I Wonder if the Cat Was Black

“You pick her up, tuck her under your chin, your teeth clenched in love, your voice cooey, gooey with maternity, you say things like, ‘How’s my little dirt-nose, my little fuzz-face, my little honey-head?’” (Moore 102)

As I was reading Amahl and the Night Visitors: A Guide to the Tenor of Love, the scenes I found the most cute and amusing were ones involving the cat. I pictured Trudy lovingly hugging her pet, calling her sweet names, and waltzing with her around the house, and it seemed that nothing in her life was making her happier. I only realized later in the story, and then in our discussion, that the more time Trudy devoted to the cat, the more she was undermining her relationship with Moss.

When Moss and Trudy are still together, we see moments they clash when the cat comes up. Let’s look at a few examples.

When Moss comes home late at night, one of the first things Trudy asks is if he made sure not to let the cat outside. Moss is tired, and now also annoyed that the cat is the first thing on Trudy’s mind. “‘You’re turning into a cat mom. Cats, Trudy, are the worst sort of surrogates,’” he says (Moore 100).

At least twice, first on 12/1 and then again in two weeks, Moss tells Trudy it’s time to let the cat outside, but both times Trudy drives him off saying the cat is still too young and something could happen. Rereading parts of the story now, I think Moss sees Trudy’s over-protection of the cat similar to her paranoia as she suspects that he is concealing an affair. This might be a little far-fetched, but I was rereading the scene where Moss yells at Trudy: “‘You just won’t let people be,’ says Moss, each consonant spit like a fish bone,” and I almost wanted to insert [or cats] in there (Moore 111). Of course he is mad about her being so suspicious, but I think his annoyance that Trudy won’t let the cat have a normal life plays in here. Also the line “spit like a fish bone” jumped out at me. I’ve never owned a cat, but I’m pretty sure overly protective owners wouldn’t let their cats eat fish with bones, so I could almost picture Trudy’s cat eating a secretly-stolen fish and spitting out fish bones in protest as she gives Trudy a look with the same frustration Moss has. Okay, maybe that’s too much.

Another important scene is where the cast comes over for dinner, and the cat is loudly playing with the marble in the bathtub. “‘It’s the beast,’ says Moss. ‘We should put her outside, Trudy,’” he adds, repeating what he suggested before (Moore 103). He doesn’t care to start an argument here and just goes on to pour Sonia a glass of wine. This isn’t such a blow to Moss and Trudy’s relationship as the fights they have, but here Trudy gets the role of someone who doesn’t let her cat outside, while Sonia is the welcomed guest Moss is offering wine, as well as someone Trudy suspects him of cheating with.

Throughout the story, I think Trudy is giving off the affection she has for Moss that he won’t take or won’t reciprocate to the cat. The cat helps her almost escape the reality of clashes in her relationship and be transported to a world of cooey-gooey sweet talk and cat fur against her. The more love and time she devotes to the cat, however, the more alienated Moss feels from her.

In the end, after the relationship is broken, Trudy eventually concedes and lets the cat outside, which I think is likely symbolic of her accepting the fact that sometimes she was overly paranoid and that she should have given Moss more freedom. When she tells Moss about it, as he is packing his things, he hugs her and tries to comfort her, which he hasn’t often done during their relationship: “‘It’s only been one day. She’ll come back. You’ll see’” (Moore 115). He seems to lose all his annoyance and hugs her. Of course I might be wrong, but I have hope that Trudy will not only see the cat come back, but Moss too.