Goodbye, Kitty

I was going to propose naming the cat "Bartleby" after an incident last night, notwithstanding the cat being female, and also notwithstanding that naming a cat, in the first instance, is an exercise in egotistic futility.

I have already related how the cat lies around playing dead all day, will not defend her food from thieving birds and ignores lizards scampering around her. She also couldn't be arsed to get up and out of the way of my car whenever I'd leave or come home. I had to physically push her out of the path of the tires. Then came last night.

The crow that has figured out how to get into the lanai returned. Usually, he comes in the morning, but there he was. And there was the cat. The crow freaked out when he saw the beast and panicked, fluttering about in a corner with no exit directly above the cat. The Useless Beast, that lump of calico, managed to raise her head, stare at the bird, look at me, and then telepathically say, "I would prefer not to." And didn't. The crow found the door we leave partially open for the cat's convenience and took off. The cat went back to sleep.

Thus the proposed name. Which is now moot.

The cat went home this morning. She slept most of the morning away in the lanai, but just before noon suddenly got up, went to the partially open door and began yowling. She paced along the screened in wall and yowled. There's been a beautiful young all-gray cat coming around occasionally and I thought maybe he'd returned. Finally, she went out under the mango tree, stalked over to the fence separating us from the folks in back (who I have not mentioned before because we don't really know them except for their slime green pool, passel of obnoxious dogs and, now, a single solitary chicken) where she rolled on her back as if to be petted.

Just as she did this a young couple (not sure of the relationships over there) came from behind one of their bushes. The woman saw the cat and began shouting, "Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod!"

The young man said, "What? What is it?"

The young woman said, "That's my cat!"

I thought, Say what?

She hopped the fence. The cat hopped into her arms. She climbed back onto her own property and disappeared.

My brother took the news very well. We were at the bottom of that bag of cat kibble and the little mooch left before we bought a new one.