prologue

“I live in the City… alone… except for my cat—he lives with me. 

We live on the eighth floor of our building.  We don’t go out at night… except for my cat—he goes out at night. 

I let him out on the fire escape, and he climbs all the way down and gets beat up and then climbs all the way back up again.

He is a old beat-up, raggedy cat with tore ears.  He is black.  He is eight years old, which is almost as old as me in cat years.  He has lived with me for a long time, maybe ten or twelve years.

We don’t go out at night… except for my cat. 

He didn’t used to go out—I wouldn’t let him. 

But in summer at night, I got to leave my window up, or I die of the heat.  One night he sneaked out the window while I was asleep.  In the morning when he come back, he had a tore ear. 

He has been going out at night ever since.  What could I do?  I couldn’t stop him without I die of the heat.  And besides he wants to go out.  Why else would he go?

I go out in the daytimes.  My cat he sleeps.  I walk, I sit, but I don’t talk to nobody… except to get change or something to eat.  I don’t talk to nobody.  People are busy.  They don’t want to talk to me.

I go out to the movies sometimes.  My cat he sleeps.  Before night I come back in my room, and I lock the door and I put the chains on.  I feed my cat if he is awake.

When my cat wants to go out, he goes to the window and if it is closed, he scratches it, and I open it.  If it is open, he doesn’t scratch it, he just goes out. 

I wonder where he goes? Someday I am going to find out.  I am going to follow my cat and see where he goes.  But not the fire escape.  I will follow him in the elevator.”