Sadie, day 1

i am looking after annette's cat while she's in france for the holiday. i thought i'd post about it so she can see how cute her kitty is from 8,000 miles away. :) i have this brand-new picture phone that totally rocks and it's already come in handy for this.

let me set the scene: roger's park. 5:00pm. dark. crazy empty store fronts. some crazy woman yelling in the neighborhood somewhere. i park at a meter on clark and cross the street. the crazy woman is standing on the steps to annette's building. of course. i wander around as much as i can without looking too white then i make the decision to go in through the back. i walk through the alley, which is suprisingly empty. i find her back gate... unlatched. nice. i push it open, walk through and close is behind me. i fuck around with the keys in the back door until i figure out which ones work. there really isn't much worry about looking suspicious in this neighborhood, but i still worry that someone would call me out. nope. i get in.

and there is sadie. in all of her black, white and fuzzy glory. "meow," she says.

"i know," i reply. "i'm not annette. but i'll feed you just the same."

i notice that she still has a lot of food left in her bowl. i change her water and she slurps away. i walk into the living room and she races in before me, flinging herself on the rug and rolling over to show me her fluffy belly.

i take a few pictures and pet her for about 10 minutes. she proceeds to rub her face on every edge of the coffee table and licks herself randomly in happiness. when i get the mail and come back to drop it off, she is still sprawled on the rug, looking at me with her green eyes. "i know, i'm a heel to leave you here by yourself," i say.

"prrrr-rrr-rrr-rrr," she replies.

i leave out the front door, locking every lock i could find. i leave the neighborhood without incident. oh, wait. there was a guy driving on a flat with his flashers on. ah, you gotta love chicago traffic.