Caring for Samson: The Cat Lady's Journey of Strength and Self-Discovery

There were two things I knew for sure.

One: Cats are friendly. They're mean to people they don't like, but they love you once they do.

Two: Dogs are loyal. They love you no matter what.

I had decided that the only thing separating cats and dogs was their legs, and so I brought home a dog with one leg. He was a little bit bigger than the cats, and his leg was gone right above the knee. No collar around his neck, no tag on his ear, no nothing. Just a dog with one leg, sitting in the middle of the road like he'd been there for weeks. I offered him some water from my bottle and he drank it up like he hadn't had anything in days. Then I took him home with me, to care for him until someone came to claim him (if anyone ever did).

He ate half my can of tuna straight out of the can without even chewing it before taking a nap on my bedspread, so I named him Samson after a character from an old movie I liked in high school. I didn't have much furniture or decorations beyond my bookshelf full of cat stuff and some of my old clothes hanging on hangers in the closet, but I bought some stuff at Home Depot to fix up the place to make Samson more comfy while he was there. It took me all day to get everything done because I kept worrying about going outside to get supplies or driving somewhere to get food for Samson and someone would see me and call animal control to take away my new pet. But if I hid inside too long he would get hungry again and that wouldn't be good either so I had to keep going back into town every few hours or so to get more food for him or go to the library down the street to borrow some books about dogs so I could learn how to take better care of him.

Since dogs couldn't catch colds from cats (or vice versa) and only needed shelter from bad weather instead of heating during wintertime, it made sense for me to live in my house year round instead of moving somewhere warmer during winter like most of my neighbors did each year when mosquitoes got too bad (and since Samson wasn't allowed inside many places where people might see him anyway). It also made sense that I should stay here because anything else would interfere with Samson's ability to walk more than necessary - besides, if someone called animal control now that he was staying at my house it would be easier for me to fight that threat by telling them that we were together all along rather than living separately in different houses where it was harder for us to see each other often enough for me to know whether or not he had been taken away from me by strangers who might mistreat him worse than I ever could or even kill him just because they didn't like how he looked without his leg or something awful like that. In fact, it would be much easier if everyone thought we were always together as soon as we met - after all, if no one knew we were never alone together then they couldn't try to separate us! This way they couldn't! If they tried anyway then we'd run away together! We'd run away forever! And nothing could stop us! After all, what did any of them have on us? Not even God could stand in our way forever! Not even God could stand between us! Not even God could beat us! Not even God could break us apart! Never! Never never never never never never never never never never never never never never never NEVER!!!

Except... what if this wasn't true? What if people were already trying to separate us? What if they were doing it right now? Right this very moment? What if this was why Samson didn't have a tag on his ear? What if this was why he ran out into traffic? What if this was why he lost his leg? What if his owner didn't want him anymore? What if... what if... what if... what if... *sob sob sob*