91- You love to use them

Eron’s tail lashed a bit. He sat and curled it around his paws. ‘You just said you think you’re older than me, didn't you?’

I looked at him in surprise. “Aren't I?” I asked uncertainly.

‘Only if you're older than eighty-three,’ he said with a nervous laugh.

I stared at him for a long, long moment. “You're joking, right?” I said finally. “You're not eighty- three.”

He shrugged his shoulders in a remarkably human way. ‘Guilty.’

“When you say we're going to look like this forever. You don't mean like…” The word sounded ridiculous. “Immortal forever?”

He nodded one slow nod.

I staggered back, and managed to find a chair to sink into. “I'm immortal,” I said in disbelief. He nodded again.

“I'm young and healthy, and I'm going to be like this literally, forever?”

‘I can't tell if you think that's good or bad,’ Eron said nervously. He seemed to shiver, and I realized he was changing back into a human.

When he was done, this time instead of checking him out, I found myself studying him. Was he really eighty-three? I looked at his handsome, flawless face, the sexy curves of his body. And then I zeroed in on the pure concern in the eyes, boring into mine.

“You're not upset, are you?” he asked softly. “No. No, I just I wasn't expecting this perk.” He laughed nervously. “So, it is a perk?”

“Yeah, I just…” I laughed. “This is crazy! I’m immortal!”

“I really should have said something,” he said, blushing. “I guess when you agreed so quickly, I just kind of tried to tell you all the bad things instead of the positive ones, so that you'd be ready.”

“I don't mind,” I said. “It’s okay. It’s great! I'm just surprised is all.” “Do you still want to try changing?” he asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, I do.” I stood, dusted off my hands, and took a deep breath. “Focus on being a cat, right?”

“Right.”

Eron began to change again. This time, before he was finished, I closed my eyes and started to imagine the change happening to me. I didn't think it was working until I started to itch. Really itch. I opened my eyes and looked down at my arms. They were sprouting hair!

I gasped in surprise. “It's working!”

‘Keep going,’ Eron said, talking into my head again.

I nodded and refocused on turning into a cat. The fur lengthened, and my arm began to thin before my eyes. My fingers shrank and rounded. At the same time. my fingernails began to lengthen and curve into claws. It was actually kind of distracting. I closed my eyes and just kept thinking about changing, feeling the pins and needles all over my body. It started to get almost painful, or at least, seriously uncomfortable, worse than itching, but not intolerable.

And just when I started to think that I couldn't take much more of the strange sensation, it was gone. I felt my hands hit the floor. My head turned, but I didn’t consciously do it.

I could see Eron standing near me, but he was no longer a tiny little cat. He looked like he was my size, standing eye-level with me, just a couple of feet away. My body shook itself off. I tried to look back at him, but couldn’t. Why couldn’t I move?

‘Your cat is in control,’ Eron said. ‘Take over, be the boss.’

How did I do that? I felt myself sit down and start licking a paw. I tried to stop, but kept licking.

‘Shove the cat out the door.’

It was a weird suggestion, but I imagined tossing a cat out the door of my bedroom, which I had done a thousand times. To my surprise, the strange sensation of not being in control of my own body was gone. I experimentally lifted a paw and it worked.

‘Now just think of what you want to say and think it um… at me.’ ‘Like this? How do I look?’

He must have heard me, because he laughed. ‘Fluffy.’ ’What?’ I asked.

He laughed again and nodded his head toward the bathroom door. ‘See for yourself.’

I tried to walk and nearly tripped over my front legs.

‘You have four legs now. You love to use them in the right order.’‘Right,’ I said with a nervous laugh. I picked up my feet my front feet and took a cautious step.

‘Let the cat mind do it.’ he said. ‘You have an inner cat, you shoved him out the door before.

Open it a bit and let him help you walk.’

It still didn’t make much sense to me, but I tried to relax a bit and just willed myself to go toward the bathroom. To my surprise, I felt a strange nudge, like someone tapping me on the shoulder or the feeling you get when someone is staring at you, and then my legs began to move.

‘Pay attention to how the cat does it so you can learn.’

I obeyed and by the time I was in the bathroom, I was confident enough to jump onto the sink by myself. I stumbled a bit, but then regained my balance and studied myself in the mirror. To my surprise, I wasn’t brown or smooth like Eron. He hadn’t been joking about fluffy. I was covered in a thick, puffy coat of gray and white striped fur. A tabby; of course. Not just a tabby though, I looked like a Maine Coon. Maybe I was one. Did being born in Maine affect that?

‘This is incredible,’ Milan said. I jumped down onto the floor with ease. As I landed, I felt the urge to run. So I did.

After just a few bounds, I somehow sensed something behind me. Chasing me! A strange sensation rippled through my body as my fur stood on end. I felt my tail go straight up, poofed up to three times its size. I turned back and, beyond my huge tail, I saw Eron hot on my heels. It was him chasing me!

I laughed and led them on a merry chase. At first I stuck to open floorspace, but as we rain I grew confident. Soon we were dodging around furniture legs, then jumping over tables and scooting under chairs.

We pounded recklessly up and down the stairs. I felt bad for every time I was annoyed my the café cats midnight runs. It was so much fun! At last, we jumped onto my bed, bounced, and then sat still. I shook myself off and felt my tail almost automatically curl around my feet.

‘Wow,’ I said. ‘Wow!’

I swear, if Eron were human he’d be grinning from ear to ear. ‘Hate cats a little less now?’

he teased.

‘I never hated them,’ I protested. ‘I was just… not overly fond.’

He chuckled, then walked over and rubbed against me. It was odd being rubbed on by a cat as large as me. He nearly knocked me over. I leaned against him to support myself and my inner cat suddenly took control and rubbed back. I felt a weird rumble and realized I was purring as we gently bumped our heads and shoulders together.

My shoulder throbbed as we touched, reminding me of the next step.

‘So now… we mark each other?’

His ears came up alertly. ‘Are you ready to?’ ‘I think so. What do we do?’

‘We just bite each other.’ I could hear him purring. ‘Right where the spot on your collarbone hurts.’

‘Okay, let’s do it.’

I stepped closer, trying to keep my balance on the bed. We stood still for a moment, then he dipped his head and I could feel him nuzzle near my neck. I did the same. And then, a couple of pinches.

‘Your fur is thick,’ he chuckled. Then, a flash of pain as he sank his teeth into me, through my fur.

I quickly bit him back and the pain transformed into an incredible rush of pleasure. I felt a surge of joy that I thought was from my inner cat. We released each other and he stepped back, looking pleased.

‘What now? Is that it?’ I asked.

‘That's it,’ said Eron.