Tiny Distraction

I was supposed to be meeting one of my MFA committee members for a discussion of a job application, my MFA project, and my CV. He was characteristically late. Not to worry. I thought instead I would write a new artist statement to fit with the body of work I intend to send as part of the job app. But, alas, I was more fascinated by the kitten curling about the legs of the wooden chairs on the patio, tangling up her body harness leash and preventing her lurches for freedom in greater increments. She was a beautiful little thing, lithe and golden, speckled like a leopard. She was drawing attention I think because she was a cat on a leash, but her coloring and tenacity should have been more highly regarded. She almost knocked over the leash-bearer’s venti chai three times. He became fairly spry in redirecting her, the leash, and the chai in a fervent dance to avoid disaster. The most amusing thing of all is that he would read a quarter of a page or so of his paperback before repeating the whole scenario again. Perhaps she inherited the tenacity from him.