The next day, Dirt had work again. Thankfully, Amber got there on time for her shift. Amber was a short, plump girl with bright red dyed hair and black roots, burnt to a crisp with a flattening iron, which was pulled back into a bun with quite a few strands hanging out.
"Hey, where were you yesterday?" Dirt asked.
"Ooooof.... I'm sooo sorry, dude, I had an edible and I didn't realize the dosage was so high and like, I literally could not fucking move... It was like, not fun.." Amber explained. She was probably high now, too, as her eyes were bloodshot and her words flowed in an unnatural way.
"Aw shit.. Sorry that happened to you, bad trips suck, man... Well at least you're here now."
"Yeah! Go home and get some rest, Dirtly. You look like you really REALLY need it..." Amber walked past Dirt and went to clock in for the day.
As Dirt walked towards his bike, he stopped in his tracks when he heard a clattering in the alley behind the store. Probably just a dumpster diver. But then... "MROOOWWW" A yowl! Dirt speed walked over to the alleyway. At first he saw nothing, but then movement under a large piece of cardboard. Dirt quietly tiptoed forward and carefully lifted the chunk of box to see a cat! A skinny little thing, all black, with big round yellow eyes that looked frightened. It hissed at him.
"Ohh.. Hey buddy, it's okay," Dirt softened his voice and gently held his hand out for the cat to sniff. It tried to back away, but stumbled, knocking an empty soda can rolling down the alley. Another hiss. "Oh buddy.. Are you hurt? Oh no... Oh baby...." Dirt noticed that one of the cat's front paws was bent at an awkward angle, and there was a jagged slash through the arm.
Dirt panicked. What was he supposed to do?? He couldn't just carry an injured and angry cat home on his bike! Shit! Shit! Maybe I should just leave it.. Circle of life? Such is the way of nature? FUCK!!! No. He couldn't leave it. It was just a poor, helpless animal! All alone! And it looked like it hadn't eaten in days! Gotta call Sarah.
With shaking hands, Dirt frantically scrolled through his contacts and found Sarah. It rang a few times until, "Hi, you've reached Sarah! I don't know what you're doing calling me when texting exists, but leave a message and I might listen to it!" Dirt hung up before the tone played and called again.
Voicemail again. "Pleeeeaase..." he whispered to himself.
He called again. One ring. Two. Thr—"Hello?" Sarah finally answered, sounding groggy and pissed.
"Sarah! Oh thank god! I'm so sorry for waking you up but I just found a cat in the alleyway behind my work and It looks like it's hurt and I just have my bike and I don't know what to do!" Dirt explained frantically.
Sarah sighed. "Okay... Stay there and watch it til I get there..." Dirt exhaled in great relief.
"Oh, thank you Sarah! I owe you my life!"
"Yes, you do." She hung up.
Dirt took a deep breath as he shoved his phone in his pocket. He kneeled to the ground to get a closer look at the cat. Its shoulder blades jutted out, and its spine was visible. "You poor little guy... We're gonna take care of you, okay?" The cat just stood there, ears flat against its head, eyes glued to Dirt.
It took Sarah ten minutes to get down there. She'd brought a cardboard box with a soft towel in it, as well as a bowl to pour water into. "Oh my god! We sell cat food!" Dirt sprinted into the seven-eleven, grabbed a can off the shelf, and ran back out. When he opened it up, the cat immediately seemed more interested. It slowly limped forward as Sarah gently set the bowl of water down next to the open can of food.
Tentatively, it sniffed at the can for a minute, fully examining it with its nosey. Then finally, a small lick, then it was eating! "Yeah!!! There you go buddy! Aw man you must be so hungry, huh?" Again, Dirt offered his hand forward, but the cat growled as it chewed. It sounded pretty silly, actually.
"Let her eat for a while," Sarah suggested, "Then we'll see if we can pick her up."
"Okay..." So Dirt and Sarah sat in the dirty alleyway and watched the cat eat up the food for a few more minutes. It had a few sips of water, as well. Sarah offered her hand, and the cat sniffed it, its wet nose grazing her knuckles. After it didn't hiss or growl or recoil, Sarah gently pat its head and scratched behind its ears. It returned to drinking the water as she pet it.
"God, you're so small, huh? You poor little baby... Ooohh.... You're hardly even standing there, you are like a couple of grapes, huh?" Sarah baby-talked to the cat. "Okay... let's see..." Sarah grabbed the cat's torso with both hands. It meowed angrily as she lifted it, squirming its back legs in an attempt to disembowel her arms, but she quickly set it back down on the towel in the box.
At the vet, they sedated the cat to clean her wound and stitch up the skin. It had been a pretty bad cut. An x-ray showed that its wrist had been dislocated, so they set it back in place and wrapped it up to immobilize it. They also found that it wasn't microchipped.
"So I guess we have a cat now, huh?" Sarah said in the waiting room.
"I don't know... Maybe we should set it free once it's healed... I mean, can we afford a cat? We can't even really afford this visit!"
"They said we can pay in installments!!! It'll be fine, Dirt! How 'bout we both chip in for some food and toys and bedding and stuff? I'll clean her litterbox if that's your problem!" Sarah was a catless cat lady, and the opportunity being presented to her was not one she was going to easily let go to waste.
Dirt liked cats. His family had one when he was a kid! He just wasn't sure if he was ready for the kind of responsibility now that he was living without his family. But he guessed he didn't really have too much of a choice any more. That poor cat was emaciated when they'd found it. For all they know, once they set it free, it could just be hurt again right away! And though it was scared at first, it did seem to be warming up to them.
Well, it was warming up to Sarah, at least. It still growled whenever Dirt tried to pet it, but he hoped it would warm up to him as well.
"Nah... I'll help with the litterbox too. You're right, it'll be fine. I don't know what I'm so worried about, to be honest!" Dirt admitted. Sarah grinned.
"Fuck yes!! We have a cat, dude!!!"
"We have a cat!"
"What should we name her??" Sarah clasped her hands together.
"Her? Do we know that?"
"Oh-yeah I checked! No balls!" Sarah chuckled.
"Ah.." Dirt tried to think of names. Balls. No thats just the last word Sarah said. Jesus christ, Dirt.. Uhhh... Bella. Okay that's just because you're thinking about balls now.
"Hmmmmm," Sarah mused, "How about something like... Night.. Shadow... Wait that's a hedgehog... Uhmmm... Dark...Midnight..."
"What if we give her like a person name. Like an old lady name. I love when cats have old people names," Dirt suggested enthusiastically.
"Ooohh like Deborah or Sophia or Dorothy!" Sarah listed.
"Those are the golden girls."
"Oh. Well still! Dorothy is cute, right? Like Wizard of Oz, even!"
"Hmmm... what about like.. Agnes?"
"Hmmmmm.... You know, maybe we should get to know her first, before naming her!"
The vet's assistant came out with the cat in a cardboard carrier, and gave Dirt and Sarah a rundown of how they should be caring for her over the next few weeks. She was to be given a painkiller every twelve hours for a week, and in two weeks, they'd bring her back to have her stitches removed.
By the time the two got back into Sarah's car, it was already afternoon. "Oh, shit.. Can you bring me back to sevlev so I can get my bike? I'll just bike back home," Dirt asked/said.
"Yuh. I'm gonna pick up some coffee on the way home, you want anything?"
"Ohhhh can I have a special little fratboychino, perhaps?" Dirt asked, making the :3 face. Sarah looked tiredly at him.
"Okay. Mocha?"
"Yes pwease," Dirt uwu'd. Sarah rolled her eyes as she backed out of the parking spot.