The cat and the rainbow

From a deep, deep sleep I slowly rise up from a dream  feeling all roasty toasty in my big down bed. Blackout drapes make it impossible to tell what time it is. Never mind. I’ll just go back to sleep.

But what’s this? Meowww. Meowwwwww. High pitched. A bit desperate. Is there a cat in my room? Sit up in bed, rubbing the fog away. There’s that meowing again. Wherever is it coming from? Get up, look around the darkened room but don’t see a thing.

Meoowwwww….

Getting more desperate. But where is this blasted cat? Pull back the heavy drapes and…oh, my. A wee kitten. Standing on my window sill. Dreadfully wet. Raining out. How’d you get up here? Meoowwww! Alright, then, hold your horses. Let me work the latch to open the window. And the cat bounds in, as if he lived here, and starts rubbing up against my hairy bare leg.

Meowwwwww….

So this is the way it is, is it? First you want in out of the rain and now you want something to eat. Well what do you think I might have in a hotel room? Not much, I can tell you that. Let me just have a look around. Crackers. Some chocolates. Half a package of biscuits. Nothing much for a cat. But wait now…there are the little cups of creamer for the coffee. Might do. Open all of them and pour them in a white dish. Not much there. Just a few ounces. Still. Mr. Cat seems quite happy with it. But now what will I do for my coffee?

Laps it up, every last drop. Sorry, Mr. Cat, that’s all I’ve got. Cat licks his paw and then lopes over to the open window and disappears back along the wet ledge. So that’s how it is. Come in for a little warmth and a bit of milk and then you’re off again. That’s gratitude for you.

But look here. The rain has stopped. Just as suddenly as it started. And across the way, rising up over the Killarney Plaza Hotel is a rainbow. I’ll be damned. A rainbow in Ireland. As quickly as the rain came and went, the rainbow is gone as well. Almost as if it were just an illusion. Like that cat.