March 14th, 2021 – ‘A Small Grey Cat’

There was a small grey cat in the alley next to my building as I passed and worried that maybe it didn’t have an owner and hoped that it wouldn’t get hit by a car but cats were pretty smart especially alley-cats. It seemed like nothing more than a kitten and I studied as it sat in the shadow of the planter in front of the Italian restaurant.

I climbed the stairs up to the apartment and tried to guess if it was going to be there when I came back down to the street and if it was, I decided I would do something about it but wasn’t sure what. I got my wallet from my room and put my knapsack back on and went back out the door and left the latch unlocked. Out on the top stair, I couldn’t quite see the extra bump in the shadow under the planter but when I reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped on the street, the grey cat came out of the alley and I wondered if this cat (a kitten, really) had escaped from its home and loving owner, who was probably a young girl who was missing it and in hysterics at that very moment. 

I approached quietly and stood at the mouth of the alley as the kitten walked over a crack and sat down in in front of me and looked at me with a strangely calm look. I took a step to approach and it did not move. I walked even closer, lowered to a crouch and put a hand out and it trotted over to me and brushed against my hand and I stroked it and its fur was very soft and did not feel like an outdoor cat, because I had owned a few. It was especially soft under the chin and I concluded that it was a kitten and I stood as two girls passed with cans of beer and the grey kitten rubbed itself against one of my legs and they went ‘Awwwwww!’ and then it curled around to the other and I picked it up without a second thought, and it was happy to be picked up and I scratched its belly and it put out a paw with soft pads on it but did not scratch or squirm. It was very relaxed and happy to be held and nuzzled into my arm.

Now what? I thought. 

I walked steady out of the alley and back to the sidewalk and the kitten looked up at the night sky and I carried it up my creaking stairs and it did not frighten or squirm. Someone was definitely missing this kitten, I thought as I nudged the unlocked door open with a foot and I was glad that I left the latch open. I put the cat down on the floor and went to close my roommate’s door and when I turned back, the cat was gone.

I stepped out to the top stair and saw its small shape moving down the stairs, quickly curling to the right around the railing and crossing the concrete patio of the pizza place, it squeezed through the gap beside one of the benches. As its tail disappeared, I wished it well and wished it safe adventures. I was happy that at least it let me carry it up the stairs and we hanged out for a brief few moments.