Chapel Cat

Cats and roads aren't exactly the best of friends. Cats and busy roads make for disastrous ends. Roadside venturing felines rarely make it to adulthood unless
1. They have learned to be traffic-savvy and avoid anything round that growls and moves, or
2. They are extremely lucky
Otherwise, cats account for prime roadkill. Followed by frogs, rats and even dogs. Roadkill. Not my favorite sight. All those bloody entrails, matted fur and goggle-eyed mess. The last part is if there's still a head left. Puke ... puke ... bloody drivers @#$# ... cry ... turn away.

So, when I saw a cat crossing over from the UP Chapel to the UP Infirmary last Friday afternoon, I nearly got a coronary because of the suspense of watching it cross the busy street. To be, or not to be roadkill? That was the question.

Chapel Cat moved cross the street like an old lady taking a walk in the park. CC just ... strolled. And when I say stroll, I mean stroll. Leisurely putting one foot in front of the other, no hurrying. Just getting from point A to point B as if nothing else was there. No cars, no PUJs, no people. Weird. No stopping. No looking. And no listening.

So, there went the cat, middling in the late afternoon across the street. Two cars were coming from the direction of the UP Post Office,and I was muttering "C'mon, c'mon,cat." Inside, I was, like, "Speed up. Run! Run! Why aren't you running, you little furball? I don't want to see how roadkill becomes roadkill. The car's coming."

The car up front sounded the car horn insistently. But did CC speed up? Oh, no, not this chapel cat. No change of pace there. It wasn't just me waiting with bated breath for the question to be answered. Just about every vehicle coming in CC's direction slowed down, and the car did stop for a few seconds to wait for clear passage. Thank God the driver of the car up front apparently saw the cat and wasn't one for testing CC's nine lives. And so did the PUJ coming from the opposite direction.

That little scene must have taken the whole of forty-five seconds, but it felt like an hour. Was the cat suicidal? I don't know. It just occurred to me that perhaps it was deaf. I don't know if the fact that the cat was crossing in front of the church made a difference, and drivers were just reluctant to challenge God's dominion over the life and death of CC, or they were naturally kind and not predisposed toward making giniling out of animals crossing the street. Whatever the reason, I'm glad CC made it, if only for the fact that I didn't witness a roadkill-making exhibition.