Suddenly I turned around and she was standin’ there
With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair.
She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns.
“Come in,” she said,
“I’ll give you shelter from the storm.”
We went looking for the cats the other night as Brandy hadn’t been to visit for a while. We saw all the regulars and noticed the missing cats from the parking lot… especially NTU. We walked through the lot and looked at the changes to the lot. They had taken out the old, run-down sheds that sat at the end of the parking lot… old, long since used food stands from the older days of the Bitan Bridge. They had also removed a lot of the bushes and hedges that donned the hill beside the parking lot entrance where a lot of the cats lived, hid and called to us from. The area at the end of the lot was also changed with an observation deck and new seating for visitors. IT just isn’t the same as it was for the cats before as they lived in and under the sheds, in and out of the bushes and they could freely climb down to the water at the end without people getting anywhere near them.
We visited all the different groups and I introduced Brandy to some of the new cats and kittens of the prides. She got some good photos of some of the cats I will share later. We saw the old feeding lady who feeds all the cats every night. We asked her about NTU, and it took her a second to recognize who we were talking about. Brandy told her it had been a month since we saw her and were very worried. She laughed and told us the cats from the parking lot had movied up to the alleyway across the street where she lived when they took out the sheds and the bushes. She said she had just fed her ten minutes before…
We quickly backtracked and headed across the street from the parking lot entrance. We called out. We saw Big Orange, Little Black and a few others we hadn’t seen in a while. We still didn’t see NTU, but the feeding lady said she was there, so we were happier. Then it happened. We were about to walk away and that old familiar meow came from under a car to our left and there she was… NTU!!!
I guess it’s not always a bad thing when one of my street cats disappear. She was smart and her pride headed to higher ground. More cover, a little safer and still close to their food they have become accustomed to. We gave her a full can of food all to herself and tried to get some pictures. She is still leery of people, but she knows us and knows we love to see her, talk to her and feed her. I never knew the meow of just one of my many street cats could make me want to laugh and cry at the same time.
She’s back and now I have to add a new area to my feeding walks as the Parking Lot Pride has moved to the alleyway. I don’t mind though… I get to see a cat I really thought was gone forever…
NTU Cat… back and ready for more food!
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