black cat didn't cross my path
the journal of Michael Werneburg
twenty-seven years and one million words
Tokyo, 2008.10.02
As I joined one of the many major roads on my trip to work today I spotted a black cat that was trying to cross the road. She made it to the middle of the second lane when she was passed by a car in the lane she'd just crossed. Flattening against the road, she stared at the receding car in terror, and shifted back and forth as if trying to decide if the car would make another pass.
So she was looking the wrong way, and more cars were coming up fast.
She then darted back the way she'd come, keeping low and really running. She didn't stop until she was well back onto the lot from which she'd come.
There are a lot of cats with short tails in Tokyo. I mean every other cat you see has a cropped tail.