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“I had to carry him to the curb,” he said. Samantha wailed. Alex gave her keys to Darren’s sister and told her to unlock his apartment. He lived in the adjacent complex.

“Take her to my apartment,” he told her. He could-n’t think with all the screaming. She said she was just upset, that she wanted to stay. Darren’s sister took her a few feet away to calm her down.

The cat’s head looked large, made him look almost wild. Some pink showed around the ears where the fur was thin. Alex touched the top of his head. Blood trickled from his ears and nose, his mouth frothy and pink, and his eyes seemed as though they couldn’t focus. As he touched the tip of his fingers to the cat’s forehead, it purred.

Darren lifted the tail, streaked red. “Every hole,” he said. “He’s not too good.” The cat contin-ued to purr. His chest heaved steadily, laboriously.

“Do we have any money?” Alex asked, but he already knew the answer. “There’s an animal hospital down the road.”

“He’s a goner, Alex. There’s no way. All they can do is kill him, and we’re all broke.” The cat continued to purr.

“We can’t leave him here,” said Alex.

“Sis, take Samantha to Alex’s apartment.”

“What about the cat?” wailed Samantha. “What’re you going to do?”

“The cat will be all right, trust me. Everything will be fine.”

“What are you going to do?” she wailed.

“He’ll be fine. We’re going to take care of him.”

“I didn’t mean to,” she wailed. “I didn’t mean to.” She sucked at her lower lip as tears streamed down her neck. She tried to get to the cat. “I’m sorry,” she wailed, “I didn’t mean to.”