The Nice Thing About Strangers
Creative Non-Fiction Short Stories. :) Travel, Oldsters, Love, and Compassion.
You’re a Stray and That’s Okay
The woman proudly marches with a designer purse and sunglasses, but she also totes a plastic bag of cat food. She stops along the sidewalk to give a handful of tiny brown squares to one of the many stray cats of Istanbul. She crouches low to the ground, her expensive belt showing, and murmurs to the kitty. People at a nearby bus stop are watching with a sort of fascination. Old men loiter to take in the scene. A tiny girl points, causing her mother to look toward the fancy feast.
The woman has carried cat food along, so she was clearly hoping for a feline encounter. Yet, it seems remarkable to have a glamorous woman pause and chat with a cat in the middle of the day. After sufficient cuddles and coos, the woman stands. By reflex, she straightens her clothes. Her hair has fallen over her face, so she runs a cat-food-covered hand through her long locks before realizing what she’s doing. She stops and stares at her hand, the hand that feeds, before hunting for a tissue in her likely-full-of-calico designer purse.
–Istanbul, Turkey
See anything in the tree?
Getting closer?
7 comments on “You’re a Stray and That’s Okay”
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Well, I do love it, because I’m a cat-lover sans pareille, Paige; but the mental image of the catfood-covered hand in the hair …
And the photos of the moggy are WONDERFUL !
The puss is so well camofagued, isn’t she. The lovely lady will have to wash her hair when she gets home. She’ll be able to smell catfood out of the corner of her nose until she does. I do hope it wasn’t sardines.
Reblogged this on The Nice Thing About Strangers and commented:
Last week, I posted a dog story, so I’ll be balanced with a cat tale!
In Malta we saw Cat Cafes, little houses where stray cats can go in and have a bite to eat and stay in if the weather is bad. I just loved them!
Oh, the cats run the city around here. It’s been fun to see how well they live. A friend took a little extra food from our breakfast for cats, but suddenly we couldn’t find any on Sunday morning. I guess they were sleeping in. 🙂 We found plenty as soon as we gave up.
-Paige
Cats rule!!
I am quite partial to cats. Outdoor, independent cats were a big part of my childhood.
Paige