There's a bend in the road where the deer cross. I've been warned to be careful there so I slow a little which is probably why I noticed it in the first place. The feral black cat with half a tail and shocking green eyes. The spitting image of a rough life. It was by the side of the road pawing at something and stopped to watch as I passed by.
On my return trip, I saw the cat again. It had to be the same one, right? That half a tail and the split ear. This time on the opposite side of the road on the other end of the curve, shoulder deep in the late summer grass, stalking something.
Taking that route a couple of days later, I saw the cat. It - he? - she? was about half a mile from where I'd seen it before, just stepping off the road and into the brush covering the steep bank that sucks the road down its slope a little further with each passing year.
I puzzled over this. Was it a sign? Why have I seen this same cat three times? What are the odds? Black cats have been given a bad rap what with being equated with bad luck and all that. But this is my little metaphysical fantasy and I'm switching things up.
I'm viewing this particular feline as a sign of survival. That cat right there, with its half tail, split ear, and sharp green eyes looks like it's survived its share of scrapes and has lived another day to paw and stalk and to serve as a sign that survival isn't always pretty, but it beats the hell out of the alternative.
What signs have you seen lately?
