Silent Passage

Stealth isn't just about hiding in high branches; sometimes it is about seeing how close you can let a prowler get without blinking. Lingering by the study desk all morning was enough, so I slipped out past the back gate into the quiet neighborhood alley. Up on the sunlit brick wall, a heavy tortoiseshell cat came padding lazily along the coping stones, sniffing at the mossy mortar. Instead of retreating, I stepped soundlessly into the crisp shadow behind a cracked terracotta planter and went dead still. The cat paused inches away, twitching its whiskers, blinked right past me, and strolled off down the ledge. Clean evasion. Zero commotion.