Not a Loser -- Flash Fiction

image from animalia-life.com

“Wake up, dear lady.” He touched each of her eyelids.

She batted him away.

He dodged her open palm and touched her nose with his. “It’s breakfast time.”

She covered her head with a pillow.

“You’re not a loser,” he murmured.

“A loser?” She struggled to the surface of consciousness, shoving the bed clothes aside and him with them.

He sat on the floor, his tail wrapped neatly around his feet. “No, dear lady. You are not a loser. At least, you don’t have to be.”

She put on her glasses to see him more clearly.

“The cat is talking.” She shuffled toward the bathroom. “Cats don’t talk.”

“It is breakfast time,” he said quietly, insistently, and clearly. He followed her into the bathroom. Then into the kitchen.

“Cats don’t talk,” she mumbled and hit the start button on the coffee maker. She popped open a can of cat food and dumped it into his bowl.

He wound around her feet. In and out, humming his approval.

Coffee cup in hand, she pushed the start button on her laptop. He jumped to her desk, walking between her and the computer, caressing his back with her chin. She blocked him from the laptop and entered her password. He turned his back and sat an inch away from her left elbow. She knew she was being ignored.

“Just because you live here alone with me, doesn’t mean you’re a loser.”

“Of course, I’m not a loser.” She pushed him off the desk. “I’m a writer. And cats can’t talk. Leave me alone.”

In one smooth movement he bounded back to the desk top and sat flicking the tip of his tail. He looked at her screen.

“Playing solitaire isn’t writing.”

“And what I do isn’t your business,” she hissed.

“Yes,” he said. “It is. You’re my lady and when you’re not happy, it is my business.”

“I look at that screen and nothing comes,” she said. “I’ve lost the words.”

He slipped into her lap and gently touched her chin with his paw.

She stroked him, a tear sliding silently down her cheek. She reached across him to her keyboard while he settled into a rather big ball and closed his eyes.

“You’re not a loser,” he purred.