“Not Good-Looking”
“Lucy, don’t!” Her mother’s voice abruptly stopped the little girl, her small hand frozen mid-air. “Don’t touch him, step away! Just look at him, he’s so not good-looking!”
The ginger cat Lucy had been petting glanced dejectedly at the woman, sighed, and stepped aside. He heard those words often. Far too often.
Indeed, the cat looked like one people preferred to ignore: skinny, with protruding ribs, frostbitten ears, and big, wide-set eyes brimming with sadness.
Nearby, Nick sat on a bench. He heard the woman’s voice, glanced around, found the cat, and… it felt like he was seeing himself from the outside.
Not good-looking.
The word haunted him his whole life. Today, he heard it again—but now it was about himself.
“Nick, he’s nice, smart, but… imagine how his kids will look!”
The girls laughed. Among them was Mary. Nick stopped in his tracks. Her voice pierced his soul.
He hated looking in the mirror. What was there to see? Protruding ears? Freckles scattered haphazardly across his face? Eyes made smaller by thick glasses?
No, he was definitely not what one would call handsome.
But right now, he felt upset not for himself. For the cat.
“At least I know I have a future, though not the one I’d like. But you? You have nothing…”
He swung his legs off the bench, and the cat tensed, ready to flee. But instead of a harsh shout, he heard:
“Hey, buddy? Sitting alone? Let’s freeze together.”
The cat froze. A human voice addressing him… kindly?
That happened rarely. Very rarely.
But Nick reached out his hand, and the cat didn’t flinch.
“You and I are alike, you know? People don’t pet you, and no one invites me to hang out. But… you know what’s truly frightening? That it seems like this loneliness will last forever.”
The cat looked into his eyes. Then suddenly, he quietly, tentatively meowed:
“But you called me…”
A Turning Point
“Are you hungry?”
Hungry. Always.
“Stay here. I’ll get something for you.”
“No!” The cat took a step forward. “I’ll go with you!”
They walked to the shop together. Nick disappeared inside, while the cat waited outside.
When he came out, no one chased the cat away. On the contrary, he ate with someone for the first time, not fearing he’d be pushed away or have stones thrown at him.
That spontaneous meal broke down the wall of distrust.
“So, tasty?”
The cat purred. Nick felt warmth spread inside.
He reached out and gently petted him. The cat didn’t flinch. He didn’t shy away. Instead, he pressed his back against him, as if he had been waiting his whole life for this moment.
“You know, I don’t think you’re ugly at all,” Nick smiled.
The cat looked at him.
“And you’re not like they say.”
Then a voice called out…
“You’re silly, Nick.”
He flinched. He recognized the voice.
Turned around.
It was Mary.
She stood there holding a brightly colored umbrella, tilting it to shield Nick and the cat from the rain.
“Don’t, Mary,” he shook his head. “I heard you laugh with them.”
The girl shook her head.
“You didn’t hear what I said.”
“Oh, probably something like, ‘how funny he looks’…”
“No,” her voice was surprisingly calm. “I said I’d love to have lots of kids. And for you to be their dad.”
Nick was stunned.
“At least three,” Mary continued. “Two boys and a girl.”
The cat poked his head out from under the jacket.
“And a cat!” he meowed.
Mary laughed.
“Absolutely a cat.”
Happiness is when someone loves you, even if you’re ‘not good-looking’
“Get under the jacket, it’s starting to rain.”
The cat darted into the warmth.
Nick looked at him, then at Mary.
And then he suddenly realized his soul… was warming up.
Are you sure you see people as they truly are? Or… as you’ve been told they ought to be?
