Lupe 

I went for a walk ten days ago which  I assumed would be one of the longer walks since I was up for it.   But when I reached Fairfax, the heat and the sticky beat down on my plans and I chose to do the regular size walk.   As I headed home on 3rd Street I finished an episode on the podcast Can You Dig It? The history of Hip Hop.  The ending of the chapter was very dramatic and I was grateful for a red light to process it.  Because my head was swimming with the images conjured by the podcast I was not paying attention to the man on the other side of Grove Drive also waiting for the light to change.  

Maybe it was the heat on the south side of my face and the sweat on my neck that made me focus on the sweatshirt draped on the man’s arm.  It seemed too hot for a sweatshirt. That was when I realized it was not a sweatshirt  instead it was a cat draped on his forearm.   The light changed green.  The man did not move.  Apparently he saw a confused look on my face as I crossed the street because he greeted me with, “Do you want a cat?”    The man’s friendly face belied the weirdness of the situation.  I asked, “What is going on with the cat?”   

English was his second language and he explained as best as he could that he was driving to work and got off the freeway.  While on the offramp he heard meowing.  He got out of his car and picked up the cat and now was carrying the cat to work.  He thought the cat was hit by a car.  He ended with, “He’s a very nice cat”.   I asked about his job and the plans he can do with a cat there and it was clear that was not a solution.   I asked, “Can you take the cat to the vet?” “No,” he replied.  I took a breath, “I’ll take the cat”.  The man was relieved.  I cradled the cat as if it was a baby.  The cat let out a painful meow and I shifted to draping the cat on my arm just like how the man had held it.   This calmed the cat.   I turned around and headed for our veterinarian on Fairfax.   Now people in cars and pedestrians were looking at me in the same manner that I looked at the guy.    A draped cat on an arm is an unusual sight.  As I walked I thought of my friend on a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. I am not Catholic but three of my four grandparents were and I decided I would text her and ask her to light a candle for the cat.   When I entered the front door, the tech immediately assessed the situation and knew the cat needed hydration.   She also said that I would probably need to take the cat to MASH, the animal hospital in Hollywood.   Trips to MASH are not cheap but I knew she was right.    

I walked home and when I saw a bus halfway I was grateful I had my pass and hopped on cutting some of the time off the journey.   Once home I explained to Charlie the situation and we discussed the potential cost and I said, “If it comes over $500 I may ask my friends to kick in”.  I took a shower, cleaned off the sweat and I called the vet.  The tech informed me the cat was a female and that she seemed to feel better but was still in pain and twitching.    She also said no charge for the hydration or the back nail clipping.   I returned with my cat carrier and decided right then that the cat’s name would be Lupe for Guadalupe.   I had not texted my friend yet. I wanted to wait until after the trip to MASH but I thought Lupe still made sense.  I noticed on the drive to MASH that her crying subsided when I talked to her and called her Lupe.   I realized she might like having a name.  

I called MASH from their parking lot and the front desk explained that I would be financially responsible and that it could not fall on the hospital to absorb the costs just because it was a stray.   I said that  I understood.   As soon as they saw Lupe they went into crash position and took her in the back.   I filled out the paperwork and was glad to write LUPE under pet’s name.   A few minutes later the staff came up to me and advised euthanasia. .   They believed she was not hit by a car but instead had a neurological issue which could have come from being poisoned or eating something that had been poisoned.   It was clear to the doctor that any path we took would not be successful.    

I went into the grieving room, filled out more paperwork and the doctor brought out Lupe in a blanket.  She was now wearing a cone because they didn’t know how she would react to being on my lap.   I gave her a snug hold and she seemed to feel safe.  I called her Lupe and said that in her next lifetime she needs to choose to not be feral and instead be a house cat where she can rule the roost.   The doctor said, “That’s a good plan for next time.  Are you ready?”   The cone around Lupe’s neck rubbed against my arm, where I had carried her ninety minutes earlier.  I heard the voices from the lobby of humans in various stages of  fear wondering about their pet’s condition.   Some of Lupe’s gray fur, dusty from a life outdoors, contrasted my orange dress.  I thought how no human had been there for her until the kind man who picked her off the road then me, then medical people.  My eyes filled with mist. “Yes, I am ready,”  I said.     As the injection went into Lupe I was happy to be there for her. Lupe died in a gentle environment wrapped in a blanket in my lap with a very kind doctor.  My heart felt good about her exit but I was also angry that we do not do better for our animals in Los Angeles.     

When I spoke to my friend the next day, she was at the airport in Mexico City leaving for home.  I said, “Oh, I was going to have you light a candle for a cat I named Lupe yesterday but now she has passed away so I guess it does not matter.”  She said, “Oh, that’s curious because I lit a candle for you yesterday for anything you might need.”    I wondered about it later.  Did my friend’s candle help me or Lupe?  Or both?   If I had walked my longer path I would never have seen the man with Lupe.   The timing would have been off.   I wondered if I chose to turn on Fairfax instead of going on my longer walk because of  a candle flickering thousands of miles away.  Did it hit a mystical tripwire? After all I was in Los Angeles where you see images of Guadalupe on walls and businesses all over the city.  Did Guadalupe know of Lupe?   I do not have any answers.  

As for the MASH bill, I paid the fee which was under five hundred so I am not coming to you guys for help.  Charlie and I got Lupe covered. 

But I do have one request.   

Please email your city council member and Mayor Bass and ask them the following:  

When was the last time you were in a shelter?   Trust me, it needs improving.  Please visit a shelter and also authorize a healthier bigger budget.   We need to do better by the animals of Los Angeles. 

You will find your council member and Mayor on this link. 

https://lacity.gov/directory