The Mysterious Life and Message of Jubilee the Cat

By Michael A. Puchades

The Mysterious Life and Message of Jubilee the Cat begins in the most mundane of ways. A fifty-year-old man, Michael, crosses paths with a stray cat. Naming him Jubilee, Michael soon discovers the felines strange power to inspire him to recover long-forgotten memories of his many relationships, the highlights and tragedies of his personal life, and the pets he had treasured in his youth. Then, as mysteriously as he arrived, Jubilee disappeared, leaving Michael with a strange and wondrous gift.

As his transformed life unfolds, Michael passes through a series of encounters with a string of villains, each more ruthless than the last. Keenly sensing his calling to share the life-changing gift he received from Jubilee, Michael faces each adversary, working to help the world become a better place one changed life at a time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Nov 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781489709219

Michael A. Puchades

Michael A. Puchades earned his law degree from Florida State University in 1994 and currently practices insurance law, representing homeowners in Miami, Florida. The firstborn son of Cuban immigrants, he is married and has two daughters who also speak fluent Spanish. This is his debut book.

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Copyright © 2016 Michael A. Puchades.

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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-4897-0920-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-0921-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016915493

LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 11/08/2016

Contents

Summary

Prologue    Stranger in My Backyard

Part I    Before the Gift

Chapter 1    A Reclaimed Youth

Chapter 2    A Life Interrupted

Chapter 3    Out of the Dark

Chapter 4    Puddles and Proph-pets

Chapter 5    A Wounded Friend

Part II    After the Gift

Chapter 6    Like Father, Like Son

Chapter 7    Easy Pickings

Chapter 8    The Mexican Adventure

Chapter 9    Silver and Gold

Chapter 10    A Miraculous End

Epilogue    The Ultimate Truth of Jubilee

Summary

The mysterious life and message of Jubilee the Cat is the story of fifty-year old Michael. His life and mission are changed forever when he meets the unlikeliest of allies—a seemingly ordinary stray cat that he dubs Jubilee. Far from ordinary, this new feline friend allows Michael to relive his prior years as a child and teenager, a husband and father, a divorced playboy, and a reformed Robin Hood.

On this journey through long forgotten memories, Michael reconnects with many of his former pets. At various times, each had been his most trusted friend. Jubilee not only became Michael’s best friend, but he ultimately and profoundly changed Michael’s life and the lives of many others he was destined to meet. Jubilee leaves a mysterious and life-changing gift that Michael will use on his mission to redeem a fallen world. Jubilee’s gift empowers Michael and his growing band of followers as they search for and defeat evil both near and far. Along the way, an outmatched, but supremely convicted, Michael is led to encounter an unfolding array of ruthless villains. He must battle these villains in order to spread Jubilee’s message to the world.

Each episode of enemy and suspense is told metaphorically. In Michael’s twisting and love-inspired quest, he aims to transform a world that has been artfully adapted to an illicit list of current day evildoers. Michael takes on loan sharks, corrupt politicians, drug lords, crime traffickers, and sex slave masters. Even an extreme terrorist group must be dealt with if Michael is to succeed on his mission to share Jubilee’s precious gift.

Each conquest is more dramatic and thrilling than the last; every victory is made possible only by Jubilee’s gift. As the stakes grow progressively higher and more dangerous with each passing page, the reader is brought closer and closer to an unexpected, but equally explosive, earth-shattering ending. When all hopes seem lost, we finally learn the true meaning and significance of a deeply mysterious life with the gloriously transcending message of Jubilee the Cat.

Prologue

Stranger in My Backyard

It was 2014 and on the night of my fiftieth birthday when a new feline friend entered the serenity of my backyard world. His yellow eyes caught mine as his head peeked out from behind the carefully landscaped plants. At first, the gray tiger striped, white-pawed stray refrained from coming too close. He preferred the security of the brightly lit patch of Christmas ferns tucked within the still-thick early autumn bushes of my backyard. For some time, this strange stray seemed to only appear to me, not disturbing my wife or either one of my dogs, and he would only make his presence known at night. Over the next several days, with growing determination and employing the kind of reverse psychology I thought only I could understand, I worked to gain his trust and lure him from his safe place. It took some superhuman patience and some pet sounds of my own, but eventually the cat, who I instantly dubbed Jubilee, was seated at my feet, his gray tail swooshing behind him as he looked up at me.

Having just turned the big five-oh when his tiny paws first tiptoed onto my beaten stage, the name Jubilee seemed fitting for my new friend. —Celebrating this impressive milestone, I looked forward to what the next year would bring. However, I soon discovered that Jubilee was not an ordinary cat. He was a walking fur ball, and it seemed he had a lot to say to me. As the days passed, we built a trust between us. Jubilee would stick around a bit longer—but only on his terms. I would pay his handsome price of rubbing his perfectly round head. Such action would continue until only he decided I should stop. He would jump onto the patio chair, sitting next to me as if preparing to have a lovely chat about the events of the day. Of course, that conversation simply consisted of me running my fingers through his gray fur as he purred contentedly.

Once the purring subsided, Jubilee would get back on his fours, arch his back, raise his tail as high as it could go, and jump back onto the floor. Spinning once or sometimes twice, he would sit comfortably on his nimble hind legs just a few paw steps away from my sandaled feet. From his spot on the floor, he would look straight into my eyes with a penetrating stare. I felt a nagging feeling during that early part of our friendship, as if I knew this cat almost as I would know an old friend. I shrugged off the feeling and waited for the next time Jubilee visited and continued his work of opening my eyes, my ears, and my heart.

Part I

Before the Gift

Chapter 1

A Reclaimed Youth

On one particular evening a few weeks after my fiftieth birthday, Jubilee entered my backyard world; and we performed our well-rehearsed ritual. Once his perfectly round head was rubbed and the purring had subsided, the stray looked up at me from his place on the floor. But this time, his stare was more intense than ever before. Jubilee’s eyes caught my own, and I could almost see myself in their reflection. Yet I recognized someone else looking back at me. It was—someone besides the stray cat that had wandered into my yard the night I turned fifty. As I gazed back