Cat Meet Cat
Winner for a contest with the prompt, Love
Cat Meet Cat
Meet One
The towering skyscrapers make it difficult to catch the afternoon sun. But there are a few spots, and on a particular sunny day, the wandering cat found one.
It was a small out of place house up on the hill, squished between two large corporate buildings. It had a windowsill that overlooked the city below, and was accompanied by a lucky spotlight of pure sunlight. The wandering cat slipped between the gaps in the fence and hopped onto the sunny brick windowsill.
To the cat’s surprise, the spot was already occupied.
Kind of…
On the other side of the window, a white fluffy cat was sitting on the windowsill, inside. The two cats stood high up and hissed, mere inches apart, with only a thin glass between them. Despite the hissing, neither cat retreated. Both cats calmed down from the initial confrontation and relaxed. The cats faced each other.
“You’re blocking my sun,” said the indoor cat.
The outdoor cat ignored the comment.
The indoor cat continued, “What makes you think you have the right to sit here, at my window?”
“I didn’t realize your domain extended outside,” mocked the wandering cat.
“Out of all the space you have out there, you choose to invade my spot.”
“I can do anything and go anywhere I want to. Can you?”
The indoor cat was not one to be bullied, “I wouldn’t want to go anywhere you go. Look how disgusting your fur is, stained with dirt. I’m glad this window blocks out your stench, I can only imagine how you must stink.”
“You talk a lot, but I bet you don’t even know how to clean yourself. You probably have to get the humans to clean and feed you. You don’t know how to do anything but talk shit.”
“You’re just jealous. Look at you, you’re starving for food, as thin as a rat!”
“I’m free to eat anything I want, whenever I want.”
“You only dream of that. You look so desperate that’d you eat garbage out of the trash.”
Time passed and the afternoon sun soon became the evening sun. The birds in the tree above grew tired of the constant bickering of the cats. They flew off to more peaceful trees.
“The sun is down, you’re not even getting any sunlight. Can you leave now?” argued the indoor cat.
“No. I think I’ll stay here for the night.”
Inside a bell rang. Dinner time. Even though the indoor cat was determined to not give up the fight, the call of dinner was too great. In a final tease, the indoor cat said, “It’s my dinner time, I’m going to enjoy a delicious full meal of sardines. Hope you enjoy being in the cold with no food.”
The wandering outdoor cat remained at the window. It was a victory, the last one to hold their ground. But it didn’t feel victorious. The windowsill spot was no longer in any sunlight, and the warmth was rapidly disappearing. And the wandering cat was hungry. The wandering cat decided to stay where they were for the night. To sleep through the hunger and darkness.
Night
Voices on loud speakers boomed throughout the night with warnings. Doors were locked tight, some windows boarded up. The sky was pitch dark, but flares lit the streets as soldiers marched along with armoured vehicles.
Meet Two
The indoor cat was surprised to start the morning with the wandering cat still at the window. A hiss was exchanged. And then questions.
“You’re still here?” said the indoor cat, licking her tail back into shape.
“You should have seen the streets last night,” said the wandering cat.
“Why?”
“Lots of humans fighting humans.”
“I didn’t hear anything.”
“The only thing your indoor ears can hear is the ring of that dinner bell.”
“How’d you know that?”
“My senses are amazing. I smell and hear everything.”
A pause.
Finally the indoor cat asked, “Why were the humans fighting last night?”
“I don’t know.”
Hotter Nights
As the summer temperature increased, so did the tension in the city. The nights became rough, as even the moon hid itself behind clouds. Yelling became sirens. And sirens became gunshots.
Now the indoor cat would sometimes wake up at night and leave her cat bed. She’d go to the window and sit with the wandering cat, watching the bullets fly into the night.
The window was now open, only the screened mesh separated the cats.
“My name is Oregano,” said the indoor cat.
“I don’t have a name,” replied the wandering cat.
“No name?”
“I was never given one. Some cats call me wandering cat.”
“That’s no name,” said Oregano. “I know, I’ll give you a name. Your name can be Rat, because you look as dirty as one.”
“Thanks, I guess,” replied Rat.
Meet Three
On some mornings, Oregano would hop onto the windowsill and be surprised to not find Rat. Alone with just sunlight. Oregano wondered if Rat had gotten bored and moved on, never to return. But just when she was about fully give up on Rat, they’d appear the next day saying they had gone out to deal with business or find food.
“What kind of food do you eat?” asked Oregano.
“Usually mice, or ironically, rats.”
That gave Oregano a good laugh.
“What about you, what do you eat?”
“This kibble stuff. But these days there’s a lot less of it. My owners don’t eat much anymore either. They don’t do anything now except talk in whispers and watch the TV.”
“Are you getting enough food?”
“I’ll survive.”
“I can find you a mouse or even a rat, if you want.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I will.” And with that, Rat leaped down from the windowsill.
