Casper lives, it seems, in my driveway.
That’s what I call the piebald cat, whom I assume for no good reason to be male. I could be wrong. People are sometimes.
But he shows up every morning to peer through the kitchen window, his yellowish-orange eyes catching and holding mine. His tacit signal: “I’m ready to eat now.”
I pour the squishy contents of a little plastic container into a ceramic bowl and walk it out the front door. Casper retreats from the water bowl, sits under the chair in which I sit to watch stars. His mouth opens, as if he’s going to tell me something, but whatever he says, it’s too quiet to hear.
I place the bowl, then remove myself a few feet — fewer over time — sitting on the pavement near my car as Casper creeps up to gobble and chew. When we first began this ritual, he would keep a feral eye on me. But over time, he’s learned that I’m not going to lunge at him, so he’s a little more relaxed.
While he eats, I talk to him.
“Good Casper. How are you today? Good kitty-cat.”
Kitty-cat, kitty-cat, pretty little kitty-cat. Has there ever been a more lyrical phrase?
When he finishes, he stretches his back into scary-cat pose, then downward cat, then he sits on his little white paws, furry and soft, and his long lower legs, like the skids under a seaplane, tail wrapped around his flank like a fox. He closes his eyes, meditating while his breakfast settles.
He spends much of the day sitting in the drive, warmed by the sun. If he’s not there, he might be in the tall grass of the backyard, snooping through the wood pile or stalking a bug.
Sometimes he sprawls on the concrete. I laid out a towel to make a more comfy mattress, but he hasn’t taken to it. Yet.
I’ve fostered kittens who followed me throughout the house, throughout the day, eager to be picked up and stroked, vocal in their insistence on my attention.
I don’t know that Casper has ever been touched by a human hand. I don’t know that he’s ever played. I don’t know that he’s ever purred.
Casper is fairly new to my world, but a neighbor tells me that he’s been around for a while, along with three or four siblings. I’ve seen them passing by, Rorchached with random patterns of black and white fur, but I think Casper’s splotches are the prettiest.
Another cat was in the news recently, Miss Sassy of Springfield, Ohio. She apparently went on a walkabout, so her person ran to social media with the crude claim that a Haitian immigrant must have eaten her.
Miss Sassy showed up a few days later in the woman’s basement. But the claim was out there in the wild, where it grew like a cancer to endanger an already strained community. Then former president and convicted felon Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate JD Vance jumped on board and made the situation worse, generating protests and bomb threats for which they refuse to take responsibility.
Vance was still harping on this in a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
“The media has lied and misrepresented this and so, of course, has the Kamala Harris campaign,” he said before an audience. “Does anybody really think? I challenge ya. Go to Springfield, Ohio which has been overwhelmed by 20,000 Haitian immigrants. Go to any community that’s been overwhelmed by Kamala Harris’ illegal alien policies and tell me that these are stories made up by politicians.”
But — but he already admitted the story was false. And the media already has gone to Springfield in search of the truth. And Springfield’s mayor, city manager and police chief, along with the state’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, have said the story was false. Even Miss Sassy’s person has apologized for the lie. Do millions of American citizens have to personally go to Springfield and fail to find pet-eating immigrants before we can put the lie to rest? Is that really the only way to quelch a lie?
Imagine four years of Springfields: Racist lies, generated by the most powerful person in the nation, that target working people in struggling communities, leading to threats and shutdowns, with no accountability for the chaos. We might get that. Some people want that.
This is a teachable moment for many reasons; among them, the fact that it wasn’t the “mainstream media,” often reviled as “biased” or “fake,” that spread baseless, racist rumors of strange foreigners feasting on beloved pets. It was a demented old man, desperate to avoid being placed on trial for his (alleged) crimes and an opportunistic senator, willing to put his own constituents’ safety at risk for his ambition.
We disagree on so much these days. Some believe that blind adherence to a supremacist, sectarian religion, somehow represented by a moral and intellectual gnat, would make our nation great.
Others believe that it’s higher values — truthfulness, kindness, justice and grace — that would better generate that outcome.
But many of us, most of us, no matter our politics, agree that these furry creatures, feline and canine, are worthy of our affection and devotion. What they give us — beauty, comfort, loyalty — is so much more than we can offer.
And when we come across those who treat them cruelly, we’re justifiably outraged. That someone would abuse their innocence and vulnerability is intolerable.
