Charlie's House

Aunt Betty called me one day in mid-December.  It was 21º and threatening to snow.  Charlie, Sylvia and Also were huddled together pitifully on her porch, trying to shield themselves from the biting winds, staring in at her.  Each of their faces was in a different pane of her casement window.  It sounded like a scene from "The Others".  Except instead of getting a shotgun, Aunt Betty went after them with a plate of tuna. 

I am SUCH a sucker for a cat.  Nothing hurts me more than the sight of a cat in trouble.  It doesn't even  have to be in person!  The mere description of their pitiful faces peering in the window haunted me all day.  When I went to the supermarket, the winds whipping my face, freezing though I was wrapped like a bear in my quilted coat, I thought about them sitting there in their bare feet.  When I went to lunch with a friend and was blown backwards by the wind, I thought about Sylvia wheezing with her weak lungs.  Before the sun set, I was in Ozone Park buying another one of Ashot's houses and delivering it to Aunt Betty's porch. 

Sylvia, Snake and Also went right in and are using it like they never lived elsewhere.

Charlie is still sitting in the cardboard box with his towel.  Tch!  It's supposed to be his house!  Why won't he go in?!

So now the blizzard is here, there's an inch of snow on the ground, winds are howling, and I'm tormented by visions of Charlie sitting alone with a towel in his cardboard box while the rest of his family are in the warm, snug house.  Cats.  Go figure.  I guess I'll be back in Ozone Park before long buying Charlie his own PRIVATE house.  - JD


UPDATE 01/10/10: Charlie IS using the house!  I saw him go in.  Thank God.  It's 16º today.  -JD


Would You Consider Donating To Our Feral Cats?  They Have a PitchInBox!