introspective periscope : peeking inside since Y2K ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- the cat spin eight days til 24 - twenty first of august outside the glow of the house is where i feel most at home. but in the window, you sometimes appear and your music is faint in my ears.~ani difranco for the record, it must be said that i was never a cat person. not even close. we had a few cats in my house when i was growing up, but they belonged to my sister. granted, i petted each one of them with a certain affection because, at best, we shared a home. but never let it be said that i am a cat person. not even remotely close. my heart is and shall always belong to a dog whose affections can be seen in loyal eyes and drool and curling up on the foot of the bed. for the record, i am not a cat person. and that having been said, i can comfortably rave a little bit about my recent porch guests. the other morning, when i let my dog, verbil, out to do her morning business, i stood on the landing of our porch steps and watched, however groggily, ready to call her back at the first sign of a walking neighbor or otherwise that she might bark at in her protective ridiculous dog manner. the morning was uneventful and, because it was much earlier than we'd normally be up because we were heading out that morning on a day trip to the beach in erie, even my dog was a bit slow. like me, she isn't much of a morning person. while i watched verbil, i watched a very pretty grey cat with gleaming green eyes watching her as well. when verbil was safe again behind the screen door in the kitchen, i called once to the cat, not expecting much. soon, i realized there was another cat under the neighbor's picnic table. the two scaled the fence between our yards and jumped up to the porch, mewing and being just plain nice. the cat from under the table was tigerish with greys and browns and big yellow eyes. he had a few scars on his neck and back from some adventure. i named them scar and pretty. after a brief saturday morning rondevous, i left them to go on their way while i packed a few towels and we were off. but then last night, when we got home from the democratic-mayoral-candidate-riverboat-extravaganza, they were there again. well, scar was, anyway. and with him, a new addition to the cat visitors. she is about a year, toby thinks...and really persistant. she is all black with big yellow eyes and a mew that melts my heart, somehow. i can't figure it. because i hate cats. well, i don't love them. or even like them, really, as i mentioned. dog person, remember? i gave them tuna to eat and scar ate his and the kitten, well, she ate it and then started playing with the can. and so, she is named toy. and toy didn't want to leave. and i, for some reason unbeknownst to me, think this is rather amusing and sad and cute and sweet and did i say sad? because we can't keep her. i have a dog who would tear her to shreds...i think. i mean, when she was sitting in the window begging to come in and chill out with us, verbil jumped up and she just hissed and punched at the screen and that was the last issue verbil gave her. so maybe they would get along. but then, lets not entertain thoughts of keeping her. because i don't like cats. and we can't keep her. but i sort of wish we could. and tonight, she's outside mewing a song to me and i couldn't help but pet her for awhile. and she purred and sat in my lap without much of any convincing on my part. and i think i've made a friend. and so i sit here quietly on this bright moonlit night with my dog under my chair, a glass of iced tea and a cat singing to me from outside my office window. and although i will never be a cat person, i think....at least right this moment....that i could learn to make the occasional exception for a charming one...that, maybe...just maybe...i could learn to like them just a little. (but don't tell my dog. she'd never understand.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .what came before. - .what happened next. a diamond at the bottom of the drain - 20 october 2017 |
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