Still king

My big ol' orange cat, Dash, has been king of this corner for what, 11 years now? The neighborhood kids used to call him the Lion Cat, from that spring when he had to be shaved for mats, except he came out of the anesthetic before they got to his head and neck, so...

I live on a cross-street that is usually very low traffic, it's one-way, and there are no curbs or sidewalks on this block. Plus there's a gentle slope. In other words, perfect for tooling around on bikes, skateboards, scooters. There's usually a small pack of 3-6 kids, but today it was just the one boy on a skateboard. He was noodling back and forth, not practicing tricks or anything. Then I noticed he was looking at my sidewalk by the street. And the next pass, he stopped, and came up from the street. To pet Dash, who considers such attention his rightful due.

Dash continued looking on benevolently for a few more passes, which I could tell because the kid smiled and waved at him every time he went past. Which was. Well. I would not mark the kid (who is looking like a 4th- or 5th-grader these days) by telling anyone here where I live, but it was adorable!