Writer's Blog

I thought I’d write some short fiction in my blogs to change things up since I’m not very good at gabbing about myself…

“Feeding The Cats”

Felicia Carde bought 6 tins of cat food every day ever since her husband ran off with another woman. Chicken, beef tenders, and fish. The cats loved them all. She wasn’t a typical ‘cat lady’ though. She was quite active in the community working in the soup kitchen, volunteering at the library, and even a substitute teacher at the middle school. But at home it was just her and the cats.

It was amazing how she blossomed after he left. She hardly ever came out before that and always answered the door with a broken smile and reluctant welcome. Dotty Moore noticed the change first after Andy left. Felicia sheepishly appeared at the Episcopal church one Sunday and sat in the back. She hadn’t gone basically since she got married and Dotty was delighted to see her return. After a few weeks she was bringing food and cleaning up at social events. She wasn’t easy to get near but that would change as time passed. She and Dotty grew up together and their friendship ended at Felicia’s marriage.

“Well, I for one am glad the man is gone!” Margot Dutchmann declared to her concert series steering committee. “I knew he abused her. That’s why she never came out of the house,” she added confidentially with head bowed and her hands for emphasis. “It’s what I heard.”

“Something strange went on, that’s for sure. I mean for her to change so radically after he left.” Christine Adoram declared. “He was always so nice. But he wouldn’t let her out of his sight

“To think of the poor woman who has him now,” Barbara Fisch said sadly. “They prey on that type, you know.”

There was a gentle tut tutting and the subject returned to business.

They were right. Felicia had a world of hurt from her husband Andy. From the day they said I do he was suddenly a changed man. No longer the gentle doting soul of their courtship, he became suspicious, mean and niggardly, totally controlling her life and thoughts. She couldn’t do anything to please herself and less to please him. He came home from work with a litany of complaints and demands. He rarely used physical abuse but had her emotionally drained, confused and soul sick. He would eat his dinner, serve up several loud harsh complaints and then go down to his man cave where he “could finally get some peace”. But before he went, he would give her a list of pointless jobs to get done and check that she had done them perfectly before she could go to bed.

Poor Felicia spent eight years under this regime. Eight years where she was cut off from all contact with her friends and family. She stopped socializing altogether and finally only ran his errands. No one wanted to come into that house, not even her mother who was heartbroken. She didn’t recognize herself in the mirror any more. Dark rings around bleary eyes, sagging cheeks, growing soft and fat, and a wince whenever someone raised their voice.

“Dammit, woman! This soup is cold. This meat is tough. The house is filthy. You are pathetic. All with such raging hostility that she couldn’t abate with food, compliments, or good work. 

But the outside world knew a different Andrew Carde. He was gentle and generous. He listened and helped his co-workers. He couldn’t say enough about how wonderful Felicia was and so lucky that she loved him. By the end of eight years Felicia was a rag of a human being and Andrew was the picture of health and human kindness. It was no wonder he disappeared. Who would want such a wretched woman when there were so many succulent females cooing around him like moths.

The women in the school administration were glad she got cats because it gave her something to care for after he left. At first she described some of his behavior but people didn’t believe it. They couldn’t imagine that of Andy. No need to tarnish his good reputation in town. He was not her problem anymore and she was glad to be rid of his constant nagging and yelling. With changed locks and the passage of time things consistently got better.

“That can’t be the same man, Felicia. He used to drop in with his pickup and help me move appliances.”

Felicia didn’t know they owned a truck.

“I agree,” said another. Andy was the salt of the Earth. He played Santa and donated five hundred dollars to the office Christmas fund.”

Felicia was given a power cleaner for Christmas and warned not to break it. She soon dropped the subject of Andy altogether.

“Where are your cats?” George Deacon asked at one of her delicious dinner parties. “They never seem to be around.”

“I shut them in Andy’s old den when people come over,” Felucia explained. “Some have allergies and others may not like to go home covered in hair.”

“Thoughtful of you,” Sarandra remarked. “I do the same with my dogs.”

After the party broke up, Felicia picked up the mess and loaded the dishwasher. With everything cleaned up she started opening the two evening tins of cat food with a dish of water and laid them out on a tray to take down. Andy’s old den was the perfect place for litter boxes and for bathing them. Andy had installed a toilet and sink so he could have complete privacy from ‘the wife’. She had installed a small cat door at the bottom of the den door along with a few other conveniences.

She liked living alone.But she was attracted to Stuart, the social worker who was at her party that night, and it bothered her. He seemed genuinely kind and flattering, possibly even flirting with her. But she had seen that before and couldn’t trust that it was real. That scumbag of a husband had created such doubt and fear in her that she may never be able to get close to a man again. Put it from your thoughts, she said to herself, time will tell if things can change.

At the bottom of the stairs she laid down the tray and unlatched the cat door. Placing the first tin at the opening she called “Here kitty, kitty, kitty…”

A few moments later a man’s hand reached through the small door and took the tin.

“Good, kitty,” she said as she set the next one down. “If you gobble it all up quietly I’ll put the power on your TV for an hour tonight.”

“Thank you,” he grunted weakly. 

“No need to thank me,” she said and set a timed power switch on the wall for one hour. “After all, a marriage is made up of compromises, n’est pas?”