The things we talk about

Maury lives in the neighborhood, and often but not always dines chez nous. Shout out to Java's Compost, serving Bloomfield, Montclair, and surrounding. Photo: Ilya Nikhamin

For a while Maury appeared at our side steps every night. It was a joy to see him clean his plate. "Maury cleaned his plate," we said. He licked it so clean, he flipped the plate. "Maury flipped his plate," we said.

He gave us something else to talk about. The first thing being, Bobina.

Then Maury disappeared, and we came to accept that if he didn't show up again, we would never know what happened.

But he came back. Sometimes now he misses a night and we say, "He's out partying."

When he comes by in the daytime, you call him, "Daytime Maury," and take photos of him that your phone files into your Bobina folder. You sort them out.

In the beginning we thought Maury looked sad, but with time we understood that this was just his face, and that there exist other cats that look just like him: same coat pattern, face arranged the same.

Maury eats Bobina's leftovers without a complaint, and if we toss him a handful of treats, he metes them out to himself, alternating between dinner proper, and treats.

Once in a museum gift shop with an abundance of cat-themed objects, I asked the woman at the register if the buyer was a cat person. "I don't think so," she said, "it's just that cat stuff sells really well."

This woman, or someone else entirely (my friend who draws pet portraits, maybe?) told me people with dogs want things that look like their dog, whereas cat people love all cat-shaped things.

For sure there must be something in the gaze of a cat that intoxicates. Every day we look into Bobina's eyes and re-up the drug. Maury comes by and we're head over heels with him, too.

There's a third, a black cat that our neighbor calls Free Spirit, who comes right up to the storm door, and looks in. Sometimes she waits on our front steps, while Maury is sprawled next to the side steps, and Bobina sings at them from the picture window.

What of the elephant in the room, when there are cats, with and without? What of the elephant in the heart?