The coach pulled up in a small village road that had a cluster of restaurants, all with their marble floored terraces with plastic protective walls rolled down against the grey cloud and cool breeze. Bill and I remarked on the fact that the other restaurants were completely empty but that we were joining a couple of other coach loads of people in the chosen place. We wondered if they had won the tender for the coach tours or whether the restaurants had a selected day of the week to share the bounty.
We soon found an empty table and one of the first things I noticed was the cats darting around under and between tables. None of the staff paid them any attention and given the open nature of the restaurant, a determined cat (is there any other kind?) would always manage to get in. I wasn't bothered as long as none of them hopped up on my table.
I looked for goat on the menu, but finding none decided to have rabbit for the first time. I wasn't sorry as it was delicious but, as it had lots of small bones in it and tastes pretty much like chicken, I probably wouldn't bother with rabbit again.
We watched a woman at the next table feeding bits from her husband's leftover scraps to a young cat. When she missed a beat the cat glanced our way and I told it "No chance here." Bill agreed with me, saying it would be cannibalism. I continued eating for a while and pondered the taxological relationship between cats and rabbits. The penny finally dropped and I realised he was implying I was eating cat.
Before I could kick him, he pointed to the next table where a cat was poised in a chair at a vacated table, studying the cat-sized carcass someone had left on their place. Before I could get my camera out, the cat had swiped the skeleton and disappeared under the plastic wall into the bushes outside.
Before I could kick him, he pointed to the next table where a cat was poised in a chair at a vacated table, studying the cat-sized carcass someone had left on their place. Before I could get my camera out, the cat had swiped the skeleton and disappeared under the plastic wall into the bushes outside.
I didn't begrudge the cat the bones, but it did make me start wondering about what sort of dish washing arrangements the restaurant had. We passed on dessert.
3 comments:
Delightful read, thank you.
Cat-shaped carcass, hmm.
We had rabbit once. My brother snared it in the woods behind our house. It was New Year's Day and we were expecting the large family for dinner, so mother fryed it just like chicken and put it on the table. The plate was empty at the end of the meal and everyone commented on the good chicken.
We grew up with rabbit on the menu. I never cared for them but Pop would bring them in and Mom would cook them. When Bill & Nancy lived down at Stratford he raised rabbits for awhile. When they got to "fryer" size he sold them. A hugh truck would come up from Texas on a route to Minnesota buying the rabbits from the "growers". By the time he got to the packing plant in Minnesota he would have a truck full. Just another source of meat here in Oklahoma.
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