The Night Visitor

It was a hot summer night in 1973, and I was sitting in a recliner in my urban, bottom floor apartment, watching a small black and white television set. The unscreened window was open to facilitate a cool breeze through the stifling hot apartment. All at once, an image appeared in the corner of my left eye. I turned my head, and sitting on the open window sill, was an orange tabby tom cat, staring directly at me. He had a friendly look on his face, so I began to talk to him. "Hey buddy boy, come on in and say hello!"

He found my invitation to his liking, and hopped down from the widow sill, then sauntered on over to me. We made an instant connection! I reached down, and like an old pal, he began rubbing furiously against my compliant fingertips.........his cat motor loudly purring his contentment!

He spent the next hour or so watching TV with me, until he decided it was time to exit the same way he came in. Up upon the window sill he jumped, then back out into the night, never to be seen again! I thoroughly enjoyed our serendipitous encounter, but it wasn't until a few days later that I realized the full impact of his visit, when I began to notice itchy red bites on my ankles. My feline friend it turns out, had infested my carpet with fleas! It was so bad, that for a few days I actually contemplated wearing flea collars on my ankles! A thorough hosing down of the carpet with a super size can of Raid only proved to be temporary fix, and eventually I had to fog the entire apartment to finally rid myself of the plague.

I don't hold it against my night visitor. He meant no harm. To this day I still love all creatures great or small, but I never allow them past my doorstep........or window sill.

Melissa XX