“The Cat and Mack”
The story begins in 1930s Chicago, a gray city with
factories, apartment buildings, and dirty streets. Inside one of the factories,
we see a man at work, welding piping with a mask over his face. He finishes his
job, takes off his mask and wipes his forehead, then turns to a man standing
behind him, who hands him a few dollars. The man walks away, and the worker,
Mack, counts the few bills with a frown on his face. Finished working for the
day, he walks home along the sidewalk, stopping at one point to look in a store
window at a fancy display of gourmet cakes. Mack stops to looks at the food,
licks his lips, but the turns away and walks dejectedly back down the street.
He then waits in a breadline for a charity loaf of bread, then walks home with
it under his arm, looking as miserable as he was before. He reaches his
apartment and sets his things on the table, then looks through his cupboards,
which are almost empty, for something to eat. Picking up a can of tuna and
popping it open, he takes the tuna and bread outside to a fire escape beside
his window. He eats his meal in silence, looking very depressed, when something
draws his attention and he looks down to see a cat sitting beside him on the
fire escape. The cat keeps staring at him, walking in circles and meowing for
food, and even though he keeps it away at first, after a moment his expression
softens and he hands the near empty can to the cat, who eats it happily. Mack
heads back inside, and is soon followed by the cat. He tries to shoo it away,
but it ignores him and curls up on his armchair and falls asleep. Looking
confused and a little frazzled, Mack just shrugs and heads off to bed himself.
The next morning the cat wakes him up by walking all
over him and begging for food again, and he very groggily gets up to start his
day. We see bits and pieces of his day, the same as it was yesterday, with him
working, getting paid meager wages, waiting for food and heading home, only
this time when he arrives home, the cat is already there and is tearing holes
into his armchair to make itself comfortable. Mack panics and shoos the cat off
the chair and out the window, and then sits down to work on bills and job
applications. He’s looking very stressed with his head in his hands, when
suddenly a dead mouse is dropped beside him on the table, and he looks to see
the cat sitting proudly, nudging the prize toward him as an offering. Mack
gives the cat a very confused look, pokes at the mouse with his pen, then
realizes what the cat is trying to do and reaches over the pet it. The cat is
happy with the affection and comes closer to lie down on Mack’s paperwork,
curling into a ball and falling asleep. Not quite knowing what else to do, Mack
simply sighs and heads off to bed. The next morning he wakes up to the cat
lying almost on his face, and finds that he overslept. He rushes off to work,
and after doing his job and getting paid, prepares to leave. However, once he
steps outside, he sees the cat waiting outside the factory. Confused, he begins
to walk home, and the cat follows, though every time he stops to look back at
it, the cat stops as well, cleaning itself and feigning innocence. They have
fallen into a routine now, with Mack feeding the cat as they sit on the fire
escape, Mack working on paperwork while the cat tries to lie on the papers (and
Mack tries to move him), and Mack settling into bed, this time with the cat
curled up next to him. Mack’s behavior starts to change, and he pets the cat
lovingly, a small smile on his face for the first time.
The next morning however, the cat is nowhere to be
seen. Mack is confused by this, but gets ready for the day and heads off to
work. At work he’s distracted wondering about the cat, forgetting to count his
money before he heads out and not stopping to look in the cake-shop window.
Upon arriving home, he gets out the tuna as usual and eats on the fire escape,
hoping to draw the cat back, but he never shows. As Mack goes about his evening
of working on paperwork, he looks just as depressed as he was at the beginning,
going through his work slowly and doing things that remind him of the cat, like
setting aside a pile of papers for the cat to lie on and leaving extra room on
the bed for the cat. The next day the cat still hasn’t shown up, and Mack
starts to act differently. He applies for a new job, and on his way home from
work, stops outside the cake shop, pulls out some change, and with a determined
look goes in to buy a small piece of cake. Back home, eating his treat out on
the fire escape, he looks a little more lively than he did before, having
broken his routine and done something unexpected. He looks out over the city,
still a little sad, and sighs before looking up at the stars. He smiles at the
simple but beautiful sight, and suddenly is distracted by something sitting on
the rail beside him. He looks to see that the cat has returned (and has started
eating his cake), and he smiles widely as he picks up the cat, who rubs against
him affectionately. Holding the cat in a little ball in his arms, they both
look happily up at the stars.
