1-sadistic-lover: “A Note on Stray Cats” I don’t know if there is an urban equivalent but in the cou
1-sadistic-lover: “A Note on Stray Cats” I don’t know if there is an urban equivalent but in the country we have a very particular breed of stray cat. These noble creatures hug the line between feral and domestic. They are not likely to turn tail and run at the site of humans, nor are they likely to come when called. One may see them often at the edge of one’s yard, hovering close to the tall brush ready to vanish into it, should the need arise. From time to time they may venture a little closer, perhaps to sun themselves on the stoop or linger in the low branch of a shade tree. One may even, upon a chance, find one’s self the recipient of a rub to the leg. This may go on for days or weeks but it is never permanent. One day, waking to the morning sun, one looks, only to find the cat is just no longer there. One is left with an empty space and a sense of loss but also the notion that you were privileged to something special. If one should choose to do so, one may be able to entice such an animal to play at domestication for a season. One would be cautioned, however, to remember the nature of the creature you are taking in. To begin one must learn to recognize when the seasons are ready to change for it is only when the cold days are upon us that such an animal will consent to allow this play to be acted out. One then must feed the elusive stray. Do not, under any circumstances try to get the cat to take food from your hand. Rather, identify what they crave and leave it out in the open as a free offering. If what you present is acceptable then a ritual will form. Offer, acceptance, offer, acceptance and so it goes for a time. There then may come a day, when one opens the door to place the offering and finds the cat waiting there. This is when one must decide. Will one take in this half wild creature, knowing full well the inevitable end to come? If so then one must stand at the door and hold it ajar. This may take a very long time and there is no way to speed the process without undoing any progress one has already made. If the animal crosses the threshold then the rest happens very quickly and one must brace one’s self for a whirlwind. After only a brief period of adjustment our noble stray will lay claim to everything that was once one’s own. It will embed itself in one’s life. The intensity of affection one receives at this point is of such uncommon proportions as to overwhelm one’s logic and reason and leave one believing that the cat indeed belongs to one. This is a mistake, of course, but one that must be made if one is to truly experience the season of joy such a creature can give. And so it goes. One’s life becomes entwined with that of the cat until it is hard remember a time that it was not there curled in one’s lap purring blissfully. Then… there is always a then, the spring comes and the cat becomes restless. It spends more nights out in the fields coming back only during the days to lay sunning itself at one’s feet. While one might feel the animal slipping away, one clings to every ingot of time one is given and pretends that all will be fine. Then Spring turns to Summer and nights away become weeks. Then one day, waking to the morning sun, one looks, only to find the cat is just no longer there. One was warned remember. Do not hold me to blame. Did I not tell you this would happen? Oh you may see the cat again, at the edge of your yard, brief glimpses before it darts back into the wild, where it belongs. Where it has always belonged. -1SadisticLover -- source link