Part One
Cats
They came right up to me, no matter how street worn or how
much experience, they came up to me, some of them got on their bellies, while
others, fresh from flesh-demanding fights just looked at me, not afraid. They
let me scratch their necks, they closed their eyes and purred.
I thought of stray cats in Fresno, how they ran way from me,
afraid for their lives, and I remembered when I was 13 years old, my friend Walter, how one night we
were walking behind the grocery store and a cat came up to us.
Walter cooed it,
and the cat cautiously came to him, but then he picked it up and threw it
against the back wall of the grocery store, almost killing it, the cat wobbling
away to Walter’s laughter.
“How could you??" I cried, in tears.
"What’s wrong with you?" he said.
These cats in Bangkok made me think of love.