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

ground, the fierce talons automatically spiked into its prey and weighed heavily on its capture as it tore at the struggling, squirming feline. The hooked claws lacerated fur and flesh like a slitting gust slashing through the thick air.
    From behind the slaughtering animal came a low but vicious growl, and then a tearing sensation at its neck as it cleaved at its own victim. The three-linked struggle rolled and reeled in the savage chaos of the dark and turbid landscape. The quiet waters of Miwok Creek broke the feral silence with desperate thrashing splashes that muffled the squeals and yelps and cries.
    A hideous screeching shriek hit threatening high notes and evaporated into the trees as the fight for life ended. The cat clawed at the bank in a drenched attempt to pull itself from the creek. The animal lay in the mud as blood and life slowly drained from it.
    Warm, panting breaths flowed over her body as Rosa curled by her side.
    Early the next morning, Place and Salvador walked down to the end of the ranch where Salvador had volunteered to explain to him the intricacies of irrigation. As they approached the southernmost pastures, the ones nearest Miwok Creek, they talked freely, revealing more about themselves. The sound waves of their voices flew into the cool air where they landed in the auricular senses of the sleeping dog. In return, Rosa sent out a stream of dot-dashed barks. Curious, Place and Salvador jumped the fence and walked down to the creek. In the muddy bank sat the maternal Airedale with the dying cat at her paws.
    “What the hell is—” Place started and then switched. “Rosa! We thought we lost you. What are you doing down here?”
    Salvador knelt down to inspect his bloody and mud-caked cat. “Va a morir,” he said, offering a grim diagnosis as he shook his head. He looked at the muddy bank, and noticing a spray of feathers, picked one up. “Tecolote,” he whispered with an air of reverence as he held the owl’s feather in front of him.
    But there was life in Gatita’s glassy eyes. There was a fortitude that asked for one more chance. Salvador picked up his cat, and he, Place, and Rosa walked back to the ranch house.
    “Put her down here,” Mitch instructed as she pointed to a folded blanket on the floor of the washroom. She had scissors and gauze in her hands, and she was as ready as an emergency room doctor. “That’s a nasty tear. Her whole side is virtually ripped open. At least it’s not too deep. But she has a star-shaped puncture on her other side. That one could be deeper. All we can do for right now is cut away some of that fur, and then I’ll clean her up and put some peroxide on her. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
    “Why don’t we just take her to a vet?” Place asked.
    “Because I don’t want to move her around too much,” Mitch answered. “Besides, she may not make it, and just think how much it would cost. Does Salvador have the money to pay for what it would cost to fix her?”
    “¿Tienes dinero para el doctor?” Place asked Salvador.
    “No,” he answered, and looked down at his dying cat, ashamed at not having taken better care of her.
    “Tell him we’ll do our best to save her,” Mitch said. Then, attempting to clear the air of gloom added, “You never know, she might make it.”
    “How weird, huh?” Place mused at the developments of the morning. “And that damn Rosa was sitting there like she was guarding her. It was like she called us over there.”
    “Where is that prodigal mutt, anyway?” Mitch asked. “We’re going to have to clean her up too. She’s a mess. Or did she leave again?”
    As the suffering cat lay on the thick blanket, Salvador, Place, and Mitch walked out to the deck where Rosa was stretched out in a leisurely way, convalescing in a swath of sunlight. Patches of fur were torn from her hide and clumps of dried mud were mortared to her legs and sides. Her eyes twitched as she fell deeper into the darkness of