A Gift from Clarence?

Clarence having Lunch

I’ve been feeding a stray cat (I call him Clarence since “Kitty-cat” doesn’t fit him at all) from one of the front windows. I slide up the screen and dump a little cat food into a bowl on a table on the front porch just outside the window.

He didn’t come around for about a week and when I saw him again, he resembled a mantis. I’ve been watching for him lately and putting fresh food in the bowl as soon as I see him and he’s been putting weight back on. Yesterday, Bob made this heavenly broiled salmon for dinner and we had a bit left over. Our cat, Salem, won’t eat fish so, early this morning, when I saw Clarence coming across the yard, I put out a small dish next to the cat food with the salmon in it.

An hour or two later, Bob made a surprised noise when he woke up and almost stepped on a dead mouse on the living room carpet. I went to check the window, and saw I’d left the screen up. And there was Clarence, sitting in the grass across the road looking at us through the open window with that satisfied cat expression.

When’s dinner?