Page 63 of Vespertine

The monstrous ginger cat stepped across the back of thesofa with supreme confidence and then leapt onto Nicky’s lap.

“Hey there…?” he looked to Jasper. “What’s her name?”

“I don’t know. She’s well fed, so she must belong tosomeone, but I have no idea who.”

“She seems to think she belongs to you. She brought you thebest present ever.” Nicky tickled her chin. “Yes, you did, didn’t you? Such agood kitty cat. I think she’s probably living off the field mice around yourhouse. I think you’re her person.” He scratched her ears and thought a momentbefore continuing. “Actually, I read somewhere that cats bring you kills ifthey think you’re not taking good enough care of yourself. Aww.” He rubbed thecat’s ears some more. “You thought your human was starving and decided to bringhim some din-dins.”

Jasper looked a little green around the gills again. “Don’tremind me. I don’t think I can look at her the same way again. Or at least fora few days.”

“What? This little murderer? She’s a sweetheart. Look ather.” She’d curled up in Nicky’s lap and was busily cleaning her front leftpaw. She paused and looked up at Nicky and then over at Jazz, sniffed the air,and then went back to her cleaning. “She needs a name.”

“I call her Ginger Kitty, I guess.”

Nicky scoffed. “That’s offensive. You can’t call a catsomething like that. This girl is named…Disemboweler. Dizzy for short. OrSlaughter. Yeah, that’s a great name. Slaughter Kitty. It’s perfect.”

“I’m not naming my cat Slaughter.”

Nicky whispered to the cat, “He admits you’re his at least.Don’t worry. We’ll get a cool name for you. I promise.”

The cat looked up at him solemnly and nodded. “Mrreow.”

“Totally.”

She glared at Jasper and then settled herself on Nicky’slegs and closed her eyes in a half-drowse.

“Dizzy wore herself out murdering that sweet little rabbit.”

“Let’s not talk about it anymore.”

Nicky grinned. “Sure.”

“Want to listen to something?” Jasper asked, moving over tohis old hi-fi stereo system—complete with a turntable—and opening the cabinetwhere he kept his music collection. Nicky could tell he was proud of his littlesetup, and he should be.

“You’ve got a nice system.” He waved his hand toward theamplifier. “Nothing sounds as good as a tube amp. Do you listen to the vinylthrough it?”

“No, I have a solid state under here to put vinyl through.It gets a little—”

“Muddy. I know.”

They grinned at each other. Nicky had been the one to teachJasper about the difference between woofers and tweeters, solid state and tube.They’d carried a battery-powered cassette deck out to the fort when they werekids, an old piece of disposable junk Jasper’s grandfather had given them, andthey’d listened to scavenged tapes of Boston and The Cure and Miriam’s ElvisPresley.

But Nicky and his father had found an almost-bonding in thesearch for the perfect stereo, and they’d gone from hi-fi store to hi-fi storeauditioning pieces for the system Adrian eventually put together. It hurt Nickyto think that if he’d had access to the antidepressant he was on now when hewas a kid, maybe he could have been the son Adrian had deserved.

Jasper flicked through his albums and pulled out a Tom Waitsoldie-but-goodie.

“No,” Nicky said, dumping Dizzy onto the floor and headingover to the where Jasper stood gazing into his neatly alphabetized cabinet. “Trysomething from all the way over on this end.” He pulled out his favoriteVespertine album.

“How did you—? You snooped.”

“Of course. I wasn’t going to clean up without getting thelay of the land. These vinyl albums had a limited run. I happen to know thisone is pretty damn rare. You could get about $500 for it on eBay last time Ilooked.”

Jasper pulled it out of Nicky’s hands and smoothed hisfingers over the cover. It was a fairly sedate one of a red dwarf star andAngry Stars Spit Red Lightacross the front. “Are you sureyou want to listen to it?”

“Why not? I haven’t heard it in a long time.” Nickystretched and scratched at his belly before sitting back down on the sofa.Dizzy seemed unusually forgiving for a cat and plopped down on his lap again. “Whenwe made that record…” He trailed off and closed his eyes, letting his head lollon the back of the sofa. “I was so fucking proud of myself. I thought I’dfinally made something good of my life. I was actually sober then, did youknow?”

“I could tell, yes. The album is cohesive. Lyrically,musically, it’s some of your best work.”

“Itismy best work. It’s what Iwant to find my way back to if I can.”