TALES...SPECIAL ESSAY

This past winter, I had a stray cat that started showing up around the apartment complex where I live. At first, I tried not to pay too much attention to it, figuring that it would go away. But as time flew by, I saw that it was bound and determined to stay put around these parts. Worse off, it started hanging around both my doorstep and also that of one of my neighbors, desperately seeking to come in out of the cold for just a little while. That kitty would just meow its little head off, begging for shelter from the cold and a little food in its belly.

I know what you're thinking out there--why wouldn't a sensitive guy (or callous brute, however you might wish to call me) like myself just go ahead and take that poor kitty in? Unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case might be)--I have at least three reasons why I just can't allow myself to extend to this cat what it might consider the ultimate act of kindness:

(1.) I AM NOT allowed to keep or possess the cat under the conditions of my lease contract with my landlord (in which, in one way, is ALSO backed up by the power of one of the numerous agencies of our federal government);

(2.) I also happen to be allergic to cats and dogs to the point where if they are even present in any indoor space, I will definitely suffer the physical consequences;

AND (3.) My current budget barely is enough for get myself by--much less take on the responsibity of another mouth to feed (and besides, the way I act sometimes, I would not exactly act as a responsible pet owner anyway).

Were it for cats to be able to listen to human reason-- but, unfortunately, that is not the case. The cat just got more bold and persistent all of the time. Any opportunity it saw, any open door it found--it pounced on it like a cougar for the kill. It seems that it only listens to one instinct- -self-preservation.

Even though I have remained adamant on my desire that the cat would not even cross the threshold of my door with even one of its paws through the closing of my door, it has at times gotten hopelessly to the point to where I have succumbed to the obligation of occasionally feeding it some of my leftover food as I have opportunity to do so. I was very hesitant in even taking on this minor obligation of becoming a sort of a

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