The second of January of this year is a day which will forever be etched in my mind for many reasons. I had just had a client meeting that same morning, which went rather strangely. My head just wasn’t there and I tried to laugh it off as it being the day after. But I knew better. And my client must have thought I was rather messy, a little unprofessional.
As I stood in my dining room, head spinning and walking on cotton wool as if in a horrid dream from which you can’t quite awaken, I started lighting four candles. At that moment the Wizard cat appeared and floated around me with a puzzled look on its face.
“What are you doing?” he asked me quizzically.
“It’s Wim’s operation now. I am a bit in a state,” I tell him with a bewildered look on my face. I am looking for reassurance. Somebody who will tell me it will all be ok.
“I see,” the Wizard starts out as usual as his gaze takes on a dreamy stare. “He will be fine just very sore for a few weeks. But we could make it into big drama by assuming conspiracy things just to add spice to your life. Or you can calm down. Breath deeply and leave it to the specialists and a higher power. Go see him so you are there when he wakes up or the next day at least.”
“Yes piece of cake,” I snap back. I know at this point it is useless to be asking a Wizard to magic things better for me. But the advice is sound. Sometimes we have to admit that things are out of our control. And that there is no other option than to let go and trust that things will work out for the higher good of all.
I blow out my candles as I decide to head back out to the hospital again, baby in tow. It’s better to be sitting around there where answers can be given and where I might see Wim is okay with my own eyes, rather than burning candles in my living room. Right at that moment, I receive a message from my star employee. As I look at my iPhone messenger I am perplexed by what I read, but Wim is more pressing on my mind, and I fail to find the news unsettling.
“Ah poop. A message from my star, Anouk,” I say rather dully. “She is pregnant and refuses to watch over the baby. Doctor Oz bullshit blablabla. I will just have to get up earlier and leave earlier to pick up the baby myself. Sleep is so overrated. How is Cuba? Happy to be home? Boiling hot outside?”
The Wizard cat just floats past me with a silly grin on its face. He’s in one of those moods I see. No time to worry about anything, the solution is already written in the stars anyway. I bundle up my little baby boy and head off to the hospital.
The Wizard cat seems intent on following me around today, but ignoring me at the same time. I attempt some light conversation in the car.
“Something funny,” I say as I glance at him sideways, keeping my focus on the road. “The Intermizzo ex-wife has contacted me.”
But even such gossip isn’t going to peak the Wizard’s interest. As I make my way to the hospital, I am happy to note the Wizard remained neatly curled up in the passenger’s seat. At least he would leave me to the privacy of visiting my Wim on his sick bed.
Sure enough, when I get back in the car much, much later that night, the Wizard cat lays quietly in the same place, as if he hasn’t moved in the past three hours.
“Wim is awake and in pain and scared,” I tell him tears welling up in my eyes. Still no response and I am happy he is leaving me to the stormy torment of my feelings. We will talk when I have gotten some sleep. A good’s night rest can often sooth the most poignant pains.
But before going to bed, I answer a Facetime call from the Butterfly Lady from New Zealand. The Wizard cat didn’t stick around to hear it, but decided to warm up my bed to keep my feet cosy by the time I arrive upstairs.
“And the woman from New Zealand called me,” I tell him defiantly as my heavy head hits the pillow. “Very strange conversation.”
And that was it. Lights out. I will have to explain it all another day when my head is clear and my soul is light again.
* Disclaimer : Any resemblance between the fictional characters in this story and any persons, living or dead, is a miracle by chance more than by choice.
