My wife and I meet lots of people when we do our daily visit to the cat colony. Often we merely exchange pleasantries, other times we chat a little more about the weather, the cats in the colony, their cats or dogs, or the state of the world.
Some of these encounters were one-off events. Others, became more regular events and we would look forward to interacting with them.
We first met Conrad and Ivy this way: a chance encounter. He was either walking Ivy or sharing a park bench with her on a pleasant evening after their walk, I don’t remember which, but that was their routine.
Ivy was his sweet white dog who was first curious about the cat food we had in our cart but then started looking forward to greeting us in the neighbourhood. It became a joyous reunion each time we met.
I was away in Europe earlier this year and when I returned I looked forward to seeing Conrad and Ivy again when we went to feed the colony cats.
But, they were gone.
I did not see them on their walks. There was no Conrad and Ivy on a park bench. I looked out for them everyday to no avail.
I recalled Conrad telling me about the problem with his landlord and that he was engaging a lawyer to fight his case. I thought nothing much of it as NY housing laws have strong protections for tenants. I assumed he would be OK.
But, I guess he lost the case and had to move. He had told me about his brother who lived somewhere in the Bronx across the Harlem river to the east of our neighbourhood — he and his mother probably moved to new accommodations close to him.
All I have left is the fading memory of my last encounter with Conrad and Ivy. There were no goodbyes, no last pets with Ivy.
They were just gone.