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Life as Jake, My Wife’s Three-Legged Cat

June 1, 2021 By Margaret MacInnis

Life as Jake, My Wife’s Three-Legged Cat

I had four legs and a bad eye when she found me in the woods behind the barn, abandoned, my front leg caught in a trap she had not set. The vet took the leg, and my wife carried me home in a box.

The girls recognized me first.

“That’s what you get for killing yourself,” my younger daughter said the first time I tumbled from the top of the television and landed at her feet.

As she and her sister laughed, I thanked God they still could after the way that I left them, the older one sick in the hospital, the younger banging at the door while I sat, shades drawn, goodbyes written. How could I not have answered that door?

My wife—ex-wife, I always forget; what I put her through, stray even then—lifted me from the floor, held me to her, the way she held me the first time I appeared at her door, injured, abandoned by my friends, banging with my good hand, the other stitched and wrapped. She was a girl then, when she led me to the couch, where we sat and she held me close, as close as she is holding me now, and when my hand healed I held her back, held her too tightly, and then not tightly enough.

The man I was thought I could never lose her. The woman she became grew strong enough to let me go, strong enough to know she deserved more. I see it all so clearly even with my cloudy eye. I feel her strength, her love, the miracle of the life we shared, and now share again. Curled in her warm lap, I cannot speak; I cannot tell her what I’ve learned, how sorry I am for everything, but I can purr as she strokes the back of my neck; I can lick her hand with my sandpaper tongue; and I can wonder what on earth I did to deserve this taste of Heaven.

About Margaret MacInnis

Margaret MacInnis lives and writes in Iowa City. Her essays, stories, and poems have appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Brevity, Crab Orchard Review, Colorado Review, DIAGRAM, Gettysburg Review, Gulf Coast Review, Massachusetts Review, Mid-American Review, River Teeth, Tampa Review and elsewhere. Her work has received notable distinction in Best American Essays 2007, 2009, and 2011 and Best American Non-Required Reading 2009. Since 2010, MacInnis has worked as personal assistant to Marilynne Robinson.

Artist Credit:

Based out of Orlando, Katiana Robles is a multidisciplinary artist who sculpts, paints, and illustrates in a variety of media including some edible ones. Her work has been exhibited throughout Central Florida; most notably at Orlando City Hall, City Arts Factory, and Osceola Arts. To see more of her whimsical work follow her on Instagram @kat_robles.

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