The Mysteries of Harris Burdick Picture 2

 UNDER THE RUG

Nelvin sat in the living room next to the lamp. His oversized cardigan hung on his shoulders like the weight of all his missed opportunities. He wasn’t a fan of what had happened this afternoon. The ruckus and crowds were not his idea of a good day. The children were laughing and running around like a swarm of stampeding antelope. Who knew which direction they would turn on a whim and what destruction they would leave in their wake. He knew Alison had only invited him because she felt sorry for him. She always gawked at him when he spoke about living alone and enjoying the quiet evenings listening to the hall clock tick the hours by. It was as if she could not believe someone would actually find solitude and silence comfortable and welcoming. The only reason he had even agreed to go was to see that brilliant smile on her face. He son was turning three and she invited a few people from the office.

Nelvin now found himself trying to regain a sliver of peace before he began getting ready for bed. The clock was chiming 7 when he had finally gotten in the door. His glasses were smudged and his tuft of hair he had left was a fluffy mess. The kids had tried to sit on him and kept bringing him cars and blocks covered in snot and spit. Why had he even gone? He could have made any number of excuses. He realized it wouldn’t have mattered. She would barely have noticed if he had not shown up there was enough distraction around her.

The clock struck eight and he realized he had not even finished reading one page of his book. He had held it on his lap while his mind flitted from one thought to the next. He stood to his feet and set his book on the end table next to the coaster that carried a coffee ring that was so engrained that it would never scrub out. He gently pushed the corner of it so it was straight again. He pulled the cord on the lamp throwing the room into darkness. He had forgotten to turn the hall light on. He felt his way across the room and felt for the switch for the overhead light. When he turned it on there was a crash that jolted down his spine. He jumped around to find the end table on the ground. The lamp was toppled on its side but appeared otherwise unharmed. His book was strewn across the room, the bookmark that had been neatly nestled in the pages slid out onto the floor. How had that happened? How does a whole table keel over like that?

Nothing else seemed out of place as he crossed the room and began to right the table. He turned to grab the lamp off the floor and saw something scurry along the far wall. It was just a blur but he could tell it was something larger than a mouse. Had a raccoon gotten in the  house from the attic again. He had a problem four years ago where a group of them had chewed through a soft spot in the eves near the oak tree and made a nest in his insulation up there. He had never had one in his main house. He set the lamp on the table and tried the bulb. It lit up without a fuss. He grabbed the book off the floor and gently wiped it off as if the fall had caused a residue to settle on it. He flitted through the pages and gently set his bookmark in its place. The book was a good read. He had read it before many years ago. His memory would recall bits and pieces as he read. He usually didn’t reread novels. This was one recommended to him by Alison last week and he didn’t want to tell her he had already read it when she brought him her copy. He put it softly to his nose and breathed in. It just smelled like a book. Alison smelled like lilacs and soap in the office. She would lean across his desk to punch in numbers on his computer when they were trying to get the orders right. He was always mixing up digits. Words he was great with. Numbers on the other hand were a menace. She was always double checking his order forms before he submitted them. He would check her summaries for grammatical errors before she would send them off to the guys upstairs. It was their little safety net they had devised. His words, her numbers. She was about fifteen years his junior and he knew he didn’t really have a chance in hell. It was one of those opportunities he wanted to be ready for. He had so many others he missed in his past.

He set the book down coming back to the issue at hand. He turned and walked to the far corner where the blur had disappeared. There, cowering in the corner behind a wicker basket of old magazines was a grey ball of fur. It looked up as he approached and its green eyes grew large. He felt he could see right through its head to the wall behind. The eyes were like glass. He began to reach down when it let out a menacing hiss and struck the back of his hand. A sting like he had just been stabbed with razor sharp needles flashed up his arm all the way to his elbow. He jerked back. The cat was large. It’s fur fluffed out making him look even larger. Blood dripped slowly down the back of Nelvin’s hand.

Nelvin backed up and tried to think how he was going to get the cat out of his house. He didn’t have any food to try to entice it from its hiding place. Perhaps he could scare it out with a broom, but then it might attack him or cause more destruction. He already knew he couldn’t just pick it up. It was in no mood to be touched. He knew it was probably just scared and hadn’t meant to hurt anyone but he couldn’t just let it stay. Who knows what trouble it could get into left unattended in the house. Nelvin didn’t like pets. They were messy and just caused problems.

