I’m just writing this because I live alone and there is no one here to care that I thought it would be a nice gesture to include the whole faculty in my Evite for cocktails, never thinking almost all would reply yes…and now it’s raining and my house is small. And I am sad. I could cry right now if there were an audience to pity me. But Scout is sleeping and Kitty is indifferent to the suffering of all creatures.
Not one of the male faculty members I invited comes, despite the replies. Soaking wet women arrive in pairs. When Kitty appears I loudly warn everyone not to touch her, but some of them do anyway because they “love cats.” She makes a low, guttural sound before she strikes. Two guests are bleeding before people begin to believe that I know my own cat. Despite everything, the party is not horrible. They eat three bowlfuls of guacamole and drink several bottles of wine. One of the women carries Scout around for the entire party. After they are gone, I drink the rest of a bottle of wine and begin to feel better.
—Lisa Levchuk is a teacher and the author of the novel Everything Beautiful in the World.
