How we were chosen - Nikita, part I

On a clear cool night in Santa Monica, a security guard on his night shift was riding a bike around the campus. During any given daylight hour the space he rode through would be filled with exuberant energy and animated noise, but the only sounds he heard were the dutiful clinks of the bike gears and distant whooshing of cars passing by in the late autumn darkness. The shift was almost over and he was still alert though tired.

Thirty more minutes and I get to go home, he thought, and continued pedaling.

The lampposts cast pools of light over the concrete, leaving pockets of shadow and mystery across the grounds. His wheels were slicing through them with ease when suddenly he heard a faint scratchy cry.

"meh-awu"

He squeezed the brakes, leaned his listening in toward the sound...and then he saw her. Trotting though light, then dark, then light, then dark - moving toward him and calling to him as if he was late and she'd been waiting. She was skin and bones with dirty, matted hair and bright green eyes. She stoped in front of him, sat, and looked at him expectantly.

"Well hello" he said as they took each other in. He extended his hand and she nudged her head into it without fear. "Hello kitty" he murmured as he bent down low and unabashedly gave her a good petting. She investigated him lightly with her nose. "What are you doing out here all by yourself?" he asked. She meowed again in her tiny hoarse voice. "Really?" he replied.

After a few minutes - his internal clock ticking and his mind crawling toward home - he said, "Well, I've gotta go. It was nice meeting you." He couldn't help adding, "I've got one more lap to do around this place. If you're still here when I come back around I'll bring you some food, okay?" He straightened up and, with one last look down at his new friend, pressed his feet onto the pedals.

He turned around once as he rode away and saw her sitting there in her spotlight under the lamppost. He secretly wished she'd be there when he came back.

...to be continued...

***favorite moment of the day: seeing an old picture of Chad and his best pup Rodeo.