Cat and Bird, Paul Klee, 1928

When Dan and I left Saint Louis for Brooklyn, we were not alone in the cab of the rent-a-truck. Elliot the cat also accompanied us on our eastward journey. Hence, our travel moniker was a riff off of a local moving service, Two Men and a Truck. We went with Two Men and a Cat. We were on the road for about twenty-four hours, but I’ll spare you from another “24” themed post. In preparation for this road trip, Elliot was placed on a diet, because there just wasn’t room in the cab for a litter box. Things worked out as planned though and there were no accidents on the road. Elliot, who is a fat cat and now a NYC fat cat, wasn’t very happy with this approach and voiced many complaints about his ill-treatment all the way to New York City.

In full disclosure, I should say that I am allergic to cats and was not particularly excited about the prospect of spending any extended time in close proximity to one. I ended up taking Claritin though and was able to manage my allergies with drugs. I have noticed over the years that even when I hang back in a crowd of humans, cats will soon gravitate to me. It is like they are drawn to me. They’ll ignore all of the much more cat friendly, intervening people and single me out for their special attention. When I try to act aloof or ignore them, this only serves to cause them to redouble their efforts. It’s almost as if they are telling themselves and are trying to convince me too that they are not like ordinary cats, they’re special and I should love them.

Elliot is a very friendly cat and never really gave up trying to convince me of this, but after about a week being back home again, all of the cat dander finally left my system and I felt normal again. Dan’s apartment is a storefront. Its front wall is all glass. At night or when he is away a metal grate can be lowered for security purposes. When the grate is up, Elliot, who is an indoor cat likes looking out on the street life. He takes a keen interest in the sparrows on the sidewalk, but is rightly afraid of the NYC pigeons.

Elliot the Cat