Kitty Grim Reapurr 7.27.07

Commuting by train here in the city is not the worst, although it is hardly the best either. The morning rat race is arguably better than the afternoon slump home. In the mornings, trains are crowded with well-dressed, freshly showered, uptight people. People just like me. In the afternoons though--well, the floodgates must have been gradually pushed on all day so that by 6 o'clock there is a great wash of humanity, or should I say the great unwash. People are already sweaty after being out and and about in the heat of the day, but now there are all kinds of people--people who are not freshly showered, and far from being uptight, can barely sit upright.

But one of the things I do like about commuting is the eavesdropping one can do on the train. Yesterday morning, a man was speaking to a women and this was the conversation I caught:

Man: So the nursing home workers started to realize that the cat would only come into people's rooms if they were about to die. Like the cat knew that they were near the end and jump up on their bed for the night. They started to expect it--this cat had like a 100 batting average.

Woman: So the cat would be on the dead person's bed in the morning?

Man: Yeah, yeah, and it was always right.

Woman: Well, how did they know the cat wasn't killing the people?

Man: [silent]

Woman: Doesn't that seem creepy?

Man: No, the cat was onto something. It could sense something in the people about to die. But, yeah, I guess it is creepy. The NY Post ran a story on it and the headline was "Kitty Grim Reaper" or something. So, yeah, I guess it's creepy.