IN THE DARK OF A CITY NIGHT

My car and another in front stopped at the red light.

Just past the intersection, something was lying on the roadway.

The light changed. Both of us moved forward.

The car in front slowed beside the object on the road, then quickly swerved into a nearby driveway.

A young woman jumped from the passenger side, leaving her door open. Glancing neither left nor right for approaching cars, she ran into the roadway and knelt beside a light brown bundle on the pavement.

It was a cat. It was dead.

My headlights illuminated the woman as brightly as if she were on a stage.

Bending over, she paused, and then ever so gently lifted the cat in her arms. It was a large cat. Its head and hind quarters dangled loosely over each of her outstretched arms.

For just a brief moment, the cat’s eyes shone pale white in my headlights.

As if she was cradling a cherished thing, the woman slowly moved with purpose to the curb. In measured motion, she lay the cat gently down onto a small patch of winter-brown grass. She bowed low over the body. A hand stroked the fur tenderly as if the cat were still alive.

The white shine of the cat’s lifeless eyes and the gentleness of that woman’s reverential act moved me greatly. It was an upsetting moment for me.

Now it is almost twenty-four hours later.

I’m still haunted by those images - a simple act of kindness by an unknown woman bathed in the harsh glare of headlights in the dark of a city night.

Someone’s cherished pet, a loved companion, will not ever be returning home.

Dear woman from that car ahead – thank you. Your act of gentle, unexpected kindness toward the body of another unknown someone’s cat shall not easily be forgotten.

First Publication: ‘In The Dark Of A City Night’ appeared in The Basil O'Flaherty, July 11th, 2017 issue.

The Backstory: On a cold winter night in 2017, my wife and I were driving home from the theater along a dark city street. Something was lying in the roadway a short distance ahead. The car in front of me moved through the intersection and suddenly veered to the curb. And what happened next still haunts me.

Legal Rights. ‘In The Dark Of A City Night’ is the intellectual property of the author, Don Herald. No part of this story may be reproduced in any format without the written permission of the author.