Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household

One good thing about reading a book written in first person POV, it gives me access to the protagonist mind. It excites me. He lets me see and feel his emotions over things that he’ll going to do next. I could feel him through his words.  I could feel I was there right beside him. I could feel everything.

Rogue Male was my second quest in my pursuit to read something ‘classic’ and outside of my comfort zone. The first attempt was the The Collected Short Stories of Lydia Davis which I don’t think I could finish immediately. This was a task I imposed lately upon myself to widen my reading experience.

Our male protagonist was a wealthy aristocrat Englishman and well traveled. He was unnamed the entire book but every where he went every one knew him. He was named Rogue Male, a sobriquet given to him by the law enforcement and those who wanted to kill him. Eventually, he was captured and tortured.

He was accused of stalking and plotting to assassinate Hitler and they believed he was employed by his government to do the job. They believed he was on a solo mission and were shaken that a man like him could undertake  such impossible quest. He vehemently denied their accusations against him but no one believed him. After he was brutally  tortured, they took him over the cliff and left him there alone. He considered death as his escape; a cure for his pain. He should be happy of this but couldn’t feel it. He moved slowly out of the marsh where he dropped and looked for a place dark enough to hide his body, get some sleep and gather his strength.

He knew it would not be long before Hitler’s minions would be back to look for his body and make his death appear an accident. Now, the hunter is being hunted. He needed to survive. 
He went back to his mother country because he thought he would be safe there. But he was wrong. Hitler’s minions are still after him.

He devised a plan. His present condition had forced him to live like an animal and think like one. Hiding under the ground in a small space isn’t one would wish to live forever. He knew his hunter  will soon discover his hiding place.

The events that followed made me antsy and edgy. The throbbing of my heartbeat was up notched enough to make me deaf. Oblivious of the loud whizzing of my decrepit old electric fan near at the corner of my bed didn’t distract me from tearing my eyes off of the page.

Reading Rogue Male was a big surprise for me. I was like watching a James Bond movie only in a paper back version. I pictured Sean Connery as the Rogue Male here.

A great deal of the story was spent on how he built his underground hole and how would he live there without attracting  attention to himself. Which I find too detailed, too long  and made me a little sleepy. But I understand the author. It was really needed so that as a reader I would know how one could live like an outlaw. How would it feel like  being hunted by both the law enforcement and the hired killer. One wanted him locked up in jail. The other one wanted him dead.

The part how he outsmarted Quive-Smith made me fist into the air and shouted ‘Yes!’

How did he survive Quive-Smith? What drove him to go on a solo mission to plot and kill the worst leader of all time? I’m not going to write it here. I suggest you read Rouge Male.

Always You

What if you knew you’re going to die because of a disease that also killed your father? You knew it’s coming but don’t exactly know when the symptoms will ever appear or not. But you have more time to live it, meaningfully. You have more time to spend it wisely with your love ones. Your family knew it and somehow they have warnings. You will be ready. They, too, will be ready. Would you pick this kind of life for you?

What if you never knew when will your life ends? You’re healthy. You live carefree. You live one day at a time and then in a blink of an eye you’ll die in an accident. Without warning you’re gone.You’re not ready. Your family isn’t ready. They are not prepared. Would you pick this kind of life for you?

Given the chance, which one of the two would you choose?

For me, I honestly don’t want to choose. I’m afraid one day I’ll die because of an incurable disease or in an accident or worst old age. I don’t want to be put in a home care while waiting for my body to wither each day and become helpless.  But if I have no other option I want my life to end without becoming a burden to my family. I don’t want to see them suffering while I’m in pain and struggling for my last breath. I want it peaceful. I want it to happen while I was sleeping and I don’t have to wake up.

Death isn’t an easy subject for me. I don’t know if I would have the same attitude the way Dalton accepted his fate. The way he faced his disease and kept a positive outlook towards life showed a strong character few people could possess.  He’s full of hope. He has the love and support of his family and Wrenn, her girlfriend.

After reading I Am No One You Know by Joyce Carol Oates, I decided to pick this book. Always You is a light read but will make you question how you view your life right now.

Severus, Amoebiasis and my Stress

Severus

I noticed Severus Snape’s, my 4-month old seal point siamese cat, poop turned from hard to slimy to liquid black last Monday. I knew it’s serious because it was very different from the normal poop I used to see from him. I got a little worried about him. I changed his food from dry to wet, the canned one, which I bought immediately from the grocery store. I was kind of relieved to see him ate the wet food but his poop didn’t improve the following day. My gut is screaming at me: the culprit could be diarrhea! So I googled diarrhea and then found out the photo from Purina’s fecal scoring chart. I used this to compare his poop from the chart. Oh, boy. T R O U B L E, I thought.

Nestle Purina

Since nothing improved from his poop after I fed him the canned food,  I gave him boiled chicken with a little rice which I read from other cat websites. This is like going back to the basic. Feeding him with it would not upset his stomach, according to them. Ok, I thought. I could now breathe with it. I’m trying to calm here. Sorry. It’s my first time to have a pet cat. Now, I know it’s a H U G E responsibility. Going back, Severus ate every thing I gave him, just enough so as not to upset his stomach and help him digest it easily. I waited again. I’ve been documenting every single thing hoping that his health would improve.

Day 3, I saw his poop turned into light yellow and he threw up every thing he ate last night. O.H. G.O.D. I was so nervous. So, I googled our nearest Vet, the one our family used to call whenever my mother’s dog got into health trouble. Luckily, he has a Facebook account and immediately sent a text message to him if his office is open the following day. He said yes and advised me to come with the cat and fecal sample early morning.

Day 4, the Vet told me that Severus has amoebiasis. What the f@#% I was wondering were did he get it since I’ve been feeding him right and I never let him roam outside our house. Metronidazole was prescribed to Severus and I have to give it to him once a day.

The trouble is, I knew it would not be easy to administer liquid medication to a cat. So, I tried Youtube if there’s a video on how to give such. Luckily for me, there are videos on how to help me give medication and it’s proper way to handle him so as not to add more stress to Severus.  I applied what I’ve learned from the videos but some of the liquid medicines had spilled from his mouth which he tried not to swallow it but I hope some of it was able to go down his gut. I just only hope. Sigh.

I’m praying that my cat would improve his health now that he’s taking his medication. I just hope that he, Severus, would feel me that he needed to be obedient this time and listen to his human. Thank you Internet.

Thank you Google. Thank you Youtube. You are a blessing for me and my cat.