I could not help looking at the black cat sleeping in the middle of the road, eyes half-closed (or half-open?). It seemed to have something attractive about it, though I could not put my finger on what exactly that was. Maybe it was its perfect fur, or maybe how peaceful it seemed to be asleep. But also, I suppose I was curious about what an idiotic choice of location the cat had made to sleep, when there was so much choice available, including at least the “side” of the road rather than the “middle”.
It was then that I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a car fast approaching. Before I could think, my subconscious mind made me shout, “Move!”
The cat opened its eyes and froze instead of moving. In one of those life-changing decisions (the cats and mine), I ran and lifted the dazed cat, making it to the other side of the road, just escaping harm by a whisker.
As I placed the startled cat onto safe ground, he said, “Thank you.”
I must have looked stunned and disbelieving, so the cat said in an excited but controlled voice, “I am a cat, and yes, you heard me say ‘Thank You’ to you.”
The black cat, who had not yet been named, had just given me an amazing gift for saving his life. This gift, which was way more precious than anything money could buy, was my new ability to communicate with him and other cats. It is a gift that opened a portal for me into the secret world of cats.