Taro, the Street Cat Who Adopted the Whole Soi

Taro showed up on our soi in Sukhumvit two winters ago, a skinny Siamese girl with a bent tail and a very loud voice. Nobody owned her, so the food sellers started leaving her bowls of rice and fish scraps by the tree.

At some point she decided that I was her person. Every morning she waited at my gate, complaining until I came out with the dry food I keep in my bag. The security guard now says good morning to her before he says it to me.

Last spring a vet friend helped me take her in for a check and her vaccines, and she spent the whole visit glaring at everyone. Now she sleeps on my balcony in the sun, and she is the unofficial boss of the soi.

I was never a cat person, honestly. Look at me now.