Half wild, half lap-sitter, Pierre baffles me with his behavior. He goes out into the freezing darkness in search of prey knowing well, here in the remote high desert, that he is on the menu of coyotes, bobcats, and cougars (yes, we are in the territory of a mountain lion).
But then he comes home and won't take no for an answer when he wants to curl up close and purr, or help me run power tools, or follow at my heels across the yard, or fetch (yes fetch) an old sock. One minute I can't find him, the next I can't get rid of him so I can get some work done. Such is the way of this cat, this stranger and friend of many faces. I don't know if this time is the last I will see him in this life, so I have to give him what I've got and hope that is enough. No guarantees here in this life of flux and constant change. Carry on, cat: watcher, pouncer, comfort, assassin, messenger from the wild. Our relationship is ambivalent, a desire to hold you close and the need to keep you at arm's length. You are a piece of work, a teacher of contrasts, a glowing orb of exuberance, a companion beyond control, flying headlong into a life and heart on fire.
