It's All Doc Walkers Fault

It?s all Doc Walkers fault. The pain I?m in could be fodder for a hurting country song.

In fact, the hurt I feel could be enough for a whole album.

Pain catches us at the strangest of times. Mine started on the night of the much anticipated Doc Walker concert in April of last year when they opened up the PCU Centre.

The storm clouds were looming, but I didn?t know it. I had helped to organize the concert and in spite of the pressures that often come with planning an event of that size, everything was pulling together well. Tickets had pretty much sold out. Everyone was excited to see what the PCU Centre was like. Best of all, the feature act was the Doc Walker band. To us these hometown boys were the icing on the cake.

The excitement in the crowd was electric. I had one old gentlemen tell me he hadn?t felt that excited since the day the Coke can went up! I told him I knew how exactly how he felt because I had spent half the day driving up and down the new paved road to McCain?s the day it opened up. That cemented the

bond between us because he had done the same thing. Wow! That?s the joy of a small town...er..city.

It just doesn?t get much better than that!

You can appreciate then that I was giddy with excitement. Feeling like a carefree teenager, my heart was pounding with anticipation at seeing Chris, Dave and Murray step out onto the stage to the roar of a hometown crowd. I must admit my normal stoic guard was down. My emotions had overcome me.

That?s when she showed up.

What struck me were her eyes. They were green, but not just green but luminous. In fact, they were eerily iridescent. She was petite but somehow managed to weave her way among the crowd toward me. I was taking tickets on the second level of the centre and there were a few thousand people there. Somehow, whether by faith or coincidence, she managed to find me in that massive crowd and walked right up to me. I must have been in an intoxicated state when she found me. Not caused by alcohol but by the euphoria of the evening, because before I knew what was happening she was in my arms.

It all happened so fast that she took me by surprise, especially since my wife was by my side.

It was at that very moment, in spite of a thousand eyes upon me, I instinctively held her close.

Then she purred. And purred. And purred!

I knew then it was over. My wife knew it was over. That cat was coming home.

I played my tough card though. Yes, we had a cat already and no, we weren?t going to keep her. Two cats! Who could be that crazy? But, I couldn?t leave her roaming around the parking lot, could I? Some uncaring idiot had already tossed her to die on this remote island.

No! She had already experienced too much trauma at this young age.

I would find a good home for her. Tomorrow. I even named her ?O.C.? Other Cat. I was not getting attached.

But ?O.C.? had other ideas.

It?s been a year now since the Doc Walker concert. That cat has dewormed her way into my life and my heart. Even my wife has become fond of her. Our other cat has become fond of her.? O.C.? could do no wrong in our home.

Until this morning.

As I was toning my well sculpted body on the treadmill this morning, ?O.C.? was sitting on the window sill beside me cheering me on as she always does. My iPod was blasting some mundane music that was almost depressing.

Suddenly, as if by divine providence...a Doc Walker song started to play and my world turned from shades of grey to a rainbow of delight.

I got so excited that I let out a ?Yee Haw!?

That?s when I lost my footing on the treadmill. It wasn?t ?O.C.??s fault that I fell on her. I must have hurt her because she let out a bloodcurdling howl. With terror that I?d never seen in those luminous eyes, she scrambled up my back and over my head and completed a long jump that would have made an

Olympic athlete stand in awe. She drew blood every step of the way.

My blood.

Finally, after all these years, I know where hurting country songs came from.

But I can?t blame ?O.C.?

It?s all Doc Walker?s fault.

? ? ?

You can check out other hurtin? songs at the Glesby Centre website www.glesbycentre.com

If ?O.C.? were to ever have a family Jerry and his wife have chosen names for the kittens. Chris, Dave and of course...Pulver!