Outcasts

An old cat saunters lazily across the hot summer pavement. Its paws scarred and numbed from homeless wandering, have become immune to the heat. Spying a mouse scurrying to a nearby garbage can, it focuses before striking, tasting delicious throbbing meat. Dragging its still-breathing prey to a darkened corner, it feeds—its first meal today—before taking time to clean itself obeying ancient instincts forged on Egyptian soil. Another cat nears smelling a fresh kill. Hissing and yowls reverberate off alley bricks as they claw bloody lines onto each other. One cat scurries away wounded, the other licks old wounds purring.