There's One in Every Neighborhood

A few days ago, I was sitting on my couch with my back to the window, when I suddenly felt like someone was staring at me. I turned around and saw a brown tabby cat peeping through the window. As soon as she saw me looking at her, she started meowing loudly and insistently at me.



I've seen her around, wandering through my yard, sleeping on the soft top of my car, but this was the first time she had shown any interest in me. Not knowing whether or not she's a stray, and knowing that extremely cold weather had started, I decided I might as well offer her some food. She devoured the handful of dry food I gave her, then returned to the window and started yelling for more. Since I am very much a sucker, I gave her some more. She ate most of that food, then returned to the window to yell again. This time I decided to let her come inside, and I checked her over to see what kind of condition she was in. No sign of fleas, wounds, or starvation. Considering how at ease she was with me, I think it's safe to assume she's not a stray.

She wanted back outside very quickly (I guess she didn't like my living room... or maybe she didn't like the way my cat followed her around), and returned to sitting in the window like she owned it. After a while, she started yelling at me again. This time she was satisfied with a quick scratch on the head. I decided to call her Vivian.

Vivian was back in the window yelling at me the next day. This time I did not feed her. I don't think she needs me to feed her. I used to have a big gray cat named Gus who spent his days looking for suckers. One of my neighbors told me that there was a big gray cat she was feeding. She said he showed up at her door one day, meowing sociably at her, so she let him inside. It didn't take long to verify that this was my cat, who was very well fed by me, chatting her up for food.

Vivian returned the third morning, although I slept late and left the curtains drawn. When I pulled open the curtains, I was relieved to see that she wasn't in the window. Then I saw her, bathing herself in the sun at the top of my porch steps, looking for all the world as if she owned the place.