a piebald cat - must be of the strange man's reticent neighbor - slinks across the window sill. deciding not to leap down the rusting fire escape below, it pussyfoots back where it came from. but not before hesitating at the middle of the window.
the way the first light of day slants into the room, it could only be fall. already. a sliver of a moon floating just below the window shades. clouds racing towards nowhere.
gentled by dawn, the cat looks like a child peering into a pastry shop. inside, it could only have seen us, covered to our necks in a now thicker blanket. freshly rolled confection.
spooked, the strange man shoos the cat away. still giddy from all the loving, i tell him he's a meanie. he crawls back to bed and grabs the blanket all for himself. i am all naked. and suddenly close to shivering. as i hear the cat purrs. away.