Maybe he should try calling someone. Someone who would know how to handle a cat. Maybe he could call Alison. He dismissed the thought as soon as it popped into his head. It was silly. He didn’t even have her number. He would have to call the on-call manager from work and ask for her number and the manager would want to know what he needed it for. He would then have to make something up about needing to switch his schedule around or something. It would all sound suspicious because Nelvin is not a good liar. He couldn’t tell the manager the truth either because he would get a laugh out of him and never hear the end of it at work. He was a grown man. He could take care of this himself. Alison would think he was ridiculous for calling her even if he could get her number. He decided to make his nightly cup of tea while he decided the next step to try. He went into the kitchen and filled his kettle. He set it on the stove and heard another ruckus back in the living room.

The cat had tried to climb up his bookshelf and managed to kick over half the books onto the floor. The cat sat perched at the top of the case like a vulture surveying the destruction. The cat stared at the books on the floor then slowly turned to stare at Nelvin and let out a soft mew. As if he was saying “Aren’t you going to clean this up?” Nelvin bent down warily, unsure if the cat was going to pounce with claws outstretched as soon as he got near enough. The cat stayed perched above him. It turned and seemed to be finding its footing as it turned in a complete circle and then lay down as it everything was right in the world again. Nelvin put the books in a couple piles and then began placing them on the right shelves once more. The cat watched him with one eye but Nelvin could hear its purr coming from its throat.

Once the last book was back on the shelf Nelvin heard his tea kettle whistling in the kitchen. He stood to his feet with some discomfort as his feet had begun falling asleep. He lumbered towards the kitchen trying to get the tingling in his toes to stop and his knees to bend right. He got his tea cup out of the cabinet. He poured the water into his cup and let his tea seep. He heard a thump from the other room. This time there was no crash. That was a relief. The cat came traipsing around the corner and peered into the doorway of the kitchen. It saw Nelvin and gave a soft meow as it rubbed against the door jam. “I don’t have anything for you. Maybe a little water would work.” Nelvin put his saucer down on the floor and poured some cool water in it. The cat ambled over and looked down at the saucer. It sniffed and looked up at Nelvin and meowed all the more. Obviously it thought water was beneath him. “Typical cat,” thought Nelvin. This was just another reason to not have a pet. They get a big head and begin thinking they run the house. Nelvin was not going to allow that in his own house. Nelvin sipped his tea and watched the cat. It alternated between circling the saucer mewing and looking up at Nelvin expectantly. Then it sprang at him and almost made him drop his tea cup. It landed on his lap and pushed up between his arm and chest. The cat rested his head just under Nelvin’s chin. “What is this?” Nelvin managed to get out while the cat pushed up rubbing his head against the stubble of his chin purring. “Get off me!” Nelvin stood up and the cat tumbled to the floor in a grey puddle. He didn’t run off like Nelvin expected. He sat there at his feet and began cleaning himself as if nothing had just occurred.

Nelvin had had enough. “Let’s go. You are going outside.” Nelvin marched to the back door and opened it. The cat marched behind him and stood in the doorway. Nelvin waited a moment and when it was obvious the cat was not going out on its own accord, Nelvin gently used his foot to scoot it out of the house. Once the cat was passed the threshold Nelvin quickly closed the door. “There’s that. Now to head to bed.” Nelvin scooped up his saucer off the floor and set it and his tea cup into the sink. He gave them a quick rinse and headed out to the hallway turning off the lights on his way.

Nelvin tossed and turned in his bed that night. He could not get to sleep. Around midnight he decided to try doing a word puzzle to clear his mind. He rolled over and flipped on his lamp. He grabbed his puzzle book and opened it to the first blank puzzle. Before too long he realized it wasn’t going to work. He flipped the light off and finally drifted off after some more jostling.

When he woke in the morning he realized he was still frazzled from yesterday’s events. He took a cold shower to help his mind focus and he pulled on his work polo and khaki pants. He was almost 50 and had been in the same company for almost 30 years. He had seen policies come and go and dress codes fluctuate. He once had a closet full of ties and button up shirts but about eight years ago they switched to polos and khakis. His closet now had about fifteen polos, some navy and some white. His badge hung on his key hook by the front door. He always put it there when he got home from the office. He was a creature of habit and did not function well when his routine was messed up. That is why he hadn’t slept well last night. His routine yesterday was so vastly out of whack.

