Cora and Harley

Cora peers into the narrow alleyway, spotting the tabby cat in a rough and tumble with a sphynx cat, as they bite into each other, growling. The sphynx cat then successfully pins down the tabby cat and lets out a long hiss before forcing its right paw on the cat’s head . A bright white light along with stardusts soon erupts from the focal point of their contact, blinding the alleyway into oblivion. The white light and stardust begin to dissipate. Cora squints her eyes, trying to make out what’s happening. She sees the tabby cat’s lifeless body on the ground and the sphynx cat is nowhere to be seen.

At the Tree House group home, Cora is idly playing with a book called “Simple First Words: Let’s Talk,” looking at a picture of a teddy bear and then pressing a button with text that matches the visual. She keeps pressing on the button that makes buzzing noises, after which other kids start screaming and covering their ears. “Cora Young,” a staff member said, “Dear, Dr. Ashley is ready to see you. Come now.” The staff member approaches Cora while extending her hand to grab Cora’s.

At Dr. Ashley’s office, Cora sits quietly on the tangerine armchair, twirling a lego fidget spinner. “Cora,” Dr. Ashley, her therapist, widens her smile and lowers her head as she slowly enunciates the words distinctly, “How was your first week here?” After a few minutes of silence, Dr. Ashley gathers and holds up emotions expression card,  and points her fingers at them and lets out a hmm? Cora looks up, ponders for a long minute and points at the sad card. “Why are you sad?” Dr. Ashley is giving Cora the space to reflect and the chance to communicate to the best of her ability, especially in these first few sessions before formally diagnosing her. After around five minutes, Dr. Ashley hands Cora a blank sheet of paper and some crayons, “Cora, do you like drawing?” Dr. Ashley said as she mimes drawing in the air. Cora nods nonchalantly. “Great, can you draw what you’re thinking about now?” Cora grabs hold of the sheets and crayons, feeling the rough finish of the canvas and the waxiness of the crayons. Cora looks up confused. Dr. Ashley said, “Can you draw what’s happening inside of you? How are you feeling on the inside?” Dr. Ashley said as she touches her own heart. Cora looks back down and starts drawing. After awhile, she holds up a picture of two separate houses, one with her family in it and the other with her in it with a sad face.  Assessing the picture, Dr. Ashley asks, “Is that sad face girl you and are those stick figures in the other house your family?” Cora nods and says probably the only few words that she knows under her breath, “Not there. I am here.” 

Over the next few weeks, Cora has been officially diagnosed with nonverbal autism. Dr. Ashley has been working with Cora on establishing a functional communication system before progressing to speech therapy and other modalities. Her family struggles with drug addiction and neglects her to the point where a teacher at her school has alerted the authorities. They took Cora into temporary foster care at the Tree House group home facility.  One day, Cora is playing with a tablet with recognition games with her headphones on in the common area, facing a ceiling-to-floor window, when suddenly she spots a mere fifteen pound tabby cat, sitting on a knoll in the meadow no more than around thirty yards away, staring intently at her with a soft gaze and its tail slowly swishing side to side. Cora doesn’t think much of it and resumes playing with her tablet. After finishing one of her games around twenty minutes later, Cora looks up and finds the tabby cat in the same position. Tons of other kids are swirling around her, but the cat remains fixed on her. Cora, who hasn’t interacted with animals at all, approaches the window to take a closer look at the cat. The tabby cat responds to her by slowly and delicately sauntering across the meadow toward her. It stops before coming any closer to the window as they both continue assessing each other’s temperament. Cora, seeing that the cat is friendly and respectful, puts one of her hands on the window. Hello, they both think. The tabby cat takes that as a cue to approach right up to the window. It lifts its mid-back and raises its tail up, displaying its hump proudly and sliding across the window pane. Cora lets out a bashful smile as she lowers down to her knees and tries to touch the cat with the glass between them. The cat keeps going and forth elegantly like a well-orchestrated dance, smooshing its face as it glides across the window. As Cora’s hands meet the glass, a vibrational pulse also makes its waves across. Cora’s water well in her heart begins to fill up slightly with the mysterious accompaniment of this cat.

