Stars Always Shine by Rick Rivera Read Free Book Online Page A

Salvador around as a dog follows its master. She heeled without being taught how to do so. She even seemed to walk like Salvador, taking the same quick, deliberate strides that did not waste time when work was abundant and the day always seemed too short. With Salvador, she did not display that aloof and coy lack of concern that most cats tease their owners with. While Salvador worked in a pasture or cleaned a barn, Gatita waited close by, often sunning herself in the sleep-inducing solar light or stretching thin and licking herself clean. When anybody approached, she would slither off into hiding, but she always remained in close proximity, watching Salvador.
    The morning after Place and Mitch had settled into their new home, Salvador told Place the story of his Gatita as he offered a walking tour of the ranch. Place listened attentively, even though he was distracted and mildly depressed about losing Rosa. Salvador had saved his little cat after almost stepping on her when he had found her in a barn one cold morning. Her eyes were newly opened, and she pushed along the ground trying to go where only destiny led. He laughed when he said that she moved more like a sea turtle on a beach. Her small legs were limp, and crawling was still beyond the scope of her development. Salvador searched for a mother. He listened for mewing babies that might signal that it was time to be fed. He called out the high-shrilled and rapid cry that some cats respond to. He asked others if they knew who this kitten could belong to, and he found himself holding a tiny creature who had no mother and no tail.
    During his lunch break that day, Salvador rode his bicycle to the little market down the road and purchased some milk. He placed the milk in a bowl, and the bowl in a box with the weak kitten. Gatita did not have the instinct to lick the milk from the bowl because she would still be suckling from a mother’s teat if one were available. That evening as Gatita lay helpless, Salvador made an urgent trip to a farther but much bigger store and purchased a baby bottle. He carefully held the little cat in one hand as he poked the nipple toward her mouth. The nipple of the baby bottle was too big for Gatita’s puckered mouth, but she managed to take some fluid in while most of it ran down her face and neck. One day, as Salvador was administering a healthy shot to a sick horse, he looked at the large syringe as he slowly pushed the medicine down through it and into the needle. Struck with ingenuity, he imagined the syringe without the needle dispensing a controlled dose of milk to his baby cat. Before work, after work, and during his lunch break, Salvador nurtured his kitten with a syringe of milk. She grew quickly, maturing into a competent mouser and an even more capable companion.
    Cats are, for the most part, nocturnal. Gatita, as unusual as she was, was no different. Salvador respected this, and he wedged a beer can between the front window of his cottage and the sill to allow his cat to respond to the nightly callings as the urge demanded.
    In the night, other living beings come out too. The stillness of the slowly moving water in Miwok Creek, the leaning trees that drape a shadowy shroud along the banks, and the thin fog that rises from it like a long, gasping breath, harbor a night life of stealthy ambition as creatures awaken and seek out warm bodies that would be nourishment for their own families. It is a place that requires one to walk deftly and alertly, and still others are always watching and waiting.
    They were prehensile claws that ripped into the silent night air and with a swift force seized the curious cat and lifted it from the muddy bank. The cat’s initial shriek was devoured by the stifling fog as it twisted its body and flailed at the ascending creature in a desperate effort to pull itself free from the clutching and crushing power. The round, feathered body swooped low as it wavered out of control. Slamming into the murky