Nelvin went to the kitchen and grabbed a banana from the counter and a travel mug from the cabinet. He filled his mug with coffee and headed to the front closet. He picked a steel blue cardigan and picked up his bag. He headed towards the door. He grabbed his keys and badge from off the hook on the wall. “Here is a new day to just be normal. Thank goodness.”

That evening as he ate his canned soup at the kitchen table alone he felt satisfied that today had gone as normal as could be expected. Nothing out of the ordinary happened and he was able to arrive at home before the clock had chimed six. His dinner was peaceful. The soup was adequate. It was nothing fancy but he had no use for fancy things. He washed up his dishes and headed to the living room to read a couple chapters in his book before he headed to bed.

His days continued as normally as he expected for the next couple weeks. He was satisfied that the anomalies of that one day had just been a fluke in a well oiled system. His excitement cota for the decade had been met in one swift jolt. He could look forward to a bland and steady future. The cat became a fanciful memory that would soon disappear completely. He finished the book Alison had lent him and he had begun another book. This one was a biographical account of an artist that Alison had mentioned to him. He had not heard of the artist before and wanted to have something to discuss with Alison. Nelvin was not into art really. It seemed like a waste of time and space. Nonetheless, there was something about the way Alison’s eyes lit up when she spoke about this artist that had Nelvin checking out his biography from the library and sitting in his living room reading every word. He could hear the song of Alison’s laughter when he told her about the meaning behind the clown painting. The way she turned her head to the side and had a little wrinkle by the corner of her lips. It had been drawn for his mother-in-law as a joke  on his wedding day. Alison had laughed. She thought I had made it up. She looked it up on her lunch break and came to tell me it was true. I couldn’t wait to find out more so I could have something else to amaze her with. She was the color in my otherwise grey and ordinary life.

Another Thursday came around. He remembered it was on a Thursday because it was Alison’s day off. His day at work had been very ordinary. He didn’t talk to anyone. No one else in the office went out of their way to talk to him like Alison did. He didn’t mind. No one else in the office was interesting to him. They all were ordinary, like him. He got home after the clock had chimed 6. It wasn’t unusual. It just meant traffic was heavy like it is some days. He ate his dinner alone as usual and when he finished he tidied the kitchen like usual and prepared to read his book. When he got to the living room something was wrong. There was a lump under the rug. He got closer to inspect it and it began to move. He started at first grabbing a wooden chair he kept by the bookcase. He raised it over his head as if he were going to strike the lump. Then his mind cleared and he set the chair down. There was no need to panic. Something had obviously gotten into his house from somewhere. First the cat and now this. Maybe they had used the same entry point. The lump had been still for a few moments so Nelvin got closer and reached down trying to grasp whatever it was through the rug. The thing wriggled in his grasp and twisted its way free. It moved to the edge of the carpet disappearing under the couch. He didn’t want to deal with it right now. He went to the front door and opened it. He hoped whatever it was would wander back outside. However as he held the door open bugs swarmed in so he once again shut the door. Whatever it was had gotten in somehow it would be able to find its way out. He wasn’t going to search the whole exterior of the house to find its entry point right now. It was dark out and he had a day off coming up when he could devote his energies better to the endeavor. He sat down and tried to read the last chapter of his book. He couldn’t focus but still somehow made it through before the clock chimed eight and he went to get his tea. The living room had been silent except for his own breathing and the turning of his pages. He felt as though the incident was passed and he would be able to finish his night in peace.

That night Nelvin woke from a deep sleep. Something had woken him. What was it? He sat up and checked his clock. It was one in the morning. Then he heard something and knew that had been it. He grabbed a flashlight and headed to the living room. As he rounded the corner he saw two green eyes shining through the darkness. He had seen those eyes before. That darn cat! The cat was once again on the top of the book case. It had managed to knock over the wooden chair and several books on its way up. Nelvin turned the overhead light on and surveyed the mess. The cat had knocked the lamp off the end table and scattered toilet paper from the bathroom all across the living room. It looked like a drunken party had happened and Nelvin was not invited. He didn’t even want to deal with this in the moment so he seriously contemplated turning off the light and just going back to bed but he knew he would be rushing around in the morning trying to get it all back to normal. So he straightened it up. The clock had not chimed 2 yet but Nelvin didn’t have to look at it to know it would be chiming very soon.

