A Serenade To A Jerk

Chapter 12

Cat

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A man that hath friends, must shew himself friendly. ~Bible

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I woke this morning with the hair on the back of my neck still standing on end. I’m rip-roaringly mad at Jason. Yesterday, Jason came with Corey and me down to the cages to do the chores; once we were done, he walked into the volunteer building, saw Corey catch me, got mad, and walked off. I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out what the heck happened but it’s impossible. I have to go see if he can shed some light on the subject, but, I don’t want to go talk to him, particularly if he is still in a foul mood. I know! I‘ll go for a ride around the track to waste time. One of the few forms of exercise that I do is riding a bike which sounded good at this precise moment. I might even beat my record for the longest distance on the track- at least that might waste some time. I know it’s not like me to be in such a poor mood, but if I have to mess with people right now I‘m almost positive I’ll blow up in their face. 

I grabbed my bike and shoved it out the door of the garage and into the mid morning light. I hate being awake earlier than is absolutely necessary, but if I’m to get any alone time I have to get up early and go to sleep late. I hate when visitors come, not so much because they are visiting as that they inevitably get hired to “protect” me. As if I wasn’t a cat shifter, with the big claws, and the sharp teeth, and the good balance. Well... at least most of the time I have good balance.

I stepped onto the track and looked around. Good, no-one was there yet. I clambered onto my twenty-six inch wheel bike and pedaled furiously around the first bend of the track. At the straight I stop pedaling to catch my breath and glide through the second and third turns.

I love my bike. I can ride from one end of Chicago to the other as fast as most cars. I don’t even have to hitch a pull off of some random unsuspecting driver to get there faster. Which I remember the last time I got caught, I was doing that to a copper, Mom wouldn’t let me ride for a month. I still think that that was a little drastic, but what do you expect from your mother when you have to walk home ‘cause a copper impounded your bike? I have to admit though, that was the best pull I ever got, till it ended.

I pedaled through corners four and one and the straight, and was going a tad faster than the last round and had to steer wide to the outside of the third corner. As I was correcting my course I saw a young man laying on the ground. This sight gave me such a start that I fell off my bike and nearly bashed my head onto the concrete track. I pulled myself to my feet and traipsed through the tall wild grasses to find out who this fellow was. He was lying on his side, facing away from me, curled in a ball, as though afraid or injured. I began to hum a random song in case he was injured in order to forewarn him that there was someone coming. As it turned out I needn’t have worried; the young man was out cold. As I was about to roll the sleeping man over I felt a presence behind me.

 (Corey)

I awoke to the sounds and smells of an irritated cat Shifter. Mind you, this is not a favored way to wake up when you didn’t get to sleep until well past three in the morning. I dragged myself out of bed with my eyes still closed, heading for the in suite bathroom. By the sounds emanating from the hallway, I guessed that I had at least five minutes to wake up and make myself presentable before heading out to intercept Cat.

I bumbled into the bathroom and turned the water on. I finally pried my eyes open to look at the faux marble vanity; not bad-looking, to be honest. It had these weird groves cut into the surface. They paralleled the raised edges of the vanity and had a strange green tinge to them. Later, when I had time, I was going to have to figure out what was up with that. I hastily washed my face and ran out of the bathroom to my closet, grabbed the shirt and jeans I hung last night, shrugged into the shirt, and jumped into the jeans, fastening them on my way out the door.

“Cat!” I yelled, as I ran down the corridor toward the back door I heard close a few seconds ago. I knew it was useless to yell through the door but I felt the need to attempt to arrest her attention before she had gone far. I put on a burst of speed and burst through the door into the bright, early morning, sunshine I searched wildly till my eyes rested on her as she mounted her bicycle.