Strange Little Boy

There is this little boy who spends vast amounts of time by himself out in the courtyard in front of our apartment. All the other boys and girls are in school, but he is still to young to go. I have no idea where his parents are, I don't think I have ever actually met or even seen them.

One of our neighbors also keeps an outdoor cat named Lilith. I swear to you this is relevant to the story. She's a sweet, tiny little thing. Kind of starved for attention. Often times she will see Aaron or I outside and follow us around until we go back into the house, knowing we'll pet her and possibly give her a treat.

One such time, she was following me back from the car and the two of us crossed paths with the little boy who was sitting in the grass. "Is that your cat?" he asks.
"No, she's not my cat."
"Are you sure?"
I blink, "...Yes."
"Oh."
"She's lives right over there though," I point, "Her name is Lilith."
"One time I petted her."
"She is a nice cat."
"Yeah."

We then sort of stared awkwardly at each other while the cat rubbed all over my legs in silence. After a minute of this, realizing no one is going to say another word, I turn and go inside. Lilith follows me and I can't help but wonder if the little boy now thinks I'm a liar. I don't turn around to check. I half expected to hear him say, "Are you my mummy?" by that point.

Aaron's encounter is even better.

Aaron has a large trench coat. He usually wears it to class when it is rainy. Last week we saw our first rain of the season here in California, so naturally he donned the trench coat to class. Since the sun is still out when he leaves this time of year, he was also wearing his sun glasses. I remarked as he was leaving the house, "You totally look like a bad ass." He chuckled and departed.

The little boy was out in the courtyard as he left. As they crossed paths the kid stares up at him in wide-eyed wonder and says, "Whoa. Doctor professor!" I imagine he said it like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, but I don't know for certain. Aaron wasn't sure how to respond in that moment, so he just marched on feeling even more like a bad ass and fulfilling the role of Doctor Professor. Whatever that even means.

Must be pretty rad to be both a doctor and a professor.