A Short Tale of a Kitty in Taiwan

Meow.

Image created and owned by Author in Midjourney

I was meandering around the city I call home at night and stopped in my tracks as I came upon a curiosity.

A lone kitty on a lonely street staring up at a lonely empty wall.

Photograph by Author

What was it doing? Why was it ignoring me standing there? Couldn’t it hear me speak?

I’m fluent in cat, after all.

Maybe it saw a ghost? Was it waiting for its owner to come back? Or was this was more of a Hachikō situation, where the faithful pet stands guard waiting for an owner to never return from the grave?

I had to know.

So I waited and kept clicking.

Photograph by Author

Time passes.

No change.

Why won’t you look at me kitty?

I think. I breathe. I make weird little kitty chirping noises.

Do I not exist in your world?

A bit more time passes.

Then at last — success!

Photograph by Author

I have gained its attention!

The kitty shall now surely come over for pets and murmurs, something only second to catnip in the kitty world.

The joy is short-lived.

Alas, I am but a nuisance.

He turns back.

Photograph by Author

I stand there in indignance after being rebuffed. I take the time to zoom in.

I wait further.

And then the moment of clarity comes.

Ahhhhh, that’s why. Yes, of course.

Photograph by Author

I had forgotten the real order of importance in kitty world:

#5. J.J.

#4. Murmurs from humans

#3. Petting (not heavy)

#2. Catnip

#1. Incredibly loud scary screaming cat lovemaking that gives me nightmares and keeps me awake at night because my neighborhood is apparently an open-invite orgy for anything with fur on its back and claws in front.

J.J. Pryor

This is from my semi-successful newsletter, Pryor Thoughts, where I write a bit more oddly than usual.