There was a cat in the room.  I watched the cat.  The cat was
black with white feet.
The cat walked over to where Anne was sitting.
It stood there.
Anne looked at the cat.
She shook her head.
Then Anne looked at me.  The cat followed Anne's eyes.  I
looked at the cat.
I shrugged.
We had come to take the cat.
Anne's father came in.
Anne's father was very sick.  He wore an old white dressing
gown.  There were brown stains on the dressing gown.
I looked at the stains.
There were brown stains on the sleeves and at the front of
the dressing gown.
He stood there.
Anne looked up at him.
'You want her then?'  he said.
Anne looked at the cat.
The cat still stood there.  She was watching Anne.
'I don't think I can,'  she said.
Anne's father nodded.  He walked over to the cat.  He bent
down.  Picked her up and stood up straight.
He lifted the cat and looked at her.
'Stupid cat,'  he said.
Then he smiled.
He looked at me.
'You want her?'  he said.
I shrugged.  I looked at the cat.  She had white feet.
Anne's father nodded.
'She doesn't go out.  She shits everywhere,'  he said.
He put her down.  The cat walked away.  She stopped beneath
the table.
The cat sat under the table. 
She looked at the people in the room.  Then she licked her
feet.
Anne's father laughed.
'She doesn't care,' he said.  'I will miss her certainty.'
He looked at Anne.
'Do you want a drink?'
Anne shook her head.
He went over to the sink.  He filled a glass of water.
I could hear church bells.  The window was open.  It was
Sunday.  The bells rang quickly.  Then it was quiet.
Anne's father shook his head.
'I don't have God.  I have cancer,'  he said.
Then he laughed.  It was funny.  Anne began to laugh.  We all
laughed.
The laughing stopped.  The cat looked at the room.
Anne's father sipped his water.
He put the glass down on the side.  The glass stood on the
side.
I looked at the glass.
'So you don't want her,' he said.
'No,’ Anne said.
I didn't say anything.
He walked towards the cat.  Then he stopped.  The cat looked
at him.  Then she walked towards his feet.  He bent down and picked
her up.
'Useless cat,'  he said.
He held the cat in his left arm.  He found a black bag with
his right.  He put the cat inside the bag.
A stick lent against the wall by the door.  He picked up the
stick, opened the door and walked outside with the cat in the bag and
the stick in his hand.
'Shit,'  Anne said.
She stood up and went over to the door.  She waited at the
door.
I stood up and went over.
Anne's father put the stick on the ground.  He tied a knot in
the top of the bag.  Then he dropped the bag.  The bag moved.
He picked up the stick and began to beat the bag.
He hit the bag very hard.
Cars went by in the street.
I watched the stick go up and down.
Anne went back to her seat and sat down.
I could smell cat shit.
Outside Anne's father stopped beating the bag.  The bag
didn't move.  He stood there.
I went and sat down next to Anne.  We sat side by side.  It
was a while before Anne's father came back in.