There was a small boy that Carys knew. He was small both in statue and age. Very slender with pointed features, he habitually wore a peculiar expression on his face – a mixture of confusion and clandestine amusement. Most of the time he sat almost completely still, only moving his hands as he silently played with the assortment of pencil stubs and eraser rubbings piled in front of him. Every so often, he would peer up at Carys with his pale brown Bambi eyes, tilt his head just a tad to the left, and purr, “Meow.”
He was a quiet boy who loved cats. All kinds of cats. The black ones with the matted fur that gave you bad luck when they crossed your path. The dirty brown, lanky tabby cats that had been through the ringer on the streets. But, most of all, he loved the fluffy, white kitties that curled up on your lap and snuggled the tip of their nose into the crook of your arm.
Once in a while, there was a game day. Usually, he didn’t participate in games. He preferred to sit quietly by himself – seemingly crafting some imaginary, secret world inside of his head. On this particular game day, however, the boy was filling in his Bingo card just like all the other children. The theme of this game day was “sports” and the children were given a few minutes to write the name of a sport into each box on the card. Basketball, soccer, curling, water polo – any sport was fair game. Of course, the more obscure the sport, the less likely it would be called during Bingo. The kids’ Bingo cards reflected their personalities. The boys who badly wanted to win only wrote the most popular sports – baseball, basketball, and so on. The kids who hated the idea of “copying” anyone else rubbed at their eyebrows while trying to think of as many unique sports as they could – synchronized swimming, soft tennis, beach volleyball.
As Carys walked past the boy, she glanced down at his Bingo card. In one box, there was a cat swimming in a pool, free stroking down the lane in an adidas swim cap and goggles. In another, there was a cat shooting a 3 pointer as the other cats on his teamed cheered him on. A third picture was a cat on skis, slipping and sliding down a mountain, the wind whipping through his whiskers. Cats playing sports.
Cat Bingo.
Carys, with the long hair. 