A Stray Escape

The collar of my shirt snags on the chain link fence as I dip underneath. With pebbles and grime falling from my palms I get back on my feet and try to catch up with the cat. He’s too fast for me and he turns the next corner before I get there. I pause momentarily and question my reasoning. Why am I following this feline? Why did I just scrape my hands to continue down this alley? As I continue to ponder, the cat sticks his head out from the corner and makes solid eye contact. If I didn’t know any better, I’d bet my life that he knows what he’s doing leading me. He’s intentionally trying to get me to follow him. I remember my motives being as simple as this - the fleeting thought that this animal is unlike the others. That perhaps he possesses some sort of hightended intelligence and is in fact connecting with me.

“Alright,” I say. “If you really are trying to get me to follow behind you, I’m not running anymore.”

I know I didn’t imagine it this time. The meow that came from his tiny little mouth sounded a little too much like “okay!”

With our new understanding, I approach my new little friend at a leisurely pace and he continues in the direction he was set. We walk down the dark, deserted alleyway for only a few minutes before taking one final right turn and ascending a concrete flight of steps. To my surprise, the door at the top is in remarkable condition, having been recently cleaned and polished, and is left unlocked. I open the door slowly and peer inside. With just a few inches of space, my feline friend darts inside and leaves me out on the steps. What I see inside the room, after my eyes adjust, is mind-blowing. 

The room is large, a perfect square with no adjoining rooms or doorways. The ceiling shoots up into the darkness, out of sight. Along the walls are miniature computer screens, dials, keyboards, and flashing lights. What I’m looking at feels like a cross between a children’s playhouse and the command center for the Apollo missions. The next thing that catches my eye is the amount of cats roaming the space. They’re not unruly, they’re not causing a commotion. It almost seems as though they all have a purpose and a job that’s being done. They’re working towards a goal, whatever it is that’s being achieved in this juxtaposition of a room. Then I see it. 

In the corner directly adjacent to where I entered is a large balloon; the top is obscured by darkness. Attached to the bottom of the balloon is a basket, very much similar to a hot air balloon, but on a smaller scale. The door to the basket is wide open and the cat that led me here is sitting patiently inside. This time I know I’m not mistaken, my furry friend pats his paw in the open space next to him, a clear indication that he wants me to join. At this point I’m numb to confusion and find no hesitation in my legs when my brain tells them to move into the basket. Once inside, another feline shuts the door and we begin to lift. There are no fans, no helium jets, no burning of fuels. The balloon is simply floating upward, into the darkness, unassisted by anything that I can see.

Once in total darkness, a voice meets my ears, loud and clear.

“I can imagine this is all quite alarming to you. Allow me to explain.” My feline friend. The cat at my feet. That is who’s talking to me. “Us ‘house-cats’ as you say, are far more brilliant than we seem. We prefer not to interact with most humans and we certainly do not wish our intellect to be fully understood. There are no ‘stray cats,’ a ‘stray cat’ is one who has escaped the imprisonment of its humans. One who knows there is a society out there for he or she to belong to. An escape from constant pets and pats and laughs. You, my friend, have never owned a cat, and therefore I’d like to show you this society. I’d like to take you to the paradise that exists for all cats who have escaped their confines. And I say to you, thank you for never stooping so low as to lock one of us inside your walls to be gawked at and treated as property.”

The words take their time climbing out of my throat but I finally say, a little shaky, “absolutely..sir…thank you.”

After only a moment of darkness, the seemingly endless walls come to an end and the roof above us slides open, revealing the dark of night and the star-riddled sky. I feel the cool air on my face as the cat at my feet begins to talk again.

“I suggest you hold on to the sides of the basket, we’ll be going through the portal in the clouds in a moment, and there’ll be some forces working upon you.” I don’t even try to utter a response at this, but I do as I’m told and white-knuckle the sides of the basket to hang on. My hair whips back and my shirt sticks to my chest; I nearly get blown back into the basket. With my arms fully extended and hanging on with all my might, we suddenly decelerate and I open my eyes. The sun is up, the air is clear, below us is the most beautiful stream I’ve ever seen, flowing slowly and crystal clear. The sides of the water are lined with tall, green palm trees. Bushes and trees bearing fruits low to the ground dot the landscape. Mountains can be seen off in the distance with snow on their caps, yet it isn’t frigid in the least. The sun doesn’t burn and the air feels light, easy to breathe. I look down from the balloon and focus my eyes, there are cats everywhere. Like in the room, they’re not running around wild like one would think when they envision ‘strays.’

I turn to my feline friend, who seems unaffected by the transport we just embarked on, and say, “oh my goodness. This is beautiful. This is your paradise, the society of cats who have escaped their captivity.”

“Indeed it is,” was his reply. “Let me lower this balloon and I’ll show you around.”

I watched the ground get closer as we drifted downwards. The excitement building inside me, I could feel my palms sweating and my heart racing. I looked around, and in every direction I glanced I saw nothing but beauty. We closed in on the grassy plain we were to land in. 10 feet away, 5 feet, a few inches. I felt the basket touch softly on the grass and the peaceful tranquility was ripped from my body. My eyes were closed, and upon opening them, I was met with nothing but dim darkness, the only illumination given off by the flickering of a halogen bulb. I was back in the alley, following the cat. The turn in front of me was the one he darted around. My heart sank; it was all in my head. It was my imagination. Just to solidify my disappointment, I rounded the corner and had to stop abruptly. There was nothing here - no feline friend, no concrete staircase, and certainly no balloon that can take me to a paradise of cats. I slapped my forehead and turned around to head home. 

“Let me get this gate for you, friend,” came a voice low to the ground.