Ornette does not look too happy. This is obvious and it makes us unhappy. He has always been a raucous rebel rouser. He started losing weight so we took him to the vet but without a battery of tests the checkup was inconclusive and the likely problems would all require invasive costly procedures. He just had his twelfth birthday and it’s the end of the line for this little guy.
He used to demand to go out in the morning and I’d watch him march across the street to make his rounds. Now he sits in the sun rather than relentlessly tracking down anything that moves. His left eye is clouding up and he has new spots on his nose. He’s all bones and getting wobbly, a long ways from his cocky sway. We used to have a hell of a time getting him in at night but now I just walk out to his favorite spot and pick him up. Yet he still purrs when I sling him over my shoulder.
Our ninety year old next door neighbor told us he was just waiting to join his wife who died about five years ago. He says he doesn’t understand why he’s still here. A former dentist, he showed me his two front teeth. He had just glued them together with Ducco cement. I was trying to imagine what the fumes were like. They were stuck together all right but he could wiggle them both in unison.
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