Boo the Cat Comes Inside

He first showed up in the apartment complex courtyard a few years back.

Our neighbor took to feeding him and she named him Boo.

In the day, I take calls out back and he sidles up against me. When I watch TV at night, I pull open the curtain a few inches, and press my forehead against the window to see if one of the shadows on the patio sofa is Boo. He takes over a box as a bed, so I spruce it up with a jacket-as-mattress. When the remains of a rat land on our door mat, we feel selected.

One evening Chris and I are out for an evening stroll, beyond our courtyard’s confines, and I see Boo cutting through a parking lot in a brazen strut.

I go, “if that’s motherfucking Boo…” and it was. He got a swift scooping by me. I carried him back and deposited him in our courtyard and said “this is where you stay.”

When we were away last year, I found myself afraid to ask about Boo. Would the neighbors text me if something happened to him?

When we return, Boo notices. He’s up on his hind legs, front paws against the patio’s screen door.

There’s a young boy who starts floating into our courtyard many days, accompanied by his father. We’re here to say hi to Boo, the father explains.

I text my neighbor: if that kid tries to make an honest cat of boo i have first dibs.

I have pictures of Boo napping on me. I can demonstrate scooping him up effortlessly if asked. Don’t cut the Boo in half, I’d say, revealing myself the true mother.

One morning Boo tracks red tinged fluid on our patio cushion covers. I assume it’s a bite, order a carrier on Instacart, and take him to a vet.

It was not a wound but infected anal glands, and one had ruptured.

He needs treatment to get him healthy and back on his feet. No promises beyond that.

Boo is, however, enjoying his new Pet Fusion Lounger, Cattasaurus cave, a scale that tracks his [stainless steel] litter box usage. He’s drinking from the Petlibro Dockstream 2 (latest model). On auto-renew is his prescription diet, which he takes with a pump of Nordic Naturals, the same fish oil brand I have been meaning to take. I’ve reached out to two contractors about screening in our rental’s back patio. The drawer on wheels under the bed is now is daybed.

We’re taking it a day at a time, not yet defining the relationship.

That said, he’s been microchipped and is using my last name.

More soon.

JN