COINCIDENCE

What is a coincidence? A signal, that something good or bad, will strike over one’s life?

Most of us wouldn’t take coincidences seriously, we are way too “rational” to believe on things like that.

But some time ago I experienced something that made me rethink my conceptions:

I had a close friend, a shy and melancholic girl, named Anna. We were childhood friends, and we almost dated when we were younger, but she had to move to another city.

We kept contact, through mail and e-mail. She would send me messages every day, and at first I would reply to them just after receiving them. But time have passed and I knew another girl, we started to date, and part because I was too busy with my girlfriend, and part because I didn’t want to tell Anna I had meet someone, I stop replying the mail she sent me. Not at once, but little by little. Someday she sent an email asking if I was mad at her or if she had said something stupid, things like that. It was common, once she always took the blame for other people errors. I tried to explain everything in an e-mail, but three weeks later, when I gathered the strength to send it, it just bounced back, something about the destination not existing anymore. I keep trying the e-mail and also the phone and mailing her some old fashioned letters.

The phone turned to be inexistent, and my letters returned marked as “recipient not found”. It made me very sad, I felt horrible, but as the time passed, I ended forgetting it.

From time to time I would remember her with melancholy.

After I graduated, I got an excellent job that was unbelievable close to my new house, I just had to cross the street. Everyday I would walk downstairs; buy me a cup of coffee and cross the street.

With time it becomes very automatic and I won’t notice the people around me, but someday, for no reason at all, this white stray cat, jumped in front of me. I almost trip on it and, a little pissed off, I looked around me to see where the little trouble maker was, but then I saw a beautiful girl that I recognized instantly: Anna, the same short black hair, the big blue eyes and that shy smile of hers. She had grown up, but looked the same nice girl that I was so fond of.

But then, she disappeared in the crowd.

To be honest, I could have looked for her more, but it was so fast, I started to doubt myself.

 After that, I would look around for her every day, before and after work, but still I wouldn’t find her among the crowd.

I was almost forgetting about it when, while I waited to cross the street, I feel a strong pain in my ankle. Scared I look to see what happened, just in time to see the same stray white cat running away after biting me. This time I went after the little bastard, decided to take him personally to the animal control, so he would stop harassing me.

But I missed it completely.

Calmer, I turned to go to office, when I see the same beautiful girl, and this time I was sure, it was Anna. She was walking with two other girls, laughing and smiling, all them having some kind of ID around the neck.

I remembered how much I liked the sound of her laugh, and this time I really tried to reach her, but once again she disappeared.

Late that night, after I visited a couple pubs and clubs of the neighborhood to look for Anna, I went back to home and went to bed. Was stupidity, more than three million people lived in the city, and the odds of finding her where very, very little. Disappointed and tired, I finally slept.

Close to 3:00 Am, a crash wakes me.

I caught some wood left from the closet I was trashing to have more space in my bedroom, and tip toe to my living room.

I waited in the dark silently until I saw a figure walking slowly on the floor. Incapable to believe in my own eyes, I turned the lights on, to be sure.

Was that damned white stray cat.

I was unsure of how to proceed, even mad at the cat –who had just destroyed a pretty expensive porcelain vase that I got from my trip to China –I still didn’t had the cold blood to beat it with a piece of wood. More confuse than mad, I just watched while it jumped on my sofa, curled in a ball and slept like he was the owner of the place.

I decided to first look from where he had entered in my room, but my house was all shut, no door or window open. The little magician probably had entered while I was looking to the wrong direction when I came back, a couple hours earlier.

I Stood in front of him, lectured him like he was a bad child, tried to move him but all was worthless. The cat ignored me and kept purring on the sofa. Defeated and tired, I went back to my bed.

