Hello, pussycat.

This semester is rapidly coming to a close. I’ll certainly have more to say on that when my semester is officially done. In the meantime, a funny thing happened to me on the way home from the grocery store…

Every semester works out a little differently. Different class schedules. Different meeting schedules. And so on. Within the first few weeks I settle into a routine. This semester I get groceries on Monday nights immediately after my evening class. The store is close to school and my class often doesn’t get out until after 8:30 — so the night (and my brain) is largely shot anyway.

This past Monday night I got groceries like I do and was walking to the nearby subway station like I do. It was an unusually warm night for December. So warm I wasn’t wearing my coat. And might I add I was looking pretty sharp in my dark jeans, wingtips, check shirt, and vest.

In this part of Brooklyn most shops are closed at this time of night but most restaurants are still open as is the movie theater. There are several subway stops in the immediate area as well. So there’s a fair amount of foot traffic even at ten o’clock at night. I saw a dapper gentleman coming towards me up ahead on the sidewalk. He looked to be in his late thirties, wearing a tweed jacket and tortoise shell glasses. How do I remember these particular details? Given what happened next, you’d remember such things too.

As we approached one another, this gentlemen looked straight at me and meowed. Loudly. With purpose. Almost with a slight undertone of aggression. When I say he meowed, I really mean it. He said the word meow and made his voice to be a bit cat-like. Being completely stunned by this I kept right on walking. As he was just about to pass me, he turned his face toward me and did it a second time. No other words. No body language. No explanation. Just meow. Loudly.

Upon hearing this story, some have suggested this is merely the curse of my universal attractiveness (har!). I haven’t a clue as to what happened or why. But I can say this with certainty. Only in New York.