Requiem for an affectionate friend…

I was not planning on writing anything for today because I wanted to let yesterday's post be up front a little while longer. But today we had an addendum to the story and I thought I would tell about it. Yesterday our cat was poisoned and today he went out to the garden and died. He was a very affectionate cat. Very. He would come and kiss you and lay on your shoulders and purr. He was gray with a little striping and he was only perhaps 6 months old. We had found him at the bus station one morning as we were going up to the dacha. He came to me cold, lonely and hungry and I scratched his ears and he just stuck to me so hard that I couldn't resist taking him with us. In fact he stuck to our family so soundly it seemed he was more dog than cat. We even took him several times with us up to the dacha because he would follow us like a dog and would even respond to a whistle. Truth be told our daughter was terrible with him and for several months he was absolutely terrified of her. But despite her heavy handling, after a while he even found it in his heart to allow her to play with him as she liked. He was our cat. We allowed his free reign to come and go as he liked, but when he was outside he resided in the garden, playing with the other cats and was always around when you gave him the call to come home. Oh, and though Anya insisted his name was Bim, we all knew that he really didn’t need a name and we all simply called him Kot.

And what?

I know that Vadik is responsible for this. I know it. We called the cops on him and so he responded by poisoning our cat. This is who he is now. I went to Nina and told her this and she became hysterical, screaming at me that it was I who was the drug dealer and that Vadik was innocent of such crimes. I told her that if my saying this to her meant the division of our friendship, than this was something I would have to live with. As of the moment, I have been told that Egr will no longer be needing English lessons.

Today I spoke to a friend on the street and we agreed that if Vadik was in fact selling, he probably was putting some money into her house and if this was the case, after so many years of poverty, how could she resist? And really, what is it to her if this is what the man does for a living? Who is she to pass moral judgments on her son when he is finally bringing some money home?

But I know it was Vadik because I saw him today and I saw his face and how he was looking at me. I also know this because people do talk and today from many people I got exactly the same sort of reaction I got the day the bike was stolen. People know.

So you know, one simply must understand that there is heroin in Pinsk and with it, the accompanying business. I guess what Vadik needed me to know was that any plans anyone ever had for Egr really ought to be forgotten. We are all going to hell now because Vadik has taught us that this must be. He is going to be the real role model now. Hard work, brains and drive are really not what living is all about and these lessons do not even need to be taught. You know, he told me once, straight out in fact, that Egr was shit, that he was bad, that he was not worth investing in. This was said to me as we were staking out Splosh-nosed Sergei's house, waiting for the police who eventually never would come. I needed to know that I was wasting my time with the boy. The real lesson was that the real money is in human failing and weakness; misery, depression and pain are what pays. This is what I needed to know. The other lesson I was supposed to learn is that when a guy decides to be a gangster, this means he should be left alone to do his business no matter how horrible it is, no matter how ugly his world is and no matter what sort of stupid ass the guy is through and through.

So yesterday they killed my cat. That's today's story from Pinsk.

Rest in peace Kot. Thank you for the love. It was a pleasure having you with us for a while.