In the next morning, I found havoc and destruction beyond my wildest dreams, well, I admit it was restricted to my sofa, but anyway, I wasn’t pleased to see that mister feline magician had shredded the sofa that I was still paying for. Telling myself that PETA would murder me in my sleep if I hurt the savage beast, I decided to trap it on with a sheet or a towel and drop it on the animal control, but the bastard hide itself so well I couldn’t find it anywhere. Late to work, I give up searching the cat, and left a window open, so it could get out of there while I was at work.

Having the rest of my week ruined by that stupid feline, who had probably been sent by the evil forces from darkness to annoy me to death, I crossed the street looking like I would punch the first person to cross my path, and I say that because people would look at my face and get out of my way a little scared.

I must be honest, I reacted childishly over a cat, a sofa and an overpriced vase, and I sincerely regretted it as soon as I crossed the street. I even look around me, thinking if I should apologize for acting like I would randomly punch people in the face, when I saw it.

A sign in with a picture of a big white cat and at the bottom of the sign several tiny strips with a name and a phone number. No one took the little strips with a phone number attached, where I could read :

“CAT LOST, PLEASE HELP, RESPOND TO “ROMEO”. ANY INFORMATION CALL JANICE 99-999-999.”

No doubt about it, it was my fiendish guest. I took one of the strips and kept it on my wallet.

At the end of the day, I was going back home, when my nemesis, “Romeo” nearly gave me a heart attack by jumping out from nowhere over me.

Some people would say I screamed like a little girl, but some people never got a cat attached to their scalp. After “thrilling” me, the thing landed close to me, he walked away, calmly, like he owned the entire neighborhood.

The most rational line of action would be running back home and locking the window before your majesty, Romeo The Shredder, returned home (to MY home) with a dead rat in his mouth.

But damn, I’m probably a stupid masochist, because, remembering the sign, called him.

-Hey Romeo. Come here boy!

I was hoping him to ignore me and relief me of any guilt from not helping a girl somewhere to get her precious kitty back, but that evil hair-ball actually turn back and jumped in my lap.

“Romeo” curled in a ball and simply waited to be taken back to his palace, my apartment, were I still had to feed him and give him water, which he paid me by pooping on my kitchen and murdering one of my pillows.

I decided that Romeo’s personality was a gift to great to be kept only for me, and I called “Janice” hoping she could come and get him before he destroyed any other piece of furniture.

-Hello, Janice?

-Yes? Who is?

-My name is James, I saw your sign and I found your cat… Could…

-OH! ROMEO?! Thank you so much!! I will pick him right now! I will have a friend to drive me there!!!

Some people are just weird, I said to myself after give my address. Caring about a trouble maker…

Well I am soft hearted, and I felt real good for putting a girl and her cat back together, I even pet the little devious Romeo, who responded with a soft purr.

Twenty minutes later, they arrive, already fond of the furniture-murderer angel; I pick Romeo gently and took him downstairs.

There two girls waited in the lobby, and I just lost my tongue.

-Romeo! My baby!!-Said the blonde girl called Janice –Did him behaved well?

I answered yes, but I did not intend to lie. I was just surprised.

Anna was the friend.

Her big blue eyes shined like jewels as we both simply stood there, speechless.

-James?

-Anna!

We kind of forget about the other girl and the cat, we hug, we laugh we almost cried, and we exchange phone numbers and addresses.

-I can’t believe in that James!

Neither did me. But damn, I suddenly felt a need to kiss Romeo and buy him an everlasting supply of tuna.

From that day on I never lost contact with Anna, we actually started to date, and two years later we were married.

Now you must be thinking “oh, that was the coincidence?”

No, coincidence was to discover, less than a minute after I handled the cat to Janice that “Romeo” was actually a “Juliette”. It was the wrong cat.

In my defense, I never had a cat, so I didn’t knew about it’s “plumbing”.

Good old Romeo was found next day at his own home, where he finally meet Juliette, and together they made a lot of kittens, white, adorable and with a lust for the destruction of any furniture they meet.

One is ours, his name?

Lucky Coincidence.

Fin.