Curdled

Money is tight.  

I was saving every last penny I had for the operations and they just could not wait. Oh hell, I even cut back on my utility use after dark. I started getting up at the crack of dawn and going to bed earlier just to save a few extra bucks. I cut back on everything even though there wasn't much to begin with anyways seeing as how I live on a budget. 

I cried about what happened for a few days and then I must have spaced out although I never stopped thinking about it. I guess I resigned myself to the depravity of the situation up until yesterday when the idea occurred  to me on how to fix the situation. I was just about to throw out the milk because it had spoiled. 

The milk. 

I still had a bag of it stored in the freezer. I opened the door and let the ice cold air freeze my face. I remembered walking down main street after I failed to come up with enough cash in time to make the necessary trip to the doctors office and stopped at the local health food store. I treated myself to a snack, the likes of which I had not been able to afford in a very long time. They've got this juice bar where the person behind the counter makes fresh drinks. I know the manager of the store really well. He has bought some of my vegetables that I grow in my garden whenever the season is good to me and the plants grow in abundance. There's nothing better than fresh food. 

At first, I didn't need the extra money from my garden produce sales, I was just relieved that the food would not go to waste, but then the operations became necessary so I saved what he gave me in a jar and watched it slowly build up. 

The memory of my last trip to the health food store faded away as my skin slowly warmed back up after I shut the freezer. For the first time I had a small ray of hope growing. 

Normally at this time of day I would pack a lunch bag full of bread crusts and wander down to the old river and feed the pigeons. After I got a few nibbles from reluctantly enticed birds I would pull out my BB gun and shoot them. It was not nice but necessary. That was how I fed my cats. I said I lived on a budget, their food had to come from somewhere. I took the fowl home and cleaned and cooked them for my felines. 

The cats. 

I am old and alone and they kept me company. Yes I know that sounds pathetic but I never had enough money for much entertainment nor socializing. When they produced their first litter I had figured it was time to get them fixed. So I started budgeting an already impossible goal to take them to the vet. 

But the neighbors beat me to it. They called the animal pound and those damn animal killers came and took my fur friends away. It broke my heart. I just needed more time to raise the funds. I took damned good care of those kittens. People can be so cruel. I even fed them milk. Of course it was my own milk. Milk from my own breasts. I still had the breast pump that I had used so many decades ago when I gave birth. 

Yogurt. Cottage cheese. 

Those are things that I can make with milk. I bet I can sell them at the health food store. After all what could be healthier than a mother's milk?