The cat's name was Norman, and it was due to his elusive qualities that I am able to tell this tale.
***
Chapter 1. Just another night.
I was making my way down the hall to my apartment after another boring day of work when I saw him. Well, I didn't actually see him, but something definitely whizzed by me as I turned the corner. As I turned to see exactly what it was, I was sent reeling by the impact of a young lady in hot pursuit of the fleeing feline.
"Norman wait!" my accidental assailant hissed loudly after she gushed her apologies at me while helping me pick up my things that had gone flying from the collision. "I'm so sorry!"
"No harm done," I said as I took my paper from the young lady.
"My cat... he escaped on me," she said while looking very distraught, because Norman had disappeared from view and the young girl looked on the verge of tears. "He's never done that before."
"Here, let me set my things inside my place and I'll help you look for him," I offered.
"Would you?" she said.
"No problem," I assured her as I unlocked my door and tossed my stuff on the chair before following her girl down the hall and out into the courtyard.
To make the long story short, after about a half hour of searching under cars and through the wooded area, I spotted Norman. The little bugger had apparently been amused by my attempts at making the usual noises one makes to try to attract cats and had stopped to check me out.
After a crawl under a bush and a slash by Norman's claws, I grabbed the little guy by the neck and hauled him out, unhappy but safe and sound. The mother/owner was beside herself with relief and joy as she grabbed Norman from me, holding him tight to her tear-stained cheek while thanking me over and over again.
"Oh, he got you didn't he?" she said as she looked at the back of my hand and the blood that dripped from the scratch.
"It's nothing," I assured her. "I'm fine. I'm just happy we found him."
"Come up and let me clean you up," she said. "Unless you're in a hurry or something."
Well, it had been a long time since I had been in a hurry for anything, I thought to myself. What awaited me was a frozen pizza and a few episodes of Seinfeld, so I took the young lady up on her invitation.
We had seen each other in passing prior to this meeting, but in apartment complexes like this one people come and go so fast you can't keep track of them, and you tend to keep to yourself.
Norman's mom turned out to be Janice, and as she cleaned my wound and tended to it, Janice's touch sent shivers down my spine. It had been so very long since a woman had touched me that even an innocuous thing like this was enough to excite me. At 56 years old I had been a widower for six years, and had been content to play out the string and wait for the end to come, and much of the time I felt, the sooner the better. With Madeline's passing life had little to offer and I had equally little to offer in return.
"I said that I bet you didn't expect to have an evening like this when you got home," Janice said, having to repeat this to me apparently, as I had been daydreaming.
"No, but it was certainly exciting," I finally answered.
"You aren't supposed to have pets here and I was just as afraid he would be seen as I was that something would happen to him," Janice said. "He's my best friend... just about my only friend sometimes."
I looked at this sad-eyed girl as she spoke, and the same world-weary attitude I shared was evident in her voice and face. She was far too young to be so jaded, I thought.
"I'm sorry," Janice sniffled. "It's just that I'm still upset at him running out like that. Would you like a cup of coffee... I'm sorry. I don't even know your name."
"Jim. Yes, I'd like a cup if you're going to join me."
We made idle chit-chat as Janice made the coffee. She was a very shy girl but I managed to find out that she was 19 and worked at the Wal-Mart down the road and hated her job. She was a chubby gal who had a cute face that reminded me of the girl on the old Campbell Soup ads.
I stayed for a couple cups of coffee that I didn't really want, but I was enjoying Janice's company so much that I hated to leave. When I did, Janice stopped me at the door and gave me a peck on the cheek.
"Thanks for capturing Norman," Janice said with a blush. "You're my hero."
I made it back to my apartment with my heart racing. The thought that a kiss on the cheek could do that to me was ridiculous, and especially coming from a girl that was young enough to be my daughter. Grandaughter, I corrected myself.
Chapter 2. Getting closer.
That was how it started, and somehow I managed to run into Janice frequently after that, often bumping into each other in the hall, although far less abruptly than the first encounter. I found myself going to that dreaded store she worked at, and 'accidently' found myself at her register with my purchases.
None of this was an accident, of course. I timed these meetings as best I could, often waiting by my door until I heard her door close in the mornings. I was ashamed of myself at times, almost stalking this young girl, and even more embarrassed at the thoughts I had regarding her.
I would watch her from afar and admire her Rubenesque figure, picturing what her breasts would look like unwrapped. I complimented Janice when she got her hair cut into a shorter style which made her look older. Now she looked 20.
Whether she knew what I was doing or not, I wasn't sure. I felt silly having feelings about a teenaged girl like this, but after a while I didn't much care because I was having fun. Besides, I was just a harmless old man with no real delusions of anything happening between us.
I can't pinpoint exactly when things began to change between the two of us, but I began to notice our meetings started to become more frequent, and longer lasting to boot. Often the chance meetings really were that, and I began to wonder whether Janice was now doing precisely what I had been doing for us to be 'accidently' crossing paths so often.
One brisk November morning we ended up walking down the hall together on our way to work, and instead of me waiting for the bus out in front of our place, I strolled down with Janice to her workplace, which was less than a mile down the road.
"Wasn't that yours Jim?" Janice asked as a bus flew by us as we walked.
"Maybe, but there's another coming in about 15 minutes," I told Janice. "Besides, I'd rather walk with you than go to work anyway."
That was the truth, but it made Janice giggle and blush in response.
"Thanksgiving is next week," Janice said. "Do you go visit family or do they come visit you?"
"Neither. I have no family, so there's no decision to be made. Madeline and I never had... couldn't have children and I was an only child. How about you?"
"Me?" Janice said. "I have no family either. Well, I do but not really."
We walked in silence as I tried to digest that confusing answer.
