{"id":1547,"date":"2019-10-17T01:41:27","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T01:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/?p=1547"},"modified":"2019-09-29T21:44:14","modified_gmt":"2019-09-29T21:44:14","slug":"the-cherry-box-by-dan-cardoza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/2019\/10\/17\/the-cherry-box-by-dan-cardoza\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cherry Box by Dan Cardoza"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dan A. Cardoza\u2019s poetry, nonfiction, and fiction have met international acceptance. He has an M.S. degree in education from C.S.U.S. Most recently his work has been featured in California Quarterly, Cleaver, Coffin Bell\/2019 Anthology, Dime Show Review, Entropy, Five:2:One, Gravel, New Flash Fiction Review, Poached Hare, and Spelk<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


The Cherry Box<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the small box arrived\nwith her cremations. With two failed marriages, he was experienced with death,\nbut until now, not literally. Ole McKenzie had waited eighteen years for this\nwell crafted cherry box to arrive, not one day less, not one day more.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His modern kitchen was meat\nlocker cold.  He placed the brown shipped\nbox on the onyx counter the granite as cold as a morgue. Utility bills, not a\npriority.  With his pocket knife, he cut\nthe taut sinewy twine.  McKenzie at\nsixty-nine looked worn beyond his age. So he was thankful he\u2019d have less time\nto grieve, now that the 7x7x7 box arrived. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If nothing else, ole McKenzie\nwas organized. He thought it convenient he could now complete his life\u2019s\nmourning all at the same time. His oncologist on Monday, \u201cYour liver is a pound\nof burgundy Swiss cheese. I know, I enjoyed it for dessert last summer in\nAnnecy, France.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the dying, it would be\nsoon. He toasted his last glass of cognac at the cherry box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the way to his beloved Ancil\nHoffman Park, built more like a Forrest, he did most of the talking. After all,\nit was well known, Purrdy was never one for chatter or meowing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regrettably, he\u2019d purchased\nPurrdy from a pet store, too common way back then. It was eighteen very long\nyears ago. So-called animal shelters were just other names for Auschwitz,\nTreblinka, and Dachau. Picking was scarce, the offseason for kittens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could he forget? Purrdy a\nkitten shared a moderate enclosure with two older cats. As we approached the\ncage, she rose straightened her tail like a stove pipe. Then she bowed, swirled\nher tail into smoke, her purr a guttural low howl. She was theatrical and full\nof the apropos feline drama, as she sold her affection to his second wife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sally pleaded, \u201cI can\u2019t live\nwithout her. You know the loss of the two late-term babies I buried. Please,\nshe purrs like a furry base harmonica? \nJack, I\u2019ll have someone to nurture.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In less than one week, Purrdy\nnever let anyone pet her again. Took up bivouac under their second marital bed.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signing the divorce papers was\nawkward.  Sally\u2019s attorney had written,\n\u201cSally doesn\u2019t want her. Besides, she\u2019s too damned feral.\u201d McKenzie read in\ndisbelief and silence. The truth is he never wanted Purrdy, or Maddy the dog\neither. That is until they needed him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

~~~<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his beloved park, near dark,\nhe released her ashes from the box into the windy spring evening. He didn\u2019t\nmind that some of her dust settled in his white hair. He\u2019d grown to love her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He bawled alone, except for the\nattending woods. He wished her well, begged her to never change, to stay brave\nand wild. Stalk lions, tigers and bears. Enjoy bloody rabbits. Roam the banks\nof the river for fall salmon; stamp the dirt of her paths to dust in the\nforest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

McKenzie died one week\nlater.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dan A. Cardoza\u2019s poetry, nonfiction, and fiction have met international acceptance. He has an M.S. degree in education from C.S.U.S. Most recently his work has been featured in California Quarterly, Cleaver, Coffin Bell\/2019 Anthology, Dime Show Review, Entropy, Five:2:One, Gravel, New Flash Fiction Review, Poached Hare, and Spelk. The Cherry Box Finally, the small box … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa867U-oX","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1547"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1550,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547\/revisions\/1550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}