Flash Fiction Link: Yoji by Mark Tulin

They all looked so cute, especially a sleek Russian Blue with silky gray fur. He looked at me with his green eyes, making an instant connection.

Yoji 

Yoji, by Mark Tulin
16/7/2018
 
While driving down a backroad in Cherry Hill, I passed by a pet store. I had just been through a painful divorce, feeling quite low, and thought that I needed something to pick up my spirits.

“I’ll just look,” I told myself. Knowing full well whenever I say that I end up buying something.

I made a screeching U-turn and headed into the parking lot of the pet store. I browsed the cat section for a few minutes. They all looked so cute, especially a sleek Russian Blue with silky gray fur. He looked at me with his green eyes, making an instant connection.

“Would you like to spend time with him alone to see if you’re compatible?” an employee by the name of Sal asked.

“Yes, I would.”

He took me to a little guest room with cat toys, an enclosed area where I could get to know the cat better.

“He likes guys with beards,” Sal said, who had a beard himself.

I picked up the cat, and he rubbed his snout against the front of my beard while making a purring sound.

“Yoji,” I said without thinking. I had been watching an episode of Miami Ink, and one of the characters was named Yoji.

Sal nodded his head in approval, knowing that the cat had found a suitable home.

In a matter of minutes, I was in my car with Yoji, who was purring in the animal carrier on the passenger seat. For the time being, at least, I had forgotten all about the divorce.