He didn’t try to get the cat down. He would have to deal with that tomorrow. Surely once the sun was up he would want to get outside to find some food anyway.

Nelvin went back to bed. In the morning the cat was nowhere to be seen. Nelvin looked for it as he went about his morning but when it was time to leave for work and the cat had still not been seen he figured it was back outside however it had gotten in. He would figure it out on the weekend while he was off work.

Alison wasn’t at work. It wasn’t her day off so it struck Nelvin as unusual. He hoped she was okay but he didn’t have a number to check on her. He thought about asking in HR but knew it was none of his business. He tried to listen to the coworkers around his desk to see if anyone mentioned her absence but no one did. Alison didn’t like to miss work. She was like Nelvin in that way. It was one thing he admired about her. One of the many things. She was supposed to be in tomorrow for the weekend crew so Nelvin left a sticky note on her computer that just had a smiley face on it with his initials. He knew she would appreciate the small gesture. He thought about putting his phone number down too but decided against it. He didn’t want to seem like he was trying to hit on her like some office creep.

The next morning Nelvin woke up like usual. It was his day off. He climbed out of bed and slipped on a t-shirt and jeans instead of his polo and khakis. He walked out of his room and stopped in his tracks. There was the cat just laying on his welcome mat at the end of the hall as if it had not a care in the world. The green eyes gazed into his as if daring Nelvin to make him move. Nelvin sighed and ignored the cat. He wanted to eat breakfast and have some coffee before dealing with the issue of the cat.

During his breakfast the cat came into the kitchen and rubbed up on Nelvin’s legs purring and meowing. “I am not going to feed you no matter how much you try to butter me up.” Nelvin cleaned his dishes and rummaged through the drawers until he found the key to his garden shed, a screw driver, flashlight and roll of duct tape. Nelvin headed out the back door to the shed. Once it was unlocked he grabbed the ladder and a rope. He went to the house again and began inspecting the crawl space at the base of his house. HE didn’t want to get under there unless he had to. He didn’t see any obvious signs of an entry point. He thought about trying to get the cat outside and then following it to see where it went. Maybe it would lead him to the place it has been using to gain access to the house, but he remembered the scratch from that first day with the cat and was not too keen on a redo. Maybe he could slide it out like that first night.

Nelvin went back inside and found the cat sitting in the middle of the table. A perfectly good place for a cat. “Get down.” The cat just looked at him. He grabbed a spatula and gently nudged the cat off the edge of the table. The cat shook his head but then just walked to the counter. Before it could jump up there Nelvin again used the spatula to guide the cat to the door. Once the door was opened the cat stood in the doorway for a few moments before going out on his own accord. Nelvin sighed in relief. He closed the door and watched through the window to see where the cat went. He saw it sleank around the corner of the house. He didn’t want to loose him so he opened the door to follow from a short distance. He got to the corner of the house and saw the cat jump up onto the oak tree. Was the hole in his attic again like with the raccoons.

The cat crawled along the oaks branches until it reached the eaves of the roof. It leaped lightly from the branch with what looked like no effort and landed on the roof. Nelvin couldn’t see from there without climbing the ladder. He got it set up as quickly as he could but by the time he had climbed halfway up he saw the cat jumping back down onto a window ledge. Nelvin got off the ladder and watched the cat. It sat perfectly content and began to groom himself. Nelvin waited for a good five minutes before starting to go back inside. The cat didn’t want to be followed. As he began to turn away the cat jumped off the window sill and crept behind the hedge that sat under the front window next to the porch. Nelvin silently stepped over and crouched low to see under the greenery. He was able to see the tail of the cat disappear under the house. Just at the edge of the porch. He was going to have to go into the crawl space.

Nelvin hated small spaces. He hated dirt and grime. The crawl space was all of that mixed with the claustrophobic dankness of the moist earth without sunlight. He grabbed the flashlight and a garbage bag. He laid the garbage bag down and tried to lay on top of it as he wedged himself between the porch and the hedge. He started to pul himself under the house. The light from the flashlight danced around as he reached farther into the space. When he got to the point he had seen the tail disappear he rolled to his back to look up at the underside of his home. At first he didn’t see anything. Then he saw a little grey head with green eyes staring back at him. The cat was perched on a branch of the duct work. He followed the line and saw where the seam had split. The crack was not large but it wouldn’t take much to allow a small animal through. As he had forgotten his tape out by the back door. He was going to have to come back and fix this later.

