The Smarter Choice

The Smarter Choice

I made a life changing decision a long time ago. I found myself at a crossroads in the middle of a below freezing winter night, I was on my way home, and I met someone. He was hanging out at the corner watching the gusts of snow. As I got closer, he said ‘hi’, and I said it back. Neither of us seemed to be in a hurry to get anywhere. So we stood on the sidewalk talking for a while and casually eating my left-overs from the bistro down the street.

I had just left what was supposed to be an “anniversary dinner”, though I am not sure why, with the person on my right. He was making his impatience with my, not atypical, behavior remarkably clear. I could see the stink of his jealousy swirling through the air with the snow every time he exhailed. I got the impression that I was again doing something odd or inappropriate based on their arbitrary metric for it. Naturally, I was encouraged by this and kept the conversation going.

There was another huff lending to the theatrics of the speaker. “Are you seriously doing this? Come on, I want to go inside.” I was more than happy to stand out here without him anyway. “Go ahead.” He starts to leave and turns around, “Are you seriously going home with him.” I hadn’t said anything to that effect, but it seemed like the smarter choice to me. “I don’t know, maybe.” I shrugged. I was wearing a Cheshire grin by now. Irritating him was a nice added bonus. He may think I am crazy, but he was definitely the one who was mad.

He looked at me and my ginger haired snack partner, then back to me again. “It’s either him or me.” He paused his false bravado long enough to wait for whatever apologetic answer he was not going to be receiving. “I thought you were leaving.” I felt like that statement covered it all, but he took another shot at it. “We’ve been together for a year. You could be with me for your whole life. How long do you think he’s going to be around?”

This struck me as outright bizarre. The idea of being stuck with this guy for life was repulsive at this point, and certainly something that had never come up. He was basically doing PR for the other guy at this point, and I didn’t even know his name. “I’m leaving.” He said again. “I’m not.” He started heading to his apartment building leaving lines in the snow from dragging his feet. I turned away from the flagrantly self-important figure fadeing into the snow as he retreated. My new friend was still eating peacefully, completely disinterested in the impromptu tantrum, if he had even registered it at all. He was seeming to be quite unshakable unlike some people who may have begged off in a similarly odd situation. This was no affectation I would find out. This was simply his resting state, and he was always resting.

After a while my new friend and I crossed the street to stand under the streetlight. I dug through my bag and found my phone. I opened the phone and scrolled through my contact list and found a cab company. “I’m getting a taxi, it’s too far to walk to my place in this weather.” He looked up at me from where he was sitting. “If you are still here when my ride arrives you can come with me.” I said. I had no real idea if he needed a place to go, but it seemed polite to at least offer.

Around 20 minutes passed fairly uneventfully. Then the taxi pulled up. I looked around for a second and saw that my new acquaintance was on his way back over to the sidewalk. I got in the car and leaned out the door. “Want to come?” He walked over and checked out the cab for a few seconds. When he deemed it satisfactory, he jumped into my lap.

The driver had been watching our interaction quietly and now that everyone was inside he began to pull into the road. He looks at me through the rear-view mirror. My lap was still occupied and stayed that way for the whole 7 minute ride to my house. I handed the fare up to him and we all said goodnight.

My friend and I walked up to the porch and I unlocked the front door, opening it so that he could walk in first. I had one more thing to do. As he began to make himself comfortable in the living room I started to head out. “Don’t pee on anything, I will be right back.” I left shutting the door behind me.

I headed farther down my street to the only place I could count on to be open, not to mention the only place I could walk to. I pulled open the heavy glass door and waved to Mike behind the register. He was one of the regular cashiers at the gas station, so I knew him fairly well from a few years living in the area. He finished up with the customer before me and looked up from the screen. “How are you doing?” I asked stomping my boots off one the rubber mat a little so I didn’t slip. “Alright, you?” He replies. “Your out pretty late.” Yea, I replied. “It’s an interesting night. I made a new friend after dinner.” Mike gave me a quizzical look. “OOohh, really?” he said in his best interpretation of highschool gossip. “Yep,” I smile “That’s why I am here. I’m hoping you can help me out with a few things.”

“Sure, no problem. What do you need?”

“A really big trash bag, an old box, and a bag of the cat litter you use to clean up vomit.”

Instantly wisened, Mike heads out from the counter and into the back. He’s amused but in no way surprised.

This is where the story begins: a choice, a lie, and 10 pounds of kitty litter. I don’t know how this story ends, but Murray and I have been together for over 10 years. I will, however, point out that it is true what they say about orange tabbies.