Incident Along Fantasy Way Neighbor Cat I don't know the technical term for it But my next-door neighbor keeps turning Into a cat. It started when she was born -- The building had a rule: "No dogs, no children." Cats were OK. Her parents didn't want to move right then So they went to somebody a friend of theirs knew Who was a wizard on the side. So, whenever the landlord heard a baby crying And came knocking on the door to tell them "Either the kid goes or you go!" All he ever found Was a little kitten. There were, of course, Problems. A kitten in diapers would never do So she always went naked. And the only toys she could have Were things like rubber mice and balls of yarn, And even in human form She was sensitive to catnip. But in general it worked. By the time she started school They had moved to a house in the suburbs. They were going to get the spell lifted Real Soon Now But they never did And when she learned to control it herself She decided to keep it. So now on moonlit summer nights When the city is quiet And rooftops and alleyways beckon Like mountains and canyons in some exotic land And several of her friends Whose parents knew people who knew that same wizard Come howling beneath her window She is off, Into the night, Shadow among shadows, Rejoicing. Thomas G. Digby written 2220 hr 8/10/74 entered 2015 hr 3/29/92