Salvia Nemorosa On Sunset Shores

Black Cat

   It was a Thursday night. A cold one at that. I was walking back from work through the local park. I work as a bartender at a nearby restaurant and we finish service at 9:30 but by the time we've cleaned the place up and eaten our staff dinners it's normally late. Tonight was quite a peaceful night compared to the recent weeks, which themselves had been nice a quiet anyway. It was a clear night. The clouds had retreated from the sky leaving a nice crescent moon floating in a sea of stars. For the first time as of late you could see them all twinkling brightly, forming all sorts of dot-to-dot shapes. On my way through the park I decided it'd be nice to just relax and enjoy the glittery ocean above. I stopped on a bridge that crossed a small lake, or a big pond, depending on how you look at it. I learn against the wooden railings and looked out into the night sky. After a moment had passed I looked down and gazed out at the star-filled pool that lay below the wooden bridge. An ocean within a lake. There I stood, wondering why people didn't appreciate the night sky, or the sky in general. As I watched the stars twinkle I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye.

Sitting on the path, staring at me, was a small black cat. At first I thought that after being seen it might run off, thinking I was someone dangerous. But it didn't. Instead, the white-pawed stray meowed and made it's way over to me. I knelt down and held out a hand, in response the cat came closer and rubbed it's head against my fingers. I thought to myself how it was odd for a cat to trust a stranger enough to rub it's head against their fingers without ever seeing them before. But that was before I noticed how thin and twig-like it's legs were. That's when I realized that the little black cat must have been a stray. Maybe that's why it was acting this friendly towards me on our first encounter. The poor thing must have been lacking comfort and companionship in these cold winter nights. I suppose it must have some luck with catching small rodents otherwise it probably wouldn't be able to last this long in the winter months. Though I guess it's true that I have no idea how long this cat's been a stray but it must be a while for it to have such skinny legs.

Either way I decided that the best thing to do was to get it some food, so I walked to the nearest shop I could find that was open at this time of day. After a few minutes of walking I found my way to a nearby off-licence come post office and had a quick look around. I managed to find a pouch of cat food and a small bottle of water which I bought for my new stray friend. Unfortunately the cat food in question was from one of those cheap version brands and it probably wasn't made with anything that a human would find appetizing from the "100% real chicken meat" but it's better than nothing at all and I was lucky to find somewhere selling cat food close to the midnight hour.

After a small while of looking around the park I managed to find it having a nap near the pond under some fern leaves. I crouched down and gave the cat a little stroke on it's head, trying not to wake it up too suddenly. luckily the little cat slowly opened it's eyes and purred, not seeming to mind that I had woken it up. I pulled out the pouch of "tasty chicken meat" and picked one of the fern leaven before placing it on the ground and pouring the food onto the leaf. It must of been hungry as it eagerly got up and tucked into the food, stopping every now and again to lick its lips.

After finishing it's meal I once again held out my hand and the cat lent forward and rubbed it's head again my hand and purred happily. Today was the day I made a new feline friend with a little stray black cat.