2003

Once upon a time there was a woman who worked as a professional cat sitter and dog walker. One day, she took on a cat sitting client on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to watch two cats. The woman who hired her to cat sit paid her $200 up front. A couple of days later the woman called the cat sitter and said “I need to cancel your services because I can’t afford them.” Unfortunately, the cat sitter had already used the money to pay her bills and she told the woman this.

The woman then relented and told the cat sitter that she would go ahead and use her services. The woman then went on to ask the cat sitter if she knew anyone would want to adopt one or both of her cats. The cat sitter naively offered to foster one of her cats who will now be referred to as Henry. Henry was an adorable gray cat with a white goatee.

The cat sitter went on to post an ad on craigslist asking if anyone was interested in adopting Henry. She received a reply from a lovely couple who lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The couple immediately loved Henry and asked if they could adopt him into their family. There was only one catch, they were going out of town for a month. They asked if the cat sitter would be willing to care for Henry while they were gone. The cat sitter said, of course she would. And she did…watch Henry.

She never heard from the nice married couple again, but occasionally she would think about Henry and Jenny and she thinks his name may have been Mark (the husband) but can remember.

* * *

February 2014.

I was on my way to school today with Ari and Samara. We were rushing and I was cursing under my breath. We got to school and there was a lovely woman behind us walking up the stairs.
“I’m sorry, it’s one of those mornings.” I apologized to the woman.

We got up the steps and the woman smiled at me. I immediately recognized her face.
“Wait a second, did you…have a cat named Henry?”
“Yes!” She exclaimed.
“Are you Jenny?”
“Yes?”
“I’m Sarah! I cat sat for you a million years ago.”
“Oh my G-d! How funny.”
“It’s so great to see you again. How is Henry?”
“Oh, he passed away recently, but my daughter loved him.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“Let’s keep in touch, here’s my phone number.”
“Great, let’s do.”

New York is funny.