In this imagined episode from Óbidos, a little ginger cat appears beside Mea’s shoes. She has no map, notebook or need to introduce herself. Colombine immediately concludes that she is a local guide. Lu Cia first wants to know whether the cat agrees. For the moment, the cat is attending to entirely different matters.
Illustrated fiction inspired by original Travel2City photographs. The places come from separate journeys, not a one-day itinerary. Characters, dialogue, props and some composition and lighting are artistic interpretations.
Mea noticed the white paws first. Then the ginger tail, and finally the entire little visitor standing beside her shoes. Her friends fell quiet as though someone important had arrived. The cat looked at them without the slightest interest in the ceremony. Mea kept her hands on her bag and simply smiled. It was pleasant to be stopped without a question, an offer or a single word.
“I think we have just been admitted to local society.”
Beside the blue-and-white facade, the cat found a place between them. She made no effort to be charming or photogenic. She sat exactly as she pleased. Colombine remarked that she would like to pack such confidence for every journey. Mea rested her notebook on her knees, and Lu Cia made room on the bench. The visitor confirmed nothing. Her calm decision to remain seemed an acceptable form of agreement.
Beside the stone gate, Mea set her notebook down. The cat came to sniff its corner as thoroughly as Colombine might examine an important discovery. “She is checking the programme,” Lu Cia whispered. Mea willingly awaited the result. The notebook stayed closed, the paws clean and the verdict unspoken. Eventually, the visitor withdrew. Apparently, she had no serious objections to the plan, or was generously ignoring it altogether.
In the square, she raised her tail and chose her own direction. Mea, Colombine and Lu Cia stayed where they were. There was no need to call her back or insist they still had things to do together. She clearly had her own day. Colombine conceded that their guide kept an unusually flexible programme. Mea held her notebook close. Lu Cia smiled: perhaps that was precisely the lesson they could not have planned at home.
“Enjoy your journey, madam guide.”
From notebook to book
The Map with No Last Page
Travel2City journeys continue between the covers of a book. Discover our illustrated travel world.
The visit was short. The memory settled comfortably between them.
Looking through their pictures later, Mea pointed to the empty place on the bench. “Our guide sat here.” Colombine nodded. Lu Cia added that she had an excellent sense of when to take a break.
