There is that old saying “curiosity killed the cat,” but for this one it was superstition that killed the cat. So this black kitten was on the street, who knows where it came from? It followed me into the building so I fed her and decided to keep it in the basement. She grew up to be a beautiful cat and her black coat was very shiny. But being a stray was in its nature and it kept on going out and came back once in a while for shelter, and a can of nine lives; the black cat moved very stealthy and was fast. Eventually people on the block got to know her and fed her and she kept the rats away. Human and black cat was living in harmony. Even when she had kittens of her own; some people on the block took the kittens and adopted them. Then one day, the Haitian man across the street was washing his car, he saw the black cat and since the Haitian culture is one filled with superstition he believed that a black cat crossing one’s path is unlucky, so he used the water hose and sent a gush of water in the black cat’s path forcing the black cat to run in the road where she was run over by a car and died. It was a lucky thing I was not there because it would have been unlucky for the Haitian man but as it stands, someone who also liked the black took it out the road and buried it in the back yard in the rear of the building. At least she was not left on the street for the Sanitation crew to throw her in the back of the garbage truck.

Superstition