The following evening, with Cora’s window open, the tabby cat returns, perching itself on the window sill, laying its lazy, blinking gaze on Cora. Cora, turning on the bed next to the window, comes face to face with the cat. Shocked, she sits up immediately. They both stare at each other for a long while before the cat feels comfortable enough to assume its usual friendly stance. Sensing the cat’s friendly nature, Cora starts to relax her muscles vertebrae by vertebrae. It then slowly approaches Cora, making its way onto her bed as it criss-crosses its legs, stepping ever so delicately, leaving small paw prints behind on the heavy polyester white sheets. The cat now sits directly facing Cora on her lap, gazing at her, blinking slower by the second. Hello again: Cora waves her hands. The cat rubs its head on Cora’s chin and makes small mews at her. Cora giggles as she enjoys the furry creature’s soft fur against her chin. She starts to make contact with the cat by touching the back fur with only her index finger. The cat then purrs, prancing back and forth in front of her with its tail up. Eventually, the cat collapses onto her lap, purring like a soft low rumble of a car motor running in the background. Its purr noises are piercing through Cora’s energetic frequency, riding onto it, and together, they are intertwined like waves swimming around her. She is bathing in the warm golden yellow glow radiating from the cat. With the warmth permeating through Cora’s veins, she relaxes even more deeply, but is still reticent about petting the cat with her palms. Both remain unsure of the situation, yet they feel at ease with each other’s mellow and reserved presence–enough to be curious and explore the relationship. They take comfort in the fact that they share a mutual understanding of anxiety, curiosity and yearning perhaps for companionship. The cat then looks up with his pupils narrowing, staring into her eyes with its lingering tender gaze. With their eyes locked in, Cora feels these emotions she has never felt before in the nine years of her life: safety, comfort, connection.  

Over the next several weeks, the tabby cat has been paying her a visit when she’s in the common area, keeping her company, emitting the same warm glow amidst chaos inside her head and around her; and sneaking into her room, calming her down when she feels overwhelmed.  In her therapy sessions with Dr. Ashley, Cora has been making incremental progress, ncluding her being more expressive.

After watching Cora on the window sill of the therapist’s office for awhile, the tabby cat slinks away and saunters toward the entrance into a wooded trail, lined with Douglas fir, Hemlock and Red Cedar trees, that loops around several commercial buildings, eventually reaching a residential neighborhood. After strolling a couple of blocks down, it reaches an abandoned Victorian house on the corner lot of a deadend, which is perched on a little knoll. It then plops itself down on the grass, exhausted yet content. A female cat, a dilute calico with beige and gray stripes, tip toes out of the front entrance of the house.

“Hey Mr. Harley! You’ve been gone for a long time at the mute girl’s place. How’s that going?” Kiki, the female cat, says as she gallops toward him. They approach each other, sniffing all over one another’s butts, faces, mid-section, and then they head butt each other with their tails intertwined. He then backs up and takes a moment, “It’s…going…good.” With Harley being ever so succinct and taciturn, Kiki continues, “The tribe thanks you. We feel less of her headache-inducing frequencies and are smelling less of her rancid chemicals…thanks to your doing.” Harley acknowledges Kiki with a small nod while gazing off into the distance. Kiki and Harley are each other’s sidekick in the Sekhmet tribe, which is filled with mostly feral cats and a few domestic cats, including ones who run away from their human’s home to fulfill their life’s purpose. Each is bestowed with unique powers to heal humans, with some overlap. Some cats are more powerful than others, such as Harley, who is the chosen one, a direct descendent in a long lineage from the ancient Egyptian gods from around the 1390-1352 B.C.E., namely Sekhmet and Bastet, who were half-humans with heads of lionesses. Sekhmet is the god of war, destruction and healing, and Bastet is the softer counterpart,  god of protection from evil spirits and illnesses. Unfortunately, Harley inherited more of Sekhmet, and can be terrifying, revengeful and violent in order to protect his kin from enemies, but that just means he loves stronger–his healing powers are just as potent. Under the guidance of Kiki who embodies Bastet, he has softened overtime. Kiki is the other duality, the nurturer and protector of human’s homes, domesticity and women’s fertility.  Kiki carries on, “Just between you and me though, I’ve been hearing rumors that Paloma thinks you’re overstaying your welcome at the mute kid’s place. She wants you back for an urgent assignment. She will step in and pull the plug on this.” “Then, I will let her.” “What are you talking about? You can’t.” “Paloma’s intent is becoming dubious. Our powers are growing through healing, and some members have gone nefarious and taken liberty with it. Paloma has done nothing to stop it. I will not become that. You know.” “I know, but you can’t stop whatever’s happening if you go rogue. You can change the system from the inside.” “Paloma is too powerful, and you know that. Plus, there’s this reciprocity between this human and me. I don’t know, this may have to be my last assignment. I’ve avenged humans, cared for them, nurtured them back to life. I want to continue to do good.” “You can’t do that on your own if your powers are stripped.” “We’ll see.” Kiki watches Harley dashes away and then sees Paloma’s shadow behind the window of the turret; you can always make out the body and ears of  a sphynx cat.

At the Tree house group home, through the window, Harley sees Cora and another kid entangled, fighting. He immediately sprints to action, finding his way inside through the side door that’s opened. Trying to refrain from resorting to violence, he comes next to the two fighting kids and lets out a deep, ferocious hiss, with his mouth gaping wide, showing his incredibly sharp fangs, and his body puffed up with his legs and tail up stiff, and hair standing up on all sides. The other girl kid screams and the rest of the children scatter away with the staff members frozen in place. Cora, with her pigtail pulled sideways and flyaway hairs strewn around head, and nail marks on her face, stands there, relieved to see Harley and goes to hug him.

