Meanwhile, Outside...

While Percival settles down to a new life inside, another cat is adjusting to changes outside.

Cicero hasn’t been coming to Café Cosy for a long time. When he first appeared, he was so timid that he would flee if he caught me looking at him from the farthest reaches of the apartment. In a short time, however, he has become much braver.

Bravery is relative, of course. This is the third mention I have made of Cicero on this blog in three months, and in each instance, his progress is greater. He still waits until I close the door after placing a dish of food on the floor of the concrete ditch. But where he waits is on the ditch’s parapet, and, like his fellow outsider, Sable, he descends to partake of his meal even as I am sliding the door shut. Unlike Sable, this is a great step forward for this shy fellow. Furthermore, he will now eat even if I am just on the other side of the glass door. He doesn’t care for the propinquity, and keeps bobbing his head up to see if I have crept closer, but he eats nonetheless.

And what an eater. He will easily consume two large tins of soft-food at a sitting, and want more. As is the case with other patrons of my restaurant, I am reluctant to close the kitchen while Cicero is still expecting service. He does not visit every night; not even every other night. Though he probably has other sources of food, he may not. It may be that he can get away to eat here only every few days, and goes without in the interval. Therefore, I feed him as much as he likes. Considering his schedule, it probably works out to no more than what an average cat consumes.

Maybe, in the months to come, Cicero will grow bolder. He has already made more progress than Sable has in years. But Sable is a true feral; I suspect Cicero once knew a human’s touch, but has felt every man’s hand against him for quite a time. Even so, he may in the future, come to trust me more, and more readily, than Sable ever will.