My Conversation With A Lynx
(Continued…)
My last two posts have been taken from a 2003 journal entry, written in Snowmass Village, Colorado, when I worked in a fancy retail store at the ski-slope Mall. The topic was think-talking with inanimate objects. Here, at last, is the actual conversation with the two animals who shared the store with me – in their taxidermied forms. The lynx, or bobcat, was fairly small and its whole body was preserved. The antelope, represented by only head and shoulders, lived at the front window, providing a Western atmosphere…I suppose. This turned out to be the only day that we conversed, as things went back to the way they always had been, on my next working day. Here’s the story:
“I have this bobcat down on my desk from its high perch behind me. I think it’s really a lynx, which is an endangered species. I have just cut out a newspaper article about these wildcats, which they are trying to reintroduce in Colorado. They’re not doing well, at all. Most starve, get hit by cars, or get shot. The ones that do survive, don’t reproduce.
So now, this one is sitting on my desk, giving me its frozen, but highly-alarmed, wild stare. I have just dusted it off with a Kleenex.
Me – “Are you a lynx?”
Lynx – “I am a lynx. Rather, I was a lynx.” (the voice is distant)
Me – “An ex-lynx, then?”
Lynx – “Yes, an ex-lynx!”
Me – “Are you male or female?”
Lynx – “I am male. Females don’t do extra things, like I do. This is really strange for me to be talking to you. So many times, I have been up here, on my perch, and I have wondered who you were, and I wanted to look into your face. I have seen you, virtually, every day, and I know the back of your head very well.”
Me – “That’s the pouncing place, up there, for unsuspecting retail clerks, like me.”
Lynx – “You are not only a retail clerk. I have seen you become a good friend to some of the people.”
Me – “Do you want to give me an overall view of these people?”
Lynx – “Yes. I have never been in contact with humans, ever in my life. Only in my death. And, I don’t think that I would get along with many of them. I must say that you do get along with them. I don’t think that I would. I would bite them.”
Me – “How did you die?”
Lynx – “I was shot by somebody. I was minding my own business and he came into my territory, and his dogs treed me. They took me away after they killed me. So, here I am. At least, I am still whole.”
Me – “How would you like to be a lynx coat, like some of your buddies are?”
Lynx – “I would not like that, at all. Not if I didn’t like the person wearing it. Mortality is not so bad. It’s the immortality that really is difficult, if you wind up in a place you don’t want to be. Get me away from this place. I don’t want to stay up on that shelf any more.”
Me – “How about that nice family that inquired about buying you?”
Lynx – “No! It would be so difficult to stay away from you. I’ve grown accustomed to the back of your head. Actually, actually, I don’t want to leave my prey, up there. I’m always planning ways to jump on that antelope. Could you take both of us with you? I’m serious! We want to go with you when you move! I can’t stand it when that other lady comes to work, when you do not show up. She is so nervous and I keep wanting to jump on her and calm her down with my teeth. But, you are so different. I like to be with you.”
Me – “I’m giving you and your prey, your antelope friend up there in the front window, credit for the good atmosphere in here. That helps me to put up with being in here so much.”
Lynx – “Yes, I think you’re right. It’s a pretty good place to be.”
This cat still has a built-in, startled look in his eyes, and always will have, for that matter. But, I swear that it’s softened up a bit, from the first good look we got at each other’s faces. Something about his close proximity is very sneezy. As if the dust is ingrained. I wiped him off as much as I could.”
(To be continued… Next post, the antelope will get in on the conversation. Stay tuned.)
Tags: 1, antelopes of Colorado, lynx, ski slopes, Snowmass Village Mall, stuffed animals., taxidermy, wildcats of Colorado, Tag Index
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