Summary

The author describes a serendipitous encounter with a friendly stray cat during a slow-starting yard sale, which unexpectedly improved his day and the success of his sale, before the cat mysteriously vanished.

Abstract

The narrative "I Made a New Friend Today" recounts the author's chance meeting with an unnamed cat during a yard sale aimed at raising funds and decluttering. Initially, the sale appeared unsuccessful, with no customers for an hour, leading the author to question his efforts. However, the sudden appearance of a sociable cat, who climbed into his lap and interacted affectionately, seemed to change his fortune. Following the cat's arrival, potential buyers appeared, and the author made significant sales. Despite the financial success, the author felt a sense of loss when the cat left without a trace. Reflecting on the encounter, the author ponders the natural bond formed with the cat and wonders if they will meet again.

Opinions

The author expresses a sense of instant connection and attraction to the cat, describing the interaction as an "instant attraction."
There is a hint of self-doubt regarding the yard sale's success initially, with concerns about the timing and promotion of the event.
The cat's behavior is seen as unusually friendly and comforting, contrasting with typical stray cat interactions, which tend to be more cautious or fleeting.
The author views the cat as a potential good luck charm or companion, suggesting they could make a "great team."
A feeling of sadness and incompleteness is conveyed when the cat disappears, indicating that the author felt a deeper connection beyond the immediate circumstances.
The yard sale experience, initially viewed with skepticism, ends on a positive note, with the author content with the outcome despite not fully covering the internet access fee.
The narrative concludes with a sense of wonder and longing for the unexpected bond formed with the cat, highlighting the author

I Made a New Friend Today

And I don’t even know her name!

She never told me her name. Now that I think about it I never told her my name either.

I was sitting on the front porch of my apartment building when, for some inexplicable reason, I turned my head and saw her walking around to the front of the hedge growing in front of the building.

She abruptly stopped and stared at me. I stared at her. After a long moment of silence she began walking towards me, her eyes not leaving mine. She jumped up to the porch and approached me with no hesitation whatsoever. She then rubbed her face against my arm. It was instant attraction…

She then jumped up into my lap. Wow, how friendly, I thought. She kept rubbing up against me. She rubbed her face against my beard. I rubbed my face against her face. I rubbed her face and her ears and her chest and her belly. We talked for a long time. She did most of the talking…

Maybe I should start at the beginning…

I was having a yard sale. The details aren’t important but I was trying to get rid of stuff and I was also trying to raise some much-needed cashola. I had hauled several tons of stuff down the stairs to the front of the building. I was exhausted from the get-go.

So with the yard sale all set up I sat there for an hour watching cars go by without anyone stopping to browse. An entire hour! I began questioning my idea of having a yard sale. After all, yard sale season is over. And I didn’t have time to get much advertising out there. Was all the time I spent yesterday gathering and pricing things a waste of time? Would I have a single sale? Was it all hopeless? Would I be able to pay for November’s internet access?

And then I turned my head and saw a very pretty kitty cat walk around the hedge at the front of the apartment building. She stopped as she saw me looking at her. After a long moment she proceeded to walk towards me. She jumped onto the porch and came right at me meowing like crazy. She made the first moves. She started rubbing all over me and I reciprocated.

Normally, when I run into a stray neighborhood kitty cat they stop, look at me, then run away. This kitty cat was different. She didn’t see me as some human stranger. She was not apprehensive at all. It was like she already knew me or something!

So I sat there on the porch for the next 45 minutes with the kitty cat on my lap. She kept meowing incessantly. I could hardly get a word in edgewise.

We were talking and loving on each other when suddenly a car stopped at the curb in front of the apartment building. A man and a woman and their 5 or 6 or 7 year-old son exited the car to browse my yard sale. I set the kitty cat aside and stood up, morphing into my salesman persona.

While I engaged the man and woman the kitty cat went straight for the little boy and started rubbing against his leg. The boy knelt down and began petting the cat.

I managed to sell three dollars worth of crap to the man and woman and as they and their boy left I looked down at the kitty cat who was down by my feet and looking up at me and I thought, “Hey, you and I could make a great team.”

So I sat back down on the porch steps and the kitty cat immediately jumped back into my lap. Gosh, I felt like I had met my soulmate.

So we kept talking and loving on each other for another twenty minutes.

You know how in movies and television shows there is that cliche scene where four or five or six cars are all headed to the exact same spot and they arrive at the same time and they all screech their brakes before any cars hit each other? Well, that is what happened next…

Suddenly, there were five cars who all stopped simultaneously in front of the apartment building. Humans poured out of the cars to browse my yard sale. I set the kitty cat down and stood up, once again morphing into my salesman persona.

Over the course of the next fifteen minutes I sold almost fifty bucks worth of crap. I was so happy! The idea of having a yard sale was not such a boondoggle after all!

But after everyone left I looked down and around and the kitty cat was no where to be seen. She was gone!

She left me!

I was sad. She had left me and I had barely gotten to know her.

I closed the yard sale later in the afternoon. I didn’t quite make enough money to cover my internet access fee for November but I came very close. I was fairly happy about the results.

After hauling all the crap that did not sell back upstairs to my apartment I rested for a while. (So exhausting!) Eventually, I started working on dinner. And that is when I started thinking about that kitty cat. I thought about what it’s like to be with someone who loves you as unconditionally as you love them. I thought about what it is like to be with someone who is so familiar with you as you are with them that it is just totally natural to rub against one another and be totally comfortable in each other’s company.

As I chopped vegetables I wondered…

…if we will ever meet again.

I never even got her name!

Speaking of finding peace…

Finding Peace

At the end of conflict

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