Vignette City 6.

*** ‘Vignette City’ is an ongoing project of daily writing and urban photography ***

Danny came by my cubicle right as I got back with my mug of super hot water for my tea and was dipping the tea bag in and moving it up and down, which is something that I really like to do in the mornings and he just started talking without even saying hello, but that’s how he is, and he asked if I had any of the kittens left. So I opened the top drawer of my desk and all eight of them were in there just mewing and doing those adorable little fluff ball somersaults that they do and I just pointed at the drawer, but Danny was doing that thing he does where he doesn’t look you in the eye when he talks, or really even look at you at all. He always looks kind of up and away, like there’s a car crash or something that just happened in the middle distance and it’s really annoying because it makes me nervous.

“Because I have been thinking about it a lot,” he was saying, “and I think that I would like to have a kitten.” And for me that was good, because kittens don’t stay kittens very long and my desk isn’t very big, but part of me was a little sad because I was just thinking about what is life going to be like for this poor little kitten, living in whatever weird Rain Man kind of clean room Danny lives in. He’s probably a germaphobe and germaphobes aren’t actually afraid of germs, they’re usually afraid of something else. So what is Danny going to do about the litter box or cat hair on everything? He doesn’t seem like a cat guy to me. He’s one of those people who should have a lizard or a really fancy fish tank or something That would be more his style.

“So do you have any left?” He asked again because he hadn’t looked down at them, I guess.

So I said, “Yes Danny.”

And he paid in cash, which was great because I was afraid he was going to want to write a check, because he just seems like that kind of guy, but he gave me cash and I just grabbed one of the kittens and he took it and put it in the pocket of his shirt and he didn’t say thank you or anything, he just said, “Okay” and then turned around and walked off.

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