The Van Gogh Project

SCENE IV.

SCENE IV. A MONTAGE OF WARM CUPS OF COFFEE

VINCENT MILSON

AGREEMENTS had been made yesterday morning over two warm cups of coffee she had made. Vincent would now help search for the white kitten with dark spots, the problem was he had to do it on the down-low, since there was a strict no pets policy in the apartment complex they both lived in.

While he walked up to the complex after a long day at art school he cursed at himself for not asking what her name was. She was too worried about the kitten, and he- well, he was him. Socially awkward and all, he had been beating himself up all day since he thought he had handled the situation poorly.

He had a very watchful eye, always looking in nooks and crannies, at least he had gotten her number, but only for her to send pictures of the small kitten. There had been one that had caught his eye, a selfie of her with the unnamed feline, it was a size reference picture, but he thought it was cute.

Vincent had heard some shuffling in the trash, it was located in a big bin on the side of the apartment complex. He rushed to see if it had been the cat and hoped it wasn't one of those New York rats.

Low and behold, Vincent heard faint meowing, not in the bin but under it. He pushed it to the side and found a small kitten curled up, Vincent's guess was that the kitten had been hiding under the bin from the sun, today had been an extremely hot day.

Vincent smiled and held up the kitty, he sneezed but quickly put it in his backpack so he could smuggle it past the tenant's front desk, not closing it all the way he left a gap so that the feline could breath properly.

He gave a half-assed smile at the tenant, who was a pain in everyone's asses.

"Ah, it's good that I caught you." The tenant started, "in one week's time is the monthly inspection, I expect your apartment in tip top shape, not a sigue scratch on anything."

Vincent nodded with a dry smile he now was in the clear to go upstairs.

"Ey." The tenant caught Vincent's attention. Vincent started to fiddle with his backpack straps, afraid the tenant would look into his bag. After all, the kitten hadn't exactly stayed very still.

"Also, remember what I said about the smell of paint, I want none of that this month." Then the tenant went into the back room and Vincent sighed in relief. When he arrived at his place, he made sure to set the cat on the couch and swiftly texted her that he had found it and attached a picture of the small kitten on his sofa.

The reply made Vincent smile, on his screen he read the words: stay right there, do not move, I'm on my way!

Vincent didn't know why but he found it endearing the way she would text with punctuation marks. All he needed to do now was wait, he sat next to the cat to try and comfort it, and as he did so he started sneezing uncontrollably.

He did take that from his mother, his allergy to cats. So for the time being he would just keep an eye on it from a distance, and he decided to do a pencil sketch of the cat sitting on his sofa. He would need to get that cleaned when it left. And his backpack and pretty much his whole apartment. He also opted for opening slightly his window.