Rat didn’t show up the next day. Oregano worried. The fires on the street were no longer limited to the nights, but the days too. Gunshots too.
But the next day Rat returned, with a bird in their mouth.
“It’s not rat, but it’s just as good.”
Oregano scratched at the screen until a hole big enough for the bird was made. Rat pushed the dead sparrow through the tear, and Oregano retrieved it. This was the closest the two cats had came to each other. Oregano was surprised that Rat didn’t smell bad, but actually almost sweet. The smell of fresh wind.
Oregano began to messily eat the bird. Rat saw that Oregano was actually quite hungry and wondered if she was getting any food these days?
“Do you like?”
Between bites, “Much better than that dry kibble!”
Meet Four and Beyond
A routine was developed. Rat would catch whatever scraps they could find and share it with Oregano. Oregano loved it, but felt quite lonely on the times that Rat was gone looking for food. She wished she could help and offer something. The sun was already low.
Rat appeared with a rat in their mouth, but also came with bruises, cuts, and blood covering their fur.
“What happened!”
“I got a rat.”
“What happened to you?”
“I got caught in the street, the humans were fighting and they had mean dogs.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
Oregano didn’t buy Rat’s reply. Rat looked tired, their eyes red, weight leaned onto one side, and body kept tight.
Barking was off in the distant, along with yelling and gunshots.
Oregano scratched the window screen more, increasing the size of the rip.
“What are you doing?” asked Rat.
Once the screen was done, Oregano said, “Come in, you can’t stay out there with the dogs.”
Rat was hesitant. They were never invited inside anywhere. Their whole life was an existence of invasion, never welcomed anywhere.
Oregano looked welcoming. A rare sight for Rat.
Rat took a cautious step inside. Then another. And another.
Oregano lead Rat upstairs to a cozy room with clean carpeted floors and a raised bed. Underneath was a little cardboard box filled with the softest blanket that Rat had ever felt.
The box was small, but both cats found space to fit themselves into it, their bodies resting against each other.
Rat felt so tired, but they tried to stay awake. They always had to stay awake, it was never safe. Especially in a house they’ve never been in before. But the blanket and Oregano felt so soft, and they felt so tired. Rat couldn’t help but close their eyes just for a bit. Just for a second.
Time crept by at an unknown pace. Usually Rat had a good sense of time, but it was Oregano that told them that three days had passed.
“Three days!” said Rat in shock.
“Yeah you rested a lot.”
“I’ve never slept that much. Ever!”
“Sorry I tried to go out and catch some food, but I couldn’t get anything.”
“Aha let the pro handle it.”
Rat felt a new sense of energy. Never in their life had they felt so well rested. Rat galloped down the steps, through the hole in the screen, past the yard, through the fence, down the street, under the next fence, and on and on. Rat knew a reliable spot for fresh rats.
The street was messier than it had ever been. Bodies were now being left on the main roads. Only smoke remained from the fires. It was a long journey to the rat spot, but the wandering cat was determined.
Sure enough, an old abandoned house was still full of meaty rats. Rat easily caught two and carried them back home. Again through the torn streets of death. The afternoon sun was setting.
Through the fence, up the windowsill, through the screen and into the house. It was quiet.
Up the steps. Into the bedroom.
And it was quiet.
No sign of Oregano.
Rat dropped the food from their mouth and investigated the other rooms. No signs of life.
Rat started to meow. Rat had never meowed before. But right now, Rat was meowing quite loudly.
There was no reply.
Rat went back to the bedroom. The box with the softest blanket was gone.
Also the car was gone from beside the house.
Rat sat on the bed, leaving the dead rats on the floor. Rat would wait until Oregano came back.
The afternoon sun disappeared.
The Suns
The sun came back the next day. The dead rats remained on the floor. Rat themself hadn’t slept or budged. Nothing in the house changed. Only the shadows moved as the sun rose and fell. Each day. For many days.
Eventually Rat ate the rats. But kept waiting.
Days became weeks. And anything after that became a blur.
The Seasons
What did change was the war in the city. The gunshots began to decrease. And then even the gunshots in the night stopped. The smoke and fires blew away too. The mean scary people stopped occupying the streets, replaced by happy gentle people.
Rat didn’t notice. They remained in the house. Waiting.
Cars with luggage on top started to drive into the city streets with normal families returning to their homes.
The popular news story was about families returning and finding that their vacated homes had become infested with rats. The news articles would always conclude with the same joke about it being a very good time to be in the exterminator business.
However, the family that lived at the top of the hill were greatly relieved when they moved back into their old house and didn’t find any rats. Instead they found a scraggly cat sitting on the bed. The family scooped up the cat and placed it into a blanketed box. The blanket was so soft.
“What a beautiful cat,” said one of the humans. “And smells so nice. What’s your name? You smell like mint, is that your name? Minty?”
Minty meowed.
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