Graham refused to take much interest in Leroy, until one wet Saturday when Leroy sidled up to him with a book in his hand.‘Will you read me a story?’ he asked.
‘Ask Angie,’ Graham said.
‘She’s getting lunch,’ said Leroy, and stood looking at Graham beguilingly. ‘Please.’
I decided to get in on the act and jumped onto Graham’s lap to soften the hard shell he was trying to maintain. A stare from my golden eyes and a silent meow soon had him sighing and reluctantly taking the book. ‘Aren’t you a bit old to have stories read to you?’
Leroy looked disappointed.‘But I like your voice,’ he said. ‘It makes the story come real and Timba wants a story too, don’t you, Timba?’
Graham gave in and started to read with Leroy sitting on the arm of the chair, his eyes wide and inquisitive, and me purring on his lap. It soon became obvious that Graham was enjoying it as much as Leroy. Even Vati wanted to be part of it, and he draped himself over Graham’s shoulder from where he could see the pictures in the book and feel the rumble of Graham’s voice.
I sensed the angels, and basked in the warm, smooth glow they were building around us, binding us together, wanting us to be a family. But Graham was still harbouring that secret in his eyes, and when I stared into them it was a shadow dancing, waiting for its time.
On another Saturday, Vati and I were sitting in the sun on the hot stony slabs beside the pond. Vati was completely absorbed by something. Now and again he twitched his tail and stretched his neck, as if whatever he was watching had moved.
‘What are you looking at?’ I asked.
Vati ignored me. He was too intent. So I moved round and peeped at his eyes. They glinted green with a mystic sparkle which I loved to see. Vati seemed to be twice as alive as me.
‘I’m witnessing a struggle,’ he said. Following his gaze I saw an ugly, crusty-looking creature clinging to a reed. It seemed to be stuck with its head in some kind of tight casing, its sectioned body arched, straining to free itself. It had a rhythm of struggling and resting, struggling and resting, and nothing much changed. I got bored watching it, but Vati didn’t. ‘I’m tuning in to this being,’ he said. ‘It’s desperate to fly free before the sun goes down. I think it’s going to be beautiful, and I want to give it to Graham to show how much I love him.’
‘What you looking at, Timba?’ Leroy sat himself down next to us. He’d learned from Angie and the horses that he had to approach animals quietly, not at full throttle, so when he arrived, neither of us moved. I did grant him a muted purr-meow and a sidelong cat smile.
His self-control vanished when he saw the creature heave and twitch to escape from its shell. Leroy jumped to his feet and pounded towards the house.‘Angie! ANGIE … quick, there’s a THING in the pond,’ he shouted.
‘It won’t be there much longer if you shout like that,’ Angie said as she emerged, drying her hands on her jeans.
‘Quick … quick! It might be an ALIEN,’ whispered Leroy, and the garden rang with Angie’s laughter.
‘Don’t touch it,’ she said firmly.
I sensed that Angie was stressed, despite the laughter. Earlier, she and Graham had been arguing about why he was always home late. As soon as the car turned in and Leroy’s ‘social worker’ brought him to the door, the argument had stopped and hung in the air like a hostile rain cloud. Nothing had been resolved, and I’d done my best, walking to and fro between them, trying to coax a spark of forgiveness. When Leroy came, Graham spoke to him briefly, thentook his laptop to the music room. Angie pasted on a smile and pretended she was happy.
We cats see it all.
The four of us sat watching‘the thing’ still struggling on the reed. A beam of sunlight touched the curve of its scaly body with a glint of brightest blue. It heaved, then stopped and kept still.
‘Is it dead?’ Leroy whispered.
‘Probably not,’ said Angie.
Leroy started to take his shoes off.‘I’m gonna paddle in there and help it get out.’
‘NO!’ Angie looked fierce enough to make Leroy freeze with one shoe in his hand.
‘Why not?’ he asked.
‘Because … it’s the struggle that makes it strong,’ Angie said, and as she spoke the creature gave a final heave and the rest of its body popped out and straightened into a tail of iridescent turquoise. Two glistening wings slowly spread out to dry in the sun. Leroy gasped. ‘A dragonfly! It’s massive.’
The dragonfly turned its complex eyes and looked at us with luminous wisdom.
‘Hello, dragonfly,’ said Leroy. His smile beamed round the garden and his aura flared with light. ‘Can you fly now?’
I meowed to encourage the beautiful creature, and Vati’s eyes flashed green in the sun, the tip of his tail twitching. But Angie looked unexpectedly sad. I ran to her and rubbed myself against her. In the deep heart of her mind a pain was rising. I could feel its unstoppable power.
Something was wrong with Angie.
‘You stay and watch it fly away,’ she said quietly to Leroy. ‘But don’t touch it. Promise?’