He got himself out of the crawl space and as he stood up he realized he was covered in mud despite trying to keep the garbage bag between him and the earth. He stomped his feet trying to shake off any of the loose bits and headed towards the back door. His phone was ringing inside. Despite the mud clinging to his shoes he ran in and grabbed the phone off the counter. “Nelvin speaking….yes…. Ok… Let me get cleaned up and I will be right there…” It was the office. Nelvin listened as he watched the cat slink in from the living room and hop up on the dinning chair. Alison hadn’t shown up today. She hadn’t even give the decency of a call-in. They were going to fire her for this. Nelvin was speechless as he hung up the phone. They needed someone to cover. It wasn’t his weekend. He wasn’t even the first on the call list. But they knew he would come in. He didn’t have anything else going on. Every one in the office knew he lived alone and that he didn’t like making plans. He went to his room and took a shower. He put on his navy polo and khaki pants and headed to the hall closet to grab his grey cardigan and work bag. His keys and badge were by the door. Just like they always were. It was just like any ordinary day. Except for Alison and the cat.

He got home from work around 3. The clock didn’t chime so it must have chimed before he got to the door. Saturday shift was short and it was overtime for Nelvin so they didn’t want him to stick around too long today. He had finished up some work left over from the past week and answered the phone calls and signed for packages. The usual Saturday shift work things. He had asked the weekend manager if anyone had checked in on Alison. He said there had been no answer when they tried. He was glad someone had at least tried. People like to know they were missed. It helps them know they actually mean something. The smiley face sticky note was still stuck to Alison’s computer screen where Nelvin had left it on Friday. It smiled at him. He couldn’t smile back. He hoped Alison was okay.

He changed out of his work clothes and back into jeans and t-shirt. The cat had not been around when he got home so he figured it was a good time to try to seal up the duct. He went out the back door and picked up the tape and flashlight on his way to the porch. He wedged himself back under the house and rolled onto his back to face the breach in the duct system. He pressed the seam back together to examine the damage. The pieces seemed to fit back together just fine. He dropped his hands and reached for the roll of tape. He tore off 3 good size strips and readied himself to seal the gap. With one hand hold the duct together he used the other hand to slap the tape along the crack. Once the pieces were in place he took three more smaller pieces of tape and stuck them on like stitches just for good measure. This was all temporary. He knew he would have to get someone out to actually repair or replace the duct before the seasons changed. The tape wouldn't last for long.

Nelvin turned back to his belly to scoot out of the crawl space and found himself face to face with the cat. It looked at the duct and back at him and mewed. "Sorry buddy. You will have to find a new place to encroach upon. Have a good day." With that Nelvin left the crawl space and stomped the cobwebs and loose dirt from himself. He felt like he had at least accomplished something. Now to clean up and relax for a little while.

As he stepped back into the house after locking the garden shed he couldn't help shaking a twinge of sadness. Was it for the cat or for Alison? He wasn't sure. They would be okay. All of them.

When Monday came around Nelvin had gotten back into his usual routine of ordinary and normal. No more cat to disrupt his day. His living room had stayed in one piece with everything in its place for a whole day. Nelvin headed to work like he always had. 

Work began as usual. Alison's desk sat empty. Some coworkers grumbled about having to do her work. No one seemed to wonder what had happened to her. She had been faithful to the company for ten years. She had come into work throughout her pregnancy and throughout her divorce. She came to work even when she had been up all night with a new baby. The only time she took off was the six weeks she spent recovering from her son’s birth. Even then she was calling in to check on the temp employee and ensuring he wasn’t leaving anything half done. She was meticulous and hated not being there to just do it all herself. No one even questioned her not showing up out of the blue. Perhaps it was different with the management who had watched her like he had. Maybe it was just down here in the pit where most people were just passing through. The majority of the employees in this room were here passing through. Getting a check mark on their resume in order to move onto something bigger and better. Nelvin had been offered promotions. He turned them down. He wasn’t here to climb a ladder. He had acted as a trainer for new employees who often rose above him within a couple years. He didn’t mind. He had heard the whispers of what they called him. He ignored them. He liked coming in and doing what he always had done. He was able to leave work and not have to think about it. He had no responsibilities for the company outside of their door. He clocked in and clocked out. The salary employees were always on the clock. Any problems meant they had to deal with them even on their off days. He did not envy that responsibility.

