Lady In the Snow

I turn the porch light on at 4 a.m. to see if a miracle’s occurred and the paper's landed somewhere in the snow blanketing our lawn. Instead I see a clump on the mat a one-eyed cat dazed by the cold looking at me as if to say “Are you the guy I saw a week ago before I ran?" Every morning now I feed two feral toms at our back door but never a cat at our front door. My wife might say okay once she knows this cat's a lady in big trouble. When I open the door the cat runs across the street turns around, sits on the curb looks at me and says, “Listen, Mister, I’m cold and hungry but we just met. One quick peek is all you get.” Donal Mahoney