Todd

The water drops falling on our head made Todd shudder and I could feel it reverberate through our thin body. I could feel that he hated to be wet, but the storm had come up so quickly, there had been no way to avoid the rain. If it had only been human observation that cats hated water, I could now attest to it as fact. I could sense his unhappiness. I’ve never been a cat person, but my sympathy for them was growing the more time that Todd and I shared together.

I had come to share this small gray colored cat’s body after I had been forced out of my own by a 200 year old dead pervert named Calvin Jacobs. It was my unfortunate luck that he had taken a shine to me when a local psychic had summoned his sorry ass during a séance.

I’ve tried countless times to remember what happened once Calvin had totally consumed my body. I just can’t. There was darkness haunted by his laugh, then silence. When sounds had returned, it was that of Todd and his incessant purring.

He must have been sleeping in the garden area outside of the hospital is the only thing I can figure and he was the most open target my spirit could find. Now here I am stuck in a body of a creature that couldn't understand me even if he could hear me and all I get to see is darkness and an occasional image. Ok, so I should say here that I don’t always see anything, but most of the time just sense or know things. I’m still trying to figure out this whole sharing a body deal.

When Calvin was the unwanted guest in my body he would send me images, and he could talk to me, I’m guessing by thoughts. I could always feel him poking around in my mind. I have no idea how to do any of that and the screaming I try to do at Todd never seems to lead anywhere. I guess even in spirit form there is no breaching the human/feline speech barrier.  I don’t think he even knows that I am here.

Todd Shuddered again. He was cold and hungry. We were hunkered down in a dilapidated shed along side one of the older homes in downtown Charleston. I only knew this, from the blurred images that Todd’s brain sent out. Do cat’s have thoughts, or is it just visual cues and instincts? Damned if I know. The images that I do get are so random and blurred. Maybe there is something wrong with Todd’s eyes or vision.

Just as if on cue, a blurry image of a dirty white mouse flashed into my consciousness. I felt Todd move. I felt as his muscles tensed and he prepared to spring. He’s so small, but when it’s a matter of survival this little kitty could move!

Todd leapt and clenched the mouse in his mouth. I couldn’t see the creature, but I could feel the life drain from it and into Todd and my shared body. I guess I should feel grossed out, but it was slightly exciting in a very primal way.

Once the feast was over, Todd resumed his restful state in our temporary shelter. The purring resumed now that he had satisfied his hunger somewhat. That damn purring. I’ll never understand how some people find it relaxing. I think it just sounds like an idling engine that never runs out of gas. Was it still raining? We didn’t feel as cold, or as wet. “Come one Todd, let’s get out of here! Is it still raining?”  I said – well thought – I Still have no idea how to verbalize anything. Anyway, I am pretty sure that I’m just wasting my energy. I’m sure that there has to be a way to communicate with him, I just need to figure out how.

I focused on the tree that I used to sit under outside of the hospital. It was a beautiful dogwood and when in bloom the flowers were a brilliant white. To me it was so pure and beautiful. I took every ounce of strength in whatever form of being I am and thought of that tree. I felt the energy as it spread out of the center of me. Beginning to expand inside of Todd. I felt Todd shift from the laying position, where he had been licking his paws, and stand. His felling bounced back at me, he felt confused. I brought my energy back to the tree. I could see it clearly, and then Todd was moving. Images of random trees flashed into my vision. Holy Shit! He was searching for the tree! For my Tree! I’m sure he has no idea why he feels compelled to seek it out, but he was!

I smiled and mentally relaxed a bit, keeping the tree in the front of my thoughts as Todd stalked along the damp streets of the city.  So perhaps the key was focus?

It took a while, and several times of circling back to places we had already wandered through, before Todd found the tree. It was still cold in February and there were no flowers on it, but it was defiantly the right tree.

I felt Todd’s pride that he had found the tree, but he was confused at the same time. If he could have spoken to me, it would have been “OK, now what? ” - That was a good question. I had succeed in communicating with him by images, but now what?