Nelvin knew someone would be in charge of clearing out Alison’s desk in the next couple days if she couldn’t be contacted. They would box up her personal items and distribute the companies items or put them in the supply room. Nelvin went to the manager. He wanted to be the one to do it when it came time. He was the only one who would respect her stuff like she deserved. The manager looked up as he walked in. Nodded his head as Nelvin requested to be the one to clear her desk if it came down to it. The manager told him they were still giving it a little time. There was no rush during the off season for the company. He wanted to give her a chance to make contact so she could do it herself. But, if it was still there by the end of the week Nelvin could pack it up. Nelvin left the office. The manager didn’t even know what was going on. He would have had clearer instructions if he knew the circumstances around Alison’s disappearance.

Every day that week Nelvin stared at Alisons desk as he sat at his. The smiley face sticky note stayed fast to her monitor. The goofy grin filled Nelvin with dread. Every evening he would come home to the cat sitting on his porch waiting for him and the clock chiming 6 as he opened his door. 

Friday when he came in a box was on his desk and a note said a currier would pick it up at five from the front desk. Nelvin packed up her stuff almost reverently. The stapler she had bought herself in a bright purple. He remembered when she had brought it in after her first couple weeks at the company. She said she needed more color in the drab office is she was going to survive there. She continued to bring color to Nelvin’s grey world ever since. The picture of her son that sat in a plastic yellow frame on her desk beside her mousepad. The vase she always put new false flowers in each month matching the changing seasons or her mood. She had a silly grinning moose that sat on the top of her monitor. He wasn’t sure where it was from. He had never asked. But it always sat front and center while she worked. He began opening the drawers in her desk and emptied the contents into two piles: personal property and company property. A book lay in her desk. It was a thriller. Nelvin had recommended it after she had mentioned liking a similar author. He was a little surprised she had actually taken his advice. He put the book in the personal property pile. There were a few scribbled drawings from her son. He put them neatly in a folder so they would not get bent and laid them in the personal pile. 

When he had finished he packed up the personal items in the box. The smiley face sticky note looked up at him with the unchanging grin. He knew reached in and picked it up. He quickly wrote his phone number across the bottom and “call me when you can”.  He remembered all the chances he had let slide and missed. The endless conversations they had at work and the way they usually ended there. The time she had gone out of her way and invited him out after work and he turned her down. The time he had been invited to her son’s birthday and he had accepted the invite to his surprise but then sat in the corner the whole time hoping to stay out of anyone’s line of sight. He knew if he didn’t act and write down his number on that grinning sticky-note he would loose his chance for good. She was not going to come back into his life any other way. And he knew the light she brought to his grey life was something he despretly needed.

Nelvin took the box to the front desk as soon as he had finished taping it closed. The rest of the day when by as usual. The empty void of Alison's work area a constant reminder of her absence. Someone else would fill it before the month ended. Nelvin would train them with mentally gritted teeth and a pasted smile on his face. He met new employees with trepidation. They often barely make it through the probationary period before being let go or quiting. Often the ones he finds half-way bearable are promoted and out of his office within their first year. Alison was the rare one who stayed. He wasn't sure why she never worked herself up the office ladder she was content to stay at her little corner desk. It was one thing that kept him coming in every day, he realized she was the glimmer of joy in his week that pushed him to not disappear, melting into the blandness around him.

He got home just before six. The cat greeted him on the porch just like every day. He hadn't fed it and didn't know how it was managing to look just as plump as it had always appeared. He also didn't understand why it had picked him and his porch to call his.  He went inside and put his things away, leaving the cat to stare at the closed door.

When he went into the kitchen the cat was at the window sill watching him still. He would mew every once in awhile to ensure Nelvin knew he was still there. The cat finally left while Nelvin was washing the dishes from the day. Nelvin went into the quiet living room to read his book. Everything was in its rightful place.

