excited because she loves animals.
She didn’t believe in any nonsense
about cats. It was just another way
in which she was a rebel, refusing
to conform to ideas about what
black people did and didn’t do.
In a black neighborhood, you
wouldn’t dare own a cat, especially
a black cat. That would be like
wearing a sign that said, “Hello, I
am a witch.” That would be suicide.
Since we’d moved to a colored
neighborhood, my mom thought
the cats would be okay. Once they
were grown we let them out during
the day to roam the neighborhood.
Then we came home one evening