yes, yes we do, we’ve been putting this off for months, and it’s time we start doing what we promise each other. Also, I’m already bundled up for this.” Ava said matter of factly.

They exited the house and left Yancey to enjoy the quiet and warmth of the morning.

-V-