Perfect Impurrfections

Chapter 4

Live and Learn

                Crystal found when she got home from work the next day, she was actually feeling excited for her date that night.  She had hope building inside her as she worked through trying to get ready.  She had picked out a cute little black dress that she paired with a pair of black kitten heels.  She had curlers in her thick honey colored hair.  She was dressed in a silky little slip and cute lacy bra set.  She donned them with the thought that if she started the night full of wishful thinking that things would go better than it had before.  She wasn’t a, sleep with a guy on the first date kind of girl but it made her feel sexier wearing it even if the other person didn’t know.  She had read somewhere that if you did something like that then you exude a different aura because you feel that way.  She was willing to give it a try.  B.B. was protesting loudly from her bed where he was laying lazily on the comforter waiting for her to come over and pick him up for cuddles.  The longer it took for her to do just that the louder his demands became.  Looking at him in the mirror she rolled her eyes at his antics.  He had rolled onto his back reaching out a paw to her trying to look sweet and enticing.  She wasn’t going to fall for it.  She had things to do and places to be.

                As she began to apply her make up B.B. jumped up on her vanity table having finally given up with trying to get her to come to him.  Instead he had resorted to the pest tactic.  She had to keep catching containers as he knocked them over.  He was normally a pretty graceful cat for his size which is how she knew he was only doing it for attention.  She began to close up every container after she used it so if he knocked it over it wouldn’t matter.  Getting frustrated with her that he had lost her attention once again, he plopped his large furry butt in the middle of the table and yelled in her face.  Crystal backed away from the offensive fishy smell that permeated his breath as it wafted in her direction.

                “I’m getting you kitty treats for bad breath.”  She told him not willing to try to attempt to brush his teeth.  She had seen cat toothbrushes in the pet isle of the store once and shivered at the thought of B.B. attacking her while she tried to remove plaque from his teeth.  It looked like asking for death by cat to her and she had moved along worried for the pet owner that tried it.  She didn’t know if they worked better then the kitty treats that are supposed to remove tarter from their teeth, but she wasn’t willing to lose her digits in order to try it out. 

                B.B. had gotten bored with trying to get her attention and had wandered off to parts unknown.  Crystal was a little worried about what he was up to at first but after glancing at the clock let the thought drift away and she doubled her efforts to get ready in time.  She had just started to remove the curlers from her hair when she was distracted by a clunking sound coming from the direction of her closet.  Turning in her seat she screeched in anger.

                “B.B. what the hell!”  Her cat had been over by her shoes for tonight and had completely clawed up the back of one of them.  When she yelled at him, he assumed the position and peed in the other one staring her in the eye the whole time as if daring her to do something about it.  Coming up off of her stool she stalked angerly in his direction.  Unfortunately, her cat didn’t see this as a danger but a challenge instead as he puffed up his fur ready to take her on.  Crystal would never know who would have won as Casey came flying into the room to get between the two of them. 

                “That’s enough you two.”

                “He started it!”  She accused as she pointed a finger at B.B. while her turned around sticking his tail in the air scratching at the shoe he just urinated in as if to cover it up like he would in the litter box.  Growling at him she made a move to attack the feline, but Casey easily held her at bay.

                “It doesn’t matter who started it.  If you don’t finish getting ready soon, you’ll be late for your date.  If you aren’t going to go out, I have better things to do then play referee.”  Pulling away from Casey she huffed in anger while having a glaring contest with the cat.  Casey grabbed the trash bin from beside the vanity taking it over to deposit the shoes in.  He picked up the cat and slung him over his shoulder as if the beast weighed nothing at all.  B.B. lay limply purring away, happy that he finally got what he wanted from someone.

                “Stop glaring daggers at him and hurry up.”  With that Casey left the room tying the trash bag shut as B.B. hung over his shoulder like a rag doll.  Sighing in defeat she finished taking the curlers out and got dressed for the evening having to settle instead on a strappy pair of black sandals.  It was the only thing she had that matched the dress and she was a little sad that she couldn’t wear the pair she had wanted.  Crystal took one last glance in the mirror before grabbing her black clutch and rushing out the door.  She called ‘Speedy Cab Service’, on her way down the stairs ordering a ride for the night.  She placed her cell in the little clutch along with a little spray can of mace and money for the cab ride and dinner.  As she stood there looking to make sure she had everything before her ride got there B.B. came up and began rubbing against her legs.  Annoyed she tried moving away but he followed her through the room refusing to give up.  Casey was laughing at the two of them as he watched Crystal try to outmaneuver that gigantic cat.  Looking up to glare at her friend she had missed where B.B. stepped next and nearly tripped over him.  He let out a howl and hissed at her before running over to Casey’s side for protection.

                “Don’t glare at me, it’s your fault for getting underfoot in the first place.” 

                “Play nice you two.”  Casey chastised the two of them trying to contain his laughter.  Crystal would have argued some more but the impatient honking coming from right out the door warned her the cab had arrived.

                “Be safe and call if you need anything.”

                “Yeah, yeah I got it.  Thanks for watching my hairy demon for the night.”  He nodded in response waving her off before her cab drove off without her. 

                As Crystal entered the back of the cab, she couldn’t help scrunching her nose up at the odor coming from it.  She looked at the driver only to see some young kid behind the wheel.

                “Are you old enough to even drive?”  She couldn’t help asking garnering her a glare from the driver who pointed to the license on his dash.  The birthdate on it made him barely eighteen and she wondered silently what went wrong in his life to have ended up driving the world’s smelliest cab.  She gave him the address a little reluctantly then reached over to roll down the window.  Much to her dismay she found the handle had been broken off which made getting fresh air from that one impossible.  Glancing over at the other door she saw that it still had a handle.  The cabby must have been watching her in the rear-view mirror when he warned her against moving to the other side.

                “One of the fares threw up all over the seat over there.  I wouldn’t slide over if I were you.”

                “That happened tonight already?”  She questioned looking at the clock on the dash to verify that it was too early for the bars to be closing yet.

                “Nah I think that was last week.” 

                “What?  Why didn’t you get it cleaned?”  The cabby shrugged his scrawny shoulders and turned his attention back to the road.

                “Why clean it up when it happens just about every night.”  He reasoned out making Crystal want to vomit at the thought of what all could be in the back seat with her.

                “Can you roll your window down then please.  It really reeks back here.”  The kid turned confused eyes to the rear-view mirror meeting her gaze before looking back out the windshield.

                “The windows are down.”  He stated.  Crystal looked at both the driver window and the passenger window only to find the cabby was indeed telling the truth.  Both of them had been rolled down all the way and she chastised herself for not noticing the breeze coming in the car beforehand.  It was probably because the car hadn’t been moving very fast as it had drove the streets of the complex where she lived but now that they were on the city streets, he had picked up speed.  The air unfortunately did little to dissipate the smell that permeated the back seat of the cab.  Looking to the dash she made a note of his name so the next time she used the cab service she could request a different cab.  Nothing against the young man but she didn’t think she could stomach getting back into that cab again.  Letting out a sigh of frustration Crystal watched the streetlights pass by the car as they drove down the road.  She really hoped by the time she made it to the restaurant that she didn’t emit the same smell coming from the cab.  Too bad she hadn’t thought to bring a small bottle of perfume to spray once she got out.  She would know better next time.  If there was a next time after her date got a good whiff of her.