Suddenly, Todd’s body tensed and his ears twitched towards an unknown sound. “What is it?” I mentally whispered to him. If I had my own eyes, I would have rolled them for two reasons: 1) I was trying to be quiet and there was no one that could hear me outside of Todd, and I doubted that he even heard me, bringing me to the second reason 2) I was talking to a cat.

Well, if I could focus energy enough to make him seek out what I was thinking, maybe I could focus that same energy to tap into his hearing. I focused this time on sounds – once again I could feel, what can only be described as my energy streaming away from me and filling Todd’s slight body. Since I could not focus on a image I tried to just clear my mind and listen.

At first there was nothing but silence.  I pushed harder, willing the energy to seek out Todd’s ears. I have no idea if cat’s hearing is the same as humans, but I can only assume that they have eardrums and that is what I was picturing with my mind. Maybe I could wrap my energy around it somehow? I was pondering this question when low scratchy sound began to register. I concentrated, what was it? It sounded as if something was being scraped across the ground.

The scratching sound stopped and was replaced by a clink then a squeak like that of a rusty hinge. A door? The only door that I could remember was the one that opened from the hospital to the garden, and as far as I could remember, it didn’t make a noise, at least not one like that.

I scanned my memory still trying to place the squeak, as the scratching sound resumed and then was followed by a loud crash of noise. Todd’s nose lifted and while I could feel he was still crouched and tense, something had caught his attention by smell.

“The Trash!” I screamed, surprising both Todd and myself. His little body jumped a bit at my outburst. Maybe he could hear me. “They must be taking out the garbage from the morning breakfast!” I continued to babble on at Todd. “Come one Todd, let’s go see who it is” I focused on where I remembered the trash collection area had been. They had tried to disguise it by building a tall wooden fence around it; planting trees and bushes local to the area around it. It hid the dumpsters, but you always knew what was back there, mainly because of the smell.

Todd didn’t move. His instincts were working against me. I pushed again, forcing images of the hinged gate that allowed access to the enclosed dumpsters, and he tentatively began to slink forward. I’d done it, made him move, and yet I felt really awful about it. Calvin had done things like this to me and it had been horrible. I was taking Todd’s free will away, making him act against his better judgment. “I’m sorry Todd, I promise after this If you don’t want to go somewhere, I won’t force you” I don’t know if that meant anything to my little grey host, but it made me feel better, and I decided that I would honor my promise to my new feline friend.

Blurred images were flashing in my mind again: Tree, bush, grass, and then a pole. Well that is what the image looked like, but whatever it was had Todd frozen in place. We were cautiously walking around the corner of the fence closest to the wall of the hospital when the image had appeared.

“Here Kitty-kitty., come on it’s ok, come here”.  A voice from the direction of the pole called.

“I know that voice, how do I know that voice?”  I pushed the energy boundaries again. This was technically still a part of the initial force, so I’m not sure that I was breaking my promise. The “pole” came into view again, but more clearly this time. It was thicker than it had initially appeared and the longer Todd looked, the clearer the image became. It was a pair of legs in dark burgundy scrubs. One of the nurses, it had to be one of the nurses.

“Come on little one, I’m not gonna hurt you. Are you hungry? I bet I can find something for ya’.” The voice was so familiar, but for the life of me I just couldn’t place it. Todd flinched and stepped back a few steps as an image of a dark colored hand filled our mind. Then it clicked.

“SAM!” Every bit of me that existed in whatever form I existed cried out. Todd’s body left forward towards the only kind man that I had known during my stay at the hospital. I felt Todd’s confusion as he wondered why he was reacting the way he was, and I realized that I was in control. Sam caught the slight cat’s body in almost complete surprise.

The images were more consistent now. I was seeing. It was no longer segmented images being sent from Todd’s brain.

“SAM!” I cried out again, and this time the word was audible. I watched as Sam’s eyes opened wide, then rolled back in his head as he fainted.

They say that cat’s always land on their feet. Unlike the theory on water, this is a myth that I can not say I know is not true, at least not while a former human spirit is in control. As Sam fell to the ground he dropped Todd and my body.  The back end hit first, but our head still bounced lightly off the concrete next to Sam.

There was brief pain, and then for the second time in twenty-four hours, I was swallowed up by an overwhelming darkness.