402
ALAN FRIEDMAN
door changed to frantic clawing. Her claws audibly tore through
the surface of the wood. She must just have had her kittens
- I hadn't noticed any change in her heaviness, as a matter of fact.
It was Jacqueline's face I'd read: emptied, sagging with fatigue and
joy, as if she'd given birth in pain. I asked, "Did you lock her kittens
in the closet?"
She didn't answer.
Slowly horrified at her expression, I said, "Did you drown Bijou's
kittens?"
Her eyes were fixed on the closet door; she hadn't been crying.
Except for an irregular swallowing, except for an almost imperceptible
rubbing of her childlike wrists against her thighs, she was very still,
she hadn't moved since I'd come into the room, I doubt if she'd
actually looked at me more than an instant. But now - I was
startled - she gently pinched my arm.
It
was slight, but evidently
important; she had decided to share something with me. "No,"
she said finally, "they are alive. Six. Four black kittens and two
grey-and-white. I have given them to Poupee."
I thought I hadn't heard correctly. "You gave the kittens . . .
to the dog?"
"Don't be afraid. She wants kittens, too, yes, and she will love
them as much as Bijou. But I have disciplined Bijou now, which
she deserves." She was very happy.
I forgot
alI
about Jacqueline. I tried the closet door. It was locked.
She was on her way downstairs. Had I wanted . . .
?
I almost
lost my voice. "Jacqueline !" Jacqueline was gone. "Give me the key!"
The cat stood on her, hind legs, straining for the knob as though to
help me - I tried to force the door.
The new noise must have wakened them inside ... the dog began
to bark ... a piercing maternal yapping sound ... a bark of triumph
... and the six newborn blind bits of kitten flesh began to pipe ...
shrill, faint, so many, with such energy ... the cat went wild at the
doorknob - and I heard Jacqueline'S terrible loving vengeance, her
motherly delight, the dog's brute throat exploding through the wood–
work, proclaiming that there was justice on earth, that love followed
patience, that after mutilation came six puppies.
