Chicken’s Corner: A Friendship Deepening

Some of you may have been following along on Instagram, or picked up on my hints of a burgeoning love, but Chicken has found a friend for himself. He has been reluctant at best, but his icy demeanour is slowly melting.

This grey cat often hops onto the fence and sits there, looking down, looking up, his eyes wide and darting. Could I be so presumptuous as to suggest he is looking for a soulmate? Would that be a bit too much? Or just enough? Only time will tell.

What a joy, to watch this grey cat slowly chip away at the shell of our crusty shop crustacean. He doesn’t come by everyday, but when he does, I can feel Chicken’s resigned sighs as he tries to skulk away, and sometimes just gives up altogether. Occasionally Chicken will be sauntering along here or there, trotting casually, and then just completely freeze when he notices that there is in fact, already, a cat in the room, or the shop, or on the fire escape. We’ve always wondered how Chicken would take to a second cat, and this is about as good as we could hope for. Let’s be frank: it’s significantly better than we could’ve hoped for. I am milking this for all it’s worth. The days are long but the years are short, and my baby is learning how to love.

There are ups and downs, the ebb and flow of the moon’s tides, the natural rhythms of the circle of life. A grey cat edges closer, and an orange one edges away, closing his eyes grimly to the bright sun of love.

In any case, please enjoy this progression, repeated not quite daily, cats inching closer and farther, everyone accepting as much as they can get out of life.

On Emancipation Day here in Ontario and Canada, we are grateful to be able to make another $500 donation to the Ontario Black History Society, an organization dedicated to the study, preservation and promotion of Black History and heritage, and do particularly important work in public education. We are thankful for all of the work they do.