The Hitchhiker

He had a beautiful black coat. It wasn’t quite long, but it wasn’t very short, either. Soft cheeks. Sharp ears. And tufts of hair behind his ears that were very nice to nuzzle. I called him Midnight.

Midnight was a hitchhiker that caught a ride with my friend on a country road one dark October night. When she picked him up, he was scared, lost and starving. She wanted to let him stay with her, but he made her itch and he was scared of the dogs. So the hitchhiker came to stay with me. I will admit that I loved him the moment I laid eyes on him. I let him sleep with me – sharing my pillow. On the first night he was a bit lost in my big bed — but he tangled himself in my hair and happily fell asleep.

And he stayed for a long time. Sometimes Midnight played, but he didn’t like very many games. He liked to watch movies on the couch and type emails. Chase bugs. Look out the window. Climb to the top of the kitchen cabinets and look down from the fridge. He was very afraid of little kids who were loud and pulled his tail. But he loved me.

Maybe he was moody. Maybe he was strange. Maybe he was afraid of everything outside. But I understand those things quite well. Maybe that’s why we were best friends.

Thank goodness Kathy Gallagher was very allergic to the baby kitten she rescued from the middle of the road, because I don’t know how I would have lived without him. We’ve lost him at the same time of year he hitched a ride with Kathy from that big scary road fourteen years ago.

Drew and Jen go to London