Francesca

Francesca is a cat I found by getting a little lost.

You do not always go out looking for one cat. Sometimes you go looking for a block, and the block gives you a handful of names. This one came with three close together: Kiki, Sofia, Francesca. Close enough that I kept mixing up which one I was after until somebody said a name again and it lined back up.

She was one of the cats on the route, and she kept coming up. Ask about one of the cats nearby and her name showed up in the answer, the way regulars bring up people you have not met yet but apparently will.

Some cats get an entry off one clean story. Francesca is more of a route note. You get to her by walking, doubling back, and asking a second time. The route made her easier to place once I found her: Kiki, Sofia, then Francesca.

Francesca, Brooklyn. Photos: Gulce Kilkis / Bodega Cats of New York

After a while the cats did as much work as the street signs. You found your way by Kiki, then Sofia, then Francesca. People knew each of them on her own, and the stories should keep them that way.

From the StoriesFrancesca's story appears in the Bodega Cats of New York stories.