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There are a variety of different cat doors available. Some open inward and outward, others only inwards, so the cat can enter but not leave the house. Some cat doors have a locking mechanism that would allow you to keep your cat indoors at night. The most sophisticated type of cat door is one that is activated by a magnet on your cat's collar, ensuring that no other animals will gain entry to your home.
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"It is really cold tonight," I thought to myself as I pulled on the pieces of plastic and cardboard which I was going to use as bed covers for the night.
Still I shivered, and I shook for hours and hours, as I laid inside that large green, rusty garbage dumpster, out behind one of the restaurants located at the Southgate Plaza Shopping Center in Jacksonville, Florida.
I was a big boy now. I had just turned twelve years old. "God, it's cold this time," I said out loud. I heard my voice echo off the sides of the dumpster and it sounded real neat to me.
"HELLOOO," I said so that I could hear my own echo again. "God bless America. Land that I love..." I sang, as loud as I could.
"I sound pretty darn good," I said to myself as I continued to sing out loud.
I dug a hole further down through the garbage and began to cover myself with the food and hundreds of cartons which had been thrown away during the day.
All of a sudden I heard something scratching inside the dumpster. "OH GOD, I hope that's not another big rat," I thought to myself.
I had been bitten several weeks earlier, by a large rat, over on Riverside Avenue when I had slept in a dumpster behind the large red brick church.
I took out my package of matches and struck one and held it forward. Sitting directly in front of me was a large black cat with big green, shiny eyes. He flipped his tail several times and just sat there looking at me.
"MEOW," he said. "Are you hungry?" I asked him. "Meow," he said again. I reached over and found the container which held four, half eaten tacos which I had found when I first arrived at the dumpster. I carefully unwrapped the tacos and began removing the bits of hamburger. I laid the meat out onto a
cardboard box next to me and the cat slowly moved over and began to eat the meat. I finished off the lettuce, tomato and cheese and I threw away the taco shells because they had coffee grounds all over the outside.
I reached up and closed the dumpster lid and I laid down trying to keep myself warm. The cat moved over next to me and curled up by my neck. I began to pet his back and he started making this sound like he had a little motor inside him.
"Do you like me?" I asked him. "Meow," he said. "I like you too," I said, as I hugged him real hard.
"WHO'S IN THERE?" hollered someone standing on the outside of the dumpster. The lid slowly opened and I saw a big man was standing there with a gun in his hand.
"What you doin' in there?" he asked me, shaking the gun around. "I was just sleeping, Sir," I said. "Where you live?" he asked me.
"I live in the orphanage over on Spring Park Road, by San Diego," I told him. "Why ain't you there then? You a runaway?" he asked. I lowered my head and remained totally silent. He raised his flashlight up from the ground and
shined it onto the dumpster.
"Let me sees your face," said the man. I covered my eyes and raised my head. "Moves your hand, boy," he ordered. "How long you been coming outs here anyway?" he said. "You all alone in there?" he questioned.
"No sir. There's a black cat in here with me," I told him. "He's my friend," I said. "You leave that cat in there and youse get out here real slow like."
I reached over and picked up the only friend that I had in the world and I held him in my arms and began to climb out of the large garbage can.
"You don'ts listen very good do you boy?" he said. I continued climbing out of the dumpster with the large black cat in my arms. When I reached the ground, I hugged the cat in my arms and I turned to face the large man holding the gun.
"You sure stink," he said, waiving his hand about his nose. "How long since you had a bath?" he asked me. "I washed yesterday at the gas station," I told him.
He waived his gun to the side and told me to get in his old pickup truck. "I gotta keep my cat. He's my friend," I told him. "Put him in the truck" he ordered, with a strange smile on his face. About a half an hour later we drove up to this old house located somewhere in Jacksonville, Florida. God only knows where. I had never been to that part of town so I had no idea where I was. When we walked into the house, he pointed at the woman and
asked her to get him a towel and some soap. He took me by the arm and led me into the bathroom and told me to get into the tub and take a bath. "That don't means no gas station washing," he said, pointing at me with his finger.
I sat the cat down on the floor and the woman came in with the towel and laid it down on the toilet.
I took a hot bath and washed real good with real soap. When I was all done, I dressed and picked up my cat and walked back into the front room. The couch and chair were full of holes and the windows had sheets for curtains. I remember that part real well because I had never seen that before.
"Have him take his shirt off, Bill," said the woman. "Take off your shirt," said the man. I sat the cat down on the couch, stood up and began to remove my dirty shirt. "Turns around," said the woman, spinning her finger at me.
I turned slowly around and stood with my back toward them. "You right. Someone done got this boy," said the man. "Who done got you?" I just stood there with my head down, looking at the black cat, who had laid down in one of the large holes in the couch. "Who do this to you boy?" asked the woman.
I just stood there silently and did not want to answer any questions. I knew very well what they were talking about. Two weeks before, I had been caught eating a box of raisins which a group of us had taken out of the orphanage pantry. Mrs. Winters, the head matron, had beaten me on the breezeway porch
with a stalk of bamboo because I would not tell her who had taken the raisins out of the locked pantry.
"You hungry boy? the man asked me. "No, Sir. I had some tacos earlier tonight," I told him. "You gonna eat anyway," he stated. We walked into the small kitchen and we sat down at the table, which only had two chairs. I don't exactly know what It was that I ate that night, and I don't know if I ever want to know. But it was hot, it was good, and it didn't have coffee
grounds stuck all over it. I stayed the night with the man and his wife. I slept on that couch with the big old holes in it and it felt warm and good.
The next day the man drove me, and the cat back to the dumpster at Southgate Plaza. He handed me four whole dollars and a bag full of cornbread. "This kind of life better than the orphanage?" he asked me. I opened the truck door,
picked up my black cat, and I said not a word. I closed the door behind me and I turned around to face the man. I just stood there kissing my cat on the back of Its neck. The man shook his head and he drove away. Having to live in garbage dumpsters was not the issue. Having an old black cat to love me was worth it all.
-- Roger Dean Kiser
The purity of a person's heart can be quickly measured by how they regard cats.
- Anonymous
AN OLD BLACK CAT WHO LOVED ME