If only we could all extrapolate that concern into the human sphere.
Thursday morning, wet and misty, Casper appeared before the sun rose.
While he ate, I sipped my coffee, my butt getting damp and chilled on the concrete. No matter.
The full moon struggled to break through the clouds. Jupiter peered down, as if to ask, “How are you this fine morning, kitty-cat?”
Casper licked his lips and sat there, hunkered down, nowhere important to go.
I drooped my head and closed my eyes: playing possum. A minute later I peeked, and there was Casper, inches away, sniffing my hand.
We’ve marred so much on this planet. Wildlife in particular seems to suffer from our presence and benefit from our absence.
But a cat needs a person.
My hand aches to stroke his fur, to scratch his chin. But that’ll only happen when he’s ready. After I’ve earned his trust.
…….
Overflow:
Springfield, Ohio, is now in a state of emergency purely because of Trump and Vance’s attacks:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/springfield-ohio-mayor-granted-emergency-powers-as-haitian-immigrants-say-they-fear-for-their-safety-amid-trump-and-vances-false-claims-202618314.html
From The Atlantic: Trump and Vance Are Harming the People They Claim to Care About:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/09/trump-vance-springfield-ohio/679894/
Vance says he has a right to lie:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jd-vance-haiti-migrants-illegal-aliens_n_66eb5d41e4b00648275bbf2b
Vice President Kamala Harris has no power to “wave a wand” and declare immigrants legal, as Vance claims. “The U.S. currently provides TPS to about 863,880 foreign nationals from the following 16 countries, as of March 31, 2024,” Homeland Security says, not the millions that Vance claims. If you can’t tell the difference between fact and fiction, you probably can’t tell the difference between right and wrong.
Learn facts here:
https://immigrationforum.org/article/fact-sheet-temporary-protected-status/
When The Wall Street Journal calls out a Republican candidate for lying …
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/springfield-ohio-pet-eating-claims-haitian-migrants-04598d48
The cat came back:
https://news.yahoo.com/news/trump-supporter-whose-police-report-175532969.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
The conservative media outlet The Bulwark agrees that Trump and Vance are hypocrites of the highest order:
And Trump is launching … a new cryptocurrency business? Shouldn’t he be concentrating on his presidential campaign?
“To promise crypto-friendly policies and have your family engage in the same business is, I think, conflict of interest 101,” said Ishan Mehta, director for media and democracy at Common Cause, a nonprofit that advocates for government transparency.
Oh, another opportunity for presidential corruption? Yeah, that tracks.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/31/trump-crypto-family-affair-00176764
Every Republican accusation is a confession: In Georgia and elsewhere, they’re scheming to steal the 2024 presidential election:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/network-georgia-election-officials-strategizing-130004377.html
Briefly, two comments about the “mainstream media”: No major, professional organization goes to press or air with a story like the revelations about N.C. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson unless they can back it up; they don’t want to get sued for millions of dollars, like Fox News:
So if CNN is lying, why isn’t Robinson filing a lawsuit?
And when the “mainstream media” discover a conflict between, say, a politician and a reporter, they acknowledge and resolve it:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/olivia-nuzzi-new-york-magazine-leave_n_66ecde7ae4b0e7776c3e7717
“Mainstream media” is a convenient target for people who don’t like it when the news reports inconvenient facts, but professional news outlets are much more responsible and reliable than, say, a random, anonymous post on Facebook or TikTok.
A song for our feline friends:
Thanks to those of you who have come out recently to hear me read from my book, Stardust and Scar Tissue. It’s available from my friends at Bookmarks, the Book Ferret, the Central Library or directly from Press 53.
I’ll also have copies at the Press 53 table at The Bookmarks Festival of Books & Authors, held Sept. 26 through Sept. 29. Look for me downtown on Saturday. If you’re not yet a subscriber to “Mick Scott: Meditations,” you can have my essays delivered to your inbox on Sundays (and occasionally other times) for free; or you can help support my potato chip habit with a small monthly sum; either way is OK with me.
Hey, who wants to go to this in October?
Thanks for being here today, friends. If you know anyone who might like to join us, please send them this way.
If Casper should trust any human Mick, it is you
This is wonderful. I love your writing and thankful for your voice and friend, Lynn who shared it with me.