Weirdness Magnet

Several houses down, I have a neighbor, an older, retired gentleman named George who owns a pet cat named Marmalade. She's very old, with a mouth defect that makes her look as if her mouth is always a little bit open. She's also so skinny that her hip bones stick out at the base of her tail like two little bumps. It's not that my neighbor doesn't feed her well, either--he feeds her tuna and chicken scraps in addition to cat food every day--plus she is an active hunter, bringing George trophy chipmunks and bird heads as "presents" often. But she has a thyroid disorder which keeps her bone-thin. Her orange coat is scruffy and she always looks a little bit dirty, but every day when my neighbor walks up to the grocery store, she is right behind him. She follows him back, too. I've seen her waiting for him in the grass outside the grocery store parking lot on several occasions.

Last weekend I went up to the grocery store and saw her there again, sitting in the grass in her customary spot, waiting for George. I called out to her, as sometimes she'll come over to let me pet her, but this time she just sat in the grass, waiting. I did not intrude in her private thoughts.

As I loaded my car, she turned her head and I saw the mouth defect that makes her so distinctive. It was definitely her.

A few days after this happened, I recieved sad news: Marmalade died two weeks earlier, which is about one week before I saw her at the grocery store, waiting for George.