The changes took place slowly. The desk at work was filled. Three new employees came through , one at a time. The first was a young lady who looked to be just out of college. She was fresh faced and a talker. She lasted two days before telling management she had a better offer for a company she actually wanted to work for. The second was a middle-aged man with little regard for self-hygiene. He was good with numbers but not very likeable. It might have been a good fit, from Nelvin's point of view, if it weren't for the excessive burping and slurping coming from his desk. Management let him go after a couple weeks. They didn't give a reason to anyone but the man. It was none of Nelvin's business anyway. Now Ben, a young man with a protein shake, sat in her spot. His desk well organized and his appearance clean. He was well spoken and quiet for the most part. He excelled at taking instruction and learned the programs quickly. If Nelvin had to pick one fault it would be the shaker bottle he carried around with him. He would shake it absentmindedly while thinking or sometimes for seemingly no reason. The clank-clank of the mixer ball would sound through the room. Sometimes quick and sometimes just a slow "clunk-thunk" depending on how deep in thought he was. It wasn't too distracting but it was one flaw in an otherwise great worker. He wore a wedding band on his left hand and a photo of a lovely lady adorned the otherwise clear desk space above the mouse pad. He had been contentedly filling the void left by Alison for two months. Nelvin thought Ben might actually make the cut.

Nelvin missed Alison still. He hadn't heard anything from her and hoped she was alright but he couldn't keep dwelling in that spot when the world around him continued to move forward and onward. She didn't owe him anything and he didn't owe her. It didn't mean he was ready to forget her and rid his mind of any thought of her. She had meant something to him. He couldn't deny that. Something about her sparked him to want to bring a sliver of joy to someone else. He had always only cared about himself and his little world of perfect normalcy. She brought a light of spontaneity: the little coffee break whispers, the sticky notes on each others' monitors, the book recommendations, the inside jokes, and the laughter he hadn't realized he was missing.

As the days and months wore on he realized he needed to find a way to bring himself that brightness now that she was no longer around. He needed someway to not fade away into the background completely like he always had before she had arrived. He wasn't sure where to begin.

When he got to his door on one particular Wednesday he saw the cat. Its eyes just as bright as they had always been. Normally Nelvin ignored him as he entered into the house. Something stopped him on this day. He looked at the cat. He watched as his tail twitched slightly and he looked unphased by Nelvin's gaze. Nelvin took a set back and walked back to his car. He returned about ten minutes later. He carried a plastic sack and a bag of cat food. Nelvin set the cat food down and pulled a small dish from the sack. He gave the cat some food and watched to see how the cat would respond. The cat looked at Nelvin. He looked at the bag of food. The cat walked slowly to the dish and sniffed. He lowered to his haunches and slowly set to eating. Nelvin took his work bag off his shoulder and set it gently on the ground by the door. He put his key into the pocket of his cardigan and he slowly took a step and lowered himself into the whicker chair that had always set on his porch. He hardly ever sat on the porch. There was no reason to. He had perfectly good seats inside. Today he just wanted to pause and take a deeper breath. He leaned back. The cat didn't move from its food. Nelvin closed his eyes and sighed deeply. He breathed in the air taking in all of the world around him: the fragrance of lilacs in his neighbors garden, the sound of a bird twittering across the street. the mower a few houses down grinding to life. When he finally opened his eyes he saw the cat was at his feet intently watching him. With a quick spring it was up in his lap purring. Nelvin didn't react. The cat made a slow single turn around his lap and lay down. Nelvin felt the cat settle in as if he always had belonged there. Nelvin slowly lowered his hand onto the cat's head. The cat nuzzled up to him.

He heard the phone ringing inside. He told himself if it was important they would leave a message or call back. The phone stopped ringing. He sat petting the cat for a long while. They were two loners who had finally found each other. Maybe that would be enough for now. As the sun began sinking and the sky changed from pale blues to oranges and pinks, the cat perked up and jumped off Nelvin’s lap. Nelvin stood and stretched for a moment before bending down to pick up his work bag. He unlocked his front door and held it open for the cat to enter. At first the cat watched Nelvin and warily peered at the open door. Then when Nelvin nodded and said “Let’s go,” he stepped inside. Nelvin followed and closed the door.

The phone rang again. Nelvin went to answer it, “Nelvin speaking…” He almost dropped the phone, “Hi Alison. It is so good to hear your voice.”