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and I flew to the side of the road. I felt the jagged rocks of the shoulder pressing in to my body so I must still be there. How had Dr. Luke gotten here so fast?
    Oh, the pain. He started prodding every inch of my battered body to check for broken bones or major injury.
    “Thank God, nothing’s broken,” he sighed as he gently lifted me in to a blanket and held me close to his chest. It wasn’t as soft as Pen’s, but it would do in a pinch. “I don’t know what I’d do if I had to tell Penelope that we lost you.”
    I stared at Dr. Luke’s face, willing him to tell me what had happened and why he was out on the road at this ungodly hour more than a mile from the clinic.
    “It’s a miracle I was out in the forest collecting samples of fresh Aloe Vera for my work in the lab,” he soothed as he held me tight. “Then, I heard a cat screech and knew it couldn’t be a wild animal that had been hit by that wayward delivery van. It was almost like it was trying to hit you. But that can’t be possible. The driver was probably on the blasted cell phone.”
    Dr. Luke carried me the whole way home even though I probably could have walked, because after about five minutes, my head cleared and I started feeling much better. As we walked he told me some personal things that I never knew about him.
    “You know, Tali, when I was young, all I ever wanted to be was a scientist and discover treatments that would help animals in need. But my dad, he was a tough man, and he wanted me to follow in his footsteps and be a veterinarian. I never got the nerve to tell him that wasn’t what I wanted.”
    He paused, lost in thought before he continued. “Not that I don’t love all of you patients like my own. This just isn’t my dream. It never was.”
    He walked on in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again.
    “Do you think Penelope likes me?”
    Now, what to do to validate this poor sap? I cuddled in closer to his neck and purred at the top of my lungs all the while stroking his chin the top of my head. Then I let out a soft meow. As if to say … “Why, yes, dunderhead. She does.”
    “I keep trying to ask her to go with me to that new 3D movie at the science museum. You know that one about the Hawaiian volcanoes?” he asked.
    Yes I did, indeed. I’d been there myself about two weeks back. Excellent cinematography. Of course, I couldn’t wear any of the 3D glasses to get the full effect, but it was spectacular even without them. It was easy to slink in camouflaged between moviegoers when you’re black and quiet.
    “Do you think she’d like that as a … date?”
    The poor guy looked like some kind of lovesick fool with his sad brown eyes and wavy brown hair. The local ladies thought he was a looker. Nice and intelligent, too, so it was hard to understand why Penelope wasn’t getting it. Dr. Luke was the catch of the town. Of course, he wasn’t as good looking as the dark and brooding Damian Chokecherry, or, the dark and fabulous, Talisman DeLaCroix but he was Pen’s one true love, and he needed to give her a True Love’s Kiss before I ran out of lives.
    I wanted to respond so badly, to tell Dr. Luke in some way that Pen had just mentioned the other day how much she’d like to see that movie. She was planning on asking Ami to go with her as a girl’s night. I meowed again but he misinterpreted.
    “I know you’re in pain, Tali,” he said. “We’re almost home, and I know Penelope keeps kitty aspirin on hand to help you sleep tonight. You’ll probably be stiff and sore for a few days. I’m just so happy there isn’t any lasting damage.”
    There was lasting damage. To my ego. I’d been hit by two vehicles in one week. It was like I was losing my touch. I gave up on trying to bolster his courage to ask Pen to the movie. He’d have to figure that one out himself. There was only so much a mute kitty could do in this situation. If I morphed in to human form around Dr. Luke I might have a chance, but that