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I didn’t notice the hair all over the flat when I got in last night. I hadn’t left the office until almost nine, and went to Tesco on the way home, so by the time I got back at half ten or so it was like a scene from In Cold Blood, albeit without the gunshots.

Oscar met me at the door, squeaking and purring as is his way, and as soon as I’d sat down he was up on my lap for a tickle. I was on the phone by the time I felt the wetness on my fingers and lifted up his chin to find a large hole in his neck. It was then that I noticed the clumps of hair all over the carpet.

I’m guessing he set-to at the spot on his chin sometime during the day and having scratched it made things worse, putting him into an endless spiral of scratching and hurting until there was no hair left.

The hole was dripping some kind of clear fluid.

Poor thing. He was so well behaved, though, and obviously knew there was something wrong. I made up some salty solution and without even flinching, he rolled over on his back, then lay in my arms like a baby, his head thrown back, while I bathed the wound.

He did the same again this morning.

He really is the best-natured cat I’ve ever known.

It was a late night, all things considered, as was tonight. Mum, Andrew and Viv came around for dinner, partly to see Oscar, and in part so we could play Rummikub. I left my desk on the spot of six and made it onto an earlier train than I’d expected. It took an age to reach Chelmsford, but I bumped into Phil, and we chatted about college, now almost ten years ago, and his wedding, just a couple of weeks away.

I had to pick up a couple of bits and bobs in Sainsbury, so didn’t get started in the kitchen until almost half seven. It was inevitable I wouldn’t be serving by eight, as promised, so I settled them all down in front of the Xbox while I finished the veg.

It went well, and we had good fun. Mum won Rummikub by a comfortable margin. With so many eyes to watch the cat, though, the real luxury was being able to open all the windows, which after over a week of being shut tight was ambrosial, especially at the end of such a hot and stuffy day. Oscar enjoyed it too. Suddenly he could hear the cars and doors and voices outside, and he spent most of his time sniffing the air, sometimes sitting, sometimes up on his back legs with his front paws pressed to the windowsills so he could put his nose on the breeze.

Now that they have gone the windows are closed again and already I’m both baked and parched.

But now I must sleep. I’ve had so many late nights this week I’ve not made the gym once. I will suffer at Complete Physique this weekend.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 13th, 2002 at 11:45 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.