The Panther, the Jaguar, and the Cheetah

These three cages are in a row, all with branches or big chunks of tree limbs put in them. These cats, all three are pacing. They love to pace. They are always moving. My dad says it's close to feeding time, when they pace like this. He says They want meat, and I laugh and say Yeah, they want meat. My dad asks me Do you like meat? and I laugh and say Yep. I love meat. I'm a cat. My dad grills on our back porch, burgers and steaks, and those are good days, the days my dad smiles.

Do they grill their meat? I ask, and the wrinkles show up by my dad's eyes. Raw. They eat their meat raw. They love it that way he says. Yep I say, and we both keep watching them pace, these three cats, the panther, the jaguar, and the cheetah.

I can run faster than a cheetah I tell my mom, watching the cat move. No way she says. Yes way I say, and she laughs. All of us laughing. My mom's laugh makes me feel warm even when it's cold outside, December or January cold, her laugh melts me. Sometimes I say things like that, like I can run faster than a cheetah, to make her laugh. This time it works, and I feel warm.

The cats keep moving and we keep watching, my hands in my pockets, my chin on the top of the railing, my mom and dad smiling.

We I helped change the oil in our car. I got down on this board with wheels and my dad rolled me under the car and I watched the black run out like a river. Panthers are black as oil I say, and I can see my dad thinking about it, the oil, because he loves oil. Oil to my dad is a panther, running. I can see too that he is thinking about gears in cars, engines, how all that is like a panther running.

Shiny I say, and I'm talking about the oil and my dad's smile and my mom's laugh and these three cats in their cages, pacing. Watching them, the black of oil, me going faster than a cheetah, and us all laughing and being warm.