Cora and the other girl kid were reprimanded during the day. When she returns to her room, she finds Harley sitting on the window sill inside her room. She sits on the floor and opens up her arms. He walks toward her and sits in front of her. Cora puts her hands on her heart and blinks her eyes slowly, as she is touched by his rescue and is thanking him. Harley blinks back at her and then lays sideways on the floor, gazing at Cora. Cora mirrors him, laying down sideways and staring back at him. They think, I like you. You’re ok. Let’s be ok together. After sitting together for awhile, Harley looks sideways and then turns his head back at Cora, checking again her mood and body language. When he confirms she’s still relaxed, he completely lays his head down on the floor and exposes his belly with his arms and legs stretched out. Cora giggles, you’re funny and so cute. She then begins rubbing his belly gently. She strokes his belly for a mere moment before she stops and stares back at his eyes. He lets out a small whirring sound, the beginning of a purring session that will envelope them both whole. They rest together on the floor for a good hour, with him loafing in a rest position and his front feet tucked in, and  Cora facing the ceiling.

All of the sudden, they both hear tapping on the window. Harley gets up and sees Paloma standing outside on the window sill. He chatters at her and then walks toward the window where they continue what seems like agitated banter. Cora notices the commotion and walks toward the window as well, opening up the divide. Harley jumps out immediately and disappears into the darkness with Paloma. Cora hesitates for awhile, but then runs after them. She follows them a couple of blocks from the Tree House group home to a quaint downtown area, until she loses them in one of the alleys.

Paloma walks toward the end of the alleyway and turns her back to Harley. “Harley, you have gravely disappointed me. During the time you’ve been absent for far too long, we’ve had cases gone untreated. The stress chemicals, odor, frequencies emanating from the humans were too overpowering, causing our tribe great distress. Do you understand?” “Yes.” “Do you remember your purpose in this tribe? Do you remember who you are?” “Do you remember our purpose? Or have you gone power hungry and blind?” “What? How dare you?” “Your tribe’s purpose is to grow our powers through our healings, and eventually, leverage that power to destroy other tribes and whatever else imaginable. The ‘human stress’ frequency you speak of? The desire to heal? They are not the main reason for our do-goodness, are they?” “I will not stand for these accusations.” “Be that as it may, I am leaving the tribe. I want to continue to do good.” “You will not dare to leave. Your powers will be stripped and be given to others. You will have no further association, affiliation nor protection on the streets.” “So be it.” Harley starts to walk the other way. “I had a feeling this would happen. You leave me no other choice.” They both then stare into each other’s eyes, with their whole bodies puffed up, ears flipped back and their tails straight back. They let out their growls and hisses so loud that it has the ability to rupture the human cochlea. With Paloma twenty pounds heavier and bigger, she pounces on him, biting into his neck. He extends his wolverine-like claws, digging into Paloma, but they barely hurt Paloma for she is too mighty for him. Also, his destructive powers have weakened significantly since they have been idle for awhile.

With him incapacitated, Paloma touches his head with her paws. A white blinding light flashes along with stardusts exploding. Then, Harley faints, and Paloma disappears into thin air. Cora shouts, “Noooooooooooo!” She runs toward Harley with Kiki and surveys his lifeless body. Cora begins to sob uncontrollably, while Kiki proceeds to lick Harley’s face. Cora puts her hand on his heart, trying to see if she can get a beat. His heart is still murmuring quietly. Harley then opens his eyes, letting out a soft yowl. Cora looks at Kiki in excitement, flailing her arms, not knowing quite what to do with her feelings. “Are you alright?” Kiki says to Harley. “I’m fine, just a little sore,” Harley says as he gets up and shakes his body. “Well, I told you this would happen. You know you’ve lost your power right?” “Yeah, I am probably no good to Cora anymore. Do you mind watching over Cora? I know you cannot stay with her permanently, but you’re well-suited for the job.” “Yes, it’ll be busy for me, but for you, I will. What are you going to do now? Just wander around the streets like a crazy feral?” “Yeah,” Harley chuckles, “Maybe I’ll join the other tribes of thugs and vagabonds…or just be alone.” “Please be careful. I may not recognize your smell anymore, but I’ll try.” “Ok, I better get going.” Harley looks back and blinks slowly for the last time at Cora and starts walking away. Cora shouts nooooooooo again as she begins to run after him. He stops in his tracks. Cora lowers her body down to meet his eyes. They stare at each other again with Cora’s downturned eyes, sobbing. Don’t worry, you’re in good hands with Kiki. I am of no use to you now, Harley says. Cora goes in to hug him. The melding of their bodies sends them both warmth and him purring. Even without his healing powers along with the glow he emits, Cora finds the same comfort and security within him. Well, will you look at that, maybe Harley doesn’t need his powers after all, Kiki thinks to herself.