The fourth morning was when it all went down. I remember waking up from
my run earlier than usual. It was still dark, and it seemed a bit
foggy. The wife was still asleep so I dressed in the dark, grabbed my
nano, and was out the door.
Much to my relief the carcass was gone and I made my way on down Jacksonville and into town. My morning route was the same. From my home I made two laps around town, enough to get in about 6 and a quarter miles before work.
I made the climb up Jacksonville, it becomes Howard St. when you reach the apex and begin your descent at the New Fellowship Church and was halfway down the hill when of all things I almost tripped over that damn black cat. I must have missed him because of the fog but he was there. And alive. I knew it was my cat and he knew it was me because he almost seemed to smile at he began running.
I chased him and he knew it because every once in a while I would seem him turn his head to make sure I was still following. He lead me to parts of town I'd never ran before. Where Howard comes to a T at Spring St, I normally turn left and head toward town but, the cat turned right so I followed. I pursued him through streets, alleys, and people's yards. He seemed intent on putting obstacles between us. Several times I caught my foot jumping over someone's hedge knocking the wind out of me on landing. When this happened, the cat would stop and wait for me to gather myself before taking off again.
Finally, he took me up a street I'd never been on before. It was a never-ending climb and I could not make up any ground. I was running out of steam, so I one last act of desperation I opened up with everything I had hoping to catch up.
My legs screamed with pain and my heart felt as if it were being squeezed by this tremendous fist. I must have blacked out on somebody's lawn because when I came to, there was the cat sitting by my head, cleaning itself.
Much to my relief the carcass was gone and I made my way on down Jacksonville and into town. My morning route was the same. From my home I made two laps around town, enough to get in about 6 and a quarter miles before work.
I made the climb up Jacksonville, it becomes Howard St. when you reach the apex and begin your descent at the New Fellowship Church and was halfway down the hill when of all things I almost tripped over that damn black cat. I must have missed him because of the fog but he was there. And alive. I knew it was my cat and he knew it was me because he almost seemed to smile at he began running.
I chased him and he knew it because every once in a while I would seem him turn his head to make sure I was still following. He lead me to parts of town I'd never ran before. Where Howard comes to a T at Spring St, I normally turn left and head toward town but, the cat turned right so I followed. I pursued him through streets, alleys, and people's yards. He seemed intent on putting obstacles between us. Several times I caught my foot jumping over someone's hedge knocking the wind out of me on landing. When this happened, the cat would stop and wait for me to gather myself before taking off again.
Finally, he took me up a street I'd never been on before. It was a never-ending climb and I could not make up any ground. I was running out of steam, so I one last act of desperation I opened up with everything I had hoping to catch up.
My legs screamed with pain and my heart felt as if it were being squeezed by this tremendous fist. I must have blacked out on somebody's lawn because when I came to, there was the cat sitting by my head, cleaning itself.
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