–Don’t let the cat into the house. Just feed her once a day, like this

He opened a can of cat food and placed it on the floor, the cat came and ate from it.

–What’s her name? I asked.

–She doesn’t have a name, he said.

That was the conversation I had with Armando about his cat the day I met him. Armando is a retired man who travels a lot, and I was left in charge of his house for the next 6 months. His instructions were very simple: feed the cat, and leave one light on at night. I was not required to mow the grass nor to clean the pool, he already paid someone to do all that. But he encouraged these two instructions: the cat and the light.

I didn’t find it weird to have a nameless pet, when I was a kid I had two chickens that never got a name, I simply called them chicken and rooster. So, I was ok calling the cat, cat.

He invited me to sit next to him as he explained the importance of the cat. Armando’s wife died three years before I came to his house. She died of cancer, and two months after she passed away, the cat started showing up in the house. He tried to scare the cat away several times until one of his daughters believed it was the spirit of her recently dead mom. So, although the cat is still not a welcomed guest in his home he continues to feed her.

Armando does not believe the cat is the spirit of his wife, but he shows special attention to her.

The next morning Armando came to the house to pick up some stuff and he brought Daniela, his new wife. Armando and Daniela got married two days before I moved into his house, and they were about to leave on a business trip as a new couple.

It may seem strange but after Daniela entered the house as the new wife, the cat did not show up for almost a week. I though the cat was gone, but she eventually came back.

I don’t believe the cat is the spirit of the dead wife, I think it is just a good coincidence that the cat appeared a few months after her death. I think it is just a coincidence that I moved to this house where I needed to take care of a cat who is the spirit of woman who died of cancer. I think it is a coincidence that I named this cat Melissa. I think it is a coincidence that I forget to turn the light on at night, but never forget to feed and chat every morning with Melissa.