Back Yard Not The Same Since Cat’S Visit

I heard meowing.

And then, there it was. A collarless adolescent cat had come to help me do yard work.

I raked. It attacked sticks.

I said, “Good kitty.” And it looked up at me.

What a winning face.

This cat was a stranger. I assumed it would soon wander off.

That’s not what happened.

For about an hour, it followed me around. Over here, over there. Though allergies keep me from having my own cat, I enjoyed the company.

Then I watched it blithely cross a street that has heavy traffic. That sight erased my smile. And I tried to steel my resolve to remain unattached.

It was too late, of course.

Early morning turned into late morning. Then it was the afternoon. And the cat stayed and stayed.

When I went in, it waited outside on the porch. When I drove to the store, it was there when I got back.

I encouraged my visitor to go home. But it didn’t budge. It all but declared, “I AM home.”

Somebody with a bad muffler roared by on that busy street. And as I stared out at the nearby roadway, my decision made itself.

“Come on,” I said to the cat as I scooped it up and walked to my car.

For most of the ride over to SpokAnimal, my new companion rode quietly in the front passenger seat. “You’re a good cat,” I said.

Traveling along in near-silence, I forgot to check myself for the onset of wheezing. Instead, I marveled at how this short-haired feline trusted me. Heaven knows why.

Sometimes the best compliments just make you sad.

Maybe a mile from the shelter, it climbed into my lap.

“We’ll find you a good home,” I said quietly.

A woman at SpokAnimal reported that the cat was an unneutered male. She took him to a holding cage. He didn’t struggle. He just meowed.

Before she came back and gave me a form to fill out, I glimpsed several other animals in cramped pens.

It has been a few weeks now, but I can see their eyes as if I were still caught in that moment.

No owner ever showed up to claim my cat. So he got adopted by a woman with an excellent record as a responsible pet owner.

Good news, I know.

But now when I go outside to fool around in the yard, something’s different.

I’m aware of being alone.

* We’ve received more than 70 entries in Furry Talk’s “50 Contests in One” snapshot competition. Thanks. The submission deadline is Sept. 15.