Colored Pencil Drawing, Bouquet by Laurie Rohner

It was May 1^st, May Day, when children make flower baskets to leave on a loved ones’ doorstep; when girls dance around a May pole, and spring perfumes the air. Okay, maybe that’s a bit old-fashioned, but it was a lovely day. Sun streamed through the big windows, glistening on Lux’s fur as I readied him for a photo shoot with the Oregon Humane Society’s media person who was going to do a feature on his success. I had brushed him many times before, because being an extremely long-haired cat, (the fur on his tail is 4 inches!) he needed consistent grooming to prevent hairballs. He liked it. I thought.

Suddenly and without warning, he began to hiss, and not the cute little breathy hiss I’d seen previously. His ears flattened to his head; his eyes dilated until there was nothing but black; the hair on his back stood up straight, making him look more like a wolverine than a cat. The hiss became a moan and then a yowl, banshee-like and eerie. I dropped the brush, not believing what I saw. I tried petting his sideburns which he usually loves, but he just got louder. He was possessed, not the Lux of the past 3 weeks. Not a Lux I had ever seen before.

This was Lux, the 911 cat.

I grabbed Little, who had been sitting on the bedside, and left the room. Behind the closed door, Lux continued his tirade, screaming up the empty walls.