A cat in the crowd stood out, sitting at ease while perched on the shoulder of his person. He sat noble. He sat royal. He sat magnificent. As the crowd dispersed the man with the cat on his shoulder remained. And when the sea of people had lessened he gently moved the cat from his shoulder to the ground. And together they walked to the nearest garbage can and the man reached inside. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

They moved without secret or shame. The process took a matter of seconds. Something went inside a pocket, something else eaten in the moment. A scene played out before me that was done gracefully as a man and his cat shared snacks together. That the snacks came from a garbage can seemed unimportant.

I watched as these two pals sat down on a bench. A man wearing clothes that looked like they had many stories to tell. And a cat that didn’t care. Because he sat in the lap of the man he loved. He sat in the lap of luxury.

Sadly these scenes are not uncommon. Hungry people searching for food. And when they have pets they are hungry together. But they fight that hunger by sharing. Aside from the sadness of the moment it was a moment filled with love. And I knew it was a moment that had played out for this pair many times before.

One hundred feet away in my car was 500 pounds of cat food. Food en route to several small home-based cat rescue groups caring for more cats than their budgets allowed. Cats that had shelter and love. But they needed food. And The Pongo Fund had that food. Food that was on the way.

But first one of those bags of food was going to be delivered to the man on the bench.

When I returned to offer the food to the man and his cat I got a closer look at this team. The man was not young. He looked sturdy but frail. His clothing fit him in a way that told me the clothes had belonged to others before they belonged to him.

The cat wore a pretty collar and a harness and walked on a leash. He was clean. He was old. The way the cat was molded into the lap of the man they fit together like pieces of a puzzle. They fit right.

But the man would not talk to me. He looked away. Without words he let me know I had invaded his privacy and I was immediately embarrassed. I left and took the food with me. As I walked away I heard the man talk to his cat. I waited a few moments and returned with the food. Only this time I talked to the cat.

I introduced myself to the cat and apologized for interrupting their day. I told him how lucky he was to be sitting in his Dad’s lap. And that I thought he might enjoy this special bag of cat food and I read him the first few ingredients so he knew it was really good food.

The man still ignored me. At least the cat made eye contact. I felt honored by that. I told the cat that I was going to leave the bag of food with him and that if he didn’t want it he should tell me he didn’t want it. He sat silent. And I said since he did not object I would leave the bag of food with him.

And I pointed out that there was also a gift card with it that would allow him to buy his Dad some things at a neighborhood grocery store. The man continued to say nothing.

My conversation with the cat lasted only a few moments. But when I stood up to leave I told him that I could tell he was a well-loved and happy kitty. And I could see that he had tags on his collar and that his face and fur were clean and shiny and that I could tell he received extra special care.

The man smiled just the tiniest smile. He still said nothing. But that was all he needed to say.

As I walked away again I heard the man talk to his cat. I lingered to hear this moment just a bit longer. The man picked up the bag of food and began reading the ingredients to his kitty just as I had. They talked for several moments more.

Later on I learned where this man lived. And each month another bag of cat food appears outside his apartment door. A bag of people food too. We don’t need to know his name. We don’t need to know his cat’s name. Just being able to help lessen the burden for this man and his cat is enough.

Helping a man and his cat. Helping both by first helping one.

And this is why we Pongo.

Sit. Stay. Eat. Live. thepongofund.org
(This is a repeat post, per special request. Photo of man and cat are representative only and not the photo of the man and cat in the story.)