I am known to the outdoor cats who live along my walking route. Most of them are glad to see me and get a little chin scratch. Some of them are pretty insistent about that chin scratch and run after me, meowing loudly, if I don't stop long enough with them.
There are other cats, however, who run and hide. Makes me wonder about the kitty gossip grapevine.
This evening, as I was walking up 27th Street, I saw one of those hiders bathing himself in the middle of the street. He saw me coming.
He didn't run up under his porch like he usually does. How odd.
Greeting him, I knelt down and held out my fingertips in the universal "Hey, kitty, get your chin scratched" signal.
He still didn't run. He walked over and sniffed my fingers.
"After all these years," I said. "Finally."
I lifted my hand to rub him between the ears and he ran under a parked car.
Okay. Baby steps.
166 words | August 17, 2007 11:35 PM | Felis MajorLiving on 27th, I can't help but wonder if this is the cat across the street. He was shy with us for the first year, year-and-a-half, until one day he simply came out and said hello; as if he'd seen us come and go enough to finally decide that we might be "okay" to spend a little quality time with.
Posted by: tim at August 20, 2007 11:17 AMCould be the same one. I'm talking about a rather grubby, gray and white cat. How very Richmond! He probably still regards you as "the new people."
Posted by: 100 word minimum at August 20, 2007 09:08 PM