Submitted by Rachel Dunscomb on the 2017 winter session program in Morocco sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures…
All throughout our journey around Morocco, we’ve seen stray cats everywhere. Orange, black, grey and mottled, they’re always around looking for food or sleeping majestically. So even though, I absolutely love cats, I’ve gotten so used to them that they’re almost more of an annoyance than cute. As a result, I was very reluctant to talk to or pet the grey cat that was at our camp in the Sahara Desert. He came around looking for food during dinner and the others gave him a little to eat, but to me, he was just another cat interrupting my dinner.
The next morning, we all got up to see the sunrise in the desert. The best view was from the top of a dune where there were a few chairs and a table so I decided to go sit down and enjoy the view. The moment I sat down, though, the cat came out of nowhere and jumped up on my lap. The poor thing was freezing and, despite my misgivings, I immediately fell in love. As we symbiotically shared our heat in the freezing morning air at the edge of the Sahara Desert, we became best friends for life and a piece of my heart will always remain in the dunes with him. Farewell, Sahara cat, until next time.
