THE CAT OF POSITANO

Nemorino the miracle cat had no home to speak of in the town of Positano but was welcome into every home for it was understood by the locals that he brought good luck wherever he roamed.

It was after he survived a devastating fire in the local church and remained unscathed that he was regarded as possessing holy qualities. Many men, women, and children of the village by the sea believed simply by stroking his fur that they were brought closer to god.

But perhaps inevitably a creeping sense of possession of Nemorino started to take hold of some of the townsfolk and an unspoken competition to earn the affection of the miracle cat began. Fishermen were urged by their wives to bring their best catch so they could prepare it for Nemorino while carpenters were implored to make the finest miniature cat palaces for the esteemed feline so he might (they hoped) choose theirs and remain in one place forever more. Composers, singers, and musicians all wrote and performed songs dedicated to the cat that they prayed would earn his loyalty, and artists painted portraits of Nemorino in the vague hope he would recognise their rendering of him.

But all of these grand gestures went without reward for Nemorino appeared to be unmoved by their considerable efforts and numerous offerings.

Arguments arose all around the town about the cat's seeming aloofness and yet no one wanted to be shunned by the cat so continued to stroke him when he passed by their door, performing the sign of the cross out of respect for his miraculous existence.

"God bless you Nemorino," they would all say in hushed tones as if in prayer.

The local priest even wrote a letter to the Vatican to see if they might consider making Nemorino a saint which was his own way of incurring favor with the furry creature.

But above all these many enticements intended to earn Nemorino's affection, it was perhaps the least likely figure who had the privilege of winning the cat's loyalty and it all came down to one simple thing the others had overlooked.

Coffee.

Over the years rumors had spread regarding Lucio the cafe owner's lack of faith in God as he never attended church on a Sunday. As a consequence of his absence and these whispered aspersions about his character, he'd lost the opportunity to capture half his potential customers from dining in his establishment and became increasingly worried about the future of his business. Having moved from the North of the country to the South it was perhaps inevitable that there would be some suspicion toward the outsider setting up a business amongst the other members of the local community.  

The cafe owner had had good reason to move after losing his young wife in a boating accident not long after giving birth to their daughter Serafina. Alessia had been heading to visit her parents in Elba a remote island that forms part of the Tuscan archipelago when the boat capsized in a freak storm. Finding it too painful to stay in the same place he'd shared all his happy memories with his wife, Lucio moved to Positano to start over and attempt to rebuild from tragedy.

It wasn't so much a lack of faith that led Lucio not to attend church but his broken, grieving heart. On his one day off in the week, he would spend his Sunday mornings with his seven-year-old daughter Serafina wandering the beaches looking for "treasure" along the 'Coast Of The Gods'. Bringing back their finds to add to their makeshift shrine to Alessia their idea was that they were gifting her items from the same Tyrrhenian Sea that took her life as payment for balancing the loss they felt in their hearts. Though it never needed to be said, both father and daughter intuitively and solemnly understood between them that it was a debt that could never be repaid.

But this devoted ritual of father and daughter had only led them to be further alienated in the town since arriving with few locals sharing any information with them about general news in Positano. They remained mostly ignorant of any news in the town only finding out about the church fire after Serafina saw the fiery smoke from her bedroom window one night as she said her evening prayers.

Keen to support the town Lucio donated a generous amount of his hard-earned money for church repairs but the damage was already done in the eyes of many of the locals who continued to judge him harshly for his lack of attendance of Mass before the fire.  

Remaining oblivious to gossip, rumours, and superstition neither Lucio or Serafina thought there was anything special or holy about the cat that came early evening every night and kept them company on their rooftop balcony overlooking the sea.

It had all started one day when Lucio had found Nemorino lapping away at a cup of cold coffee that had remained untouched by one of his rare customers who forgetting he had a doctor's appointment had left it out on one of the outside tables of the cafe.

Finding it amusing that a cat should like coffee, Lucio made sure ever since that day to always leave a cold cup of coffee out for the cat at the same time each day. To his amazement, Nemorino returned like clockwork to enjoy his late morning coffee and soon afterward began to return at the end of each day to follow Lucio all the way back to his house overlooking the sea.

Both father and daughter made sure to keep the cat in good supply of food and water with Lucio preparing tiny bowls of fish and rice while Serafina kept up with the topping of water for the handsome animal.

And always at first dawn, Nemorino would leave them both to sleep while the cat roamed in and about the streets and hills of the town remaining forever unmoved by the locals' clamorous attempts to impress him.

Then one evening a mob of snooping villagers decided to follow Nemorino back to his secret hideout and were instantly enraged to discover that he had chosen the cafe owner's humble home as the place the cat wished to relax each evening.

"Come out here stranger and explain yourself!" the leader of the mob yelled outside Lucio's front door in a strident voice demanding an answer to a question he had not yet properly thought of.

Accusing Lucio of practicing some form of witchcraft over the cat it wasn't until Serafina intervened standing on the balcony above them all and told them all that it had nothing to do with witchcraft but all to do with her father's coffee that they quietened down their protests.

"Coffee you say? What's so special about your father's coffee that makes a holy cat desire to drink it?" a red-faced local shouted angrily at the young girl jabbing his chubby finger upwardly at her like a knife.

Thinking on her feet Serafina answered before her father could land a blow on the aggressive man with his tight clenched ball-shaped fist.

"Because I pray to God each morning and night that it tastes better than anyone else's so my Father won't lose his business and we don't go hungry and have to sell our home."

This was in fact true and Lucio couldn't have been more proud of his young daughter's courage in stating it so clearly and matter-of-factly though he still desperately desired to throw a punch at the red-faced man but restrained himself from doing so.

And in that moment even the most hard-hearted of the villagers found it impossible not to be moved by the daughter's explanation. She had revealed that she prayed to God and immediately put to rest those untruths about her and her father being faithless pagans. The cat clearly liked his coffee and as far as they were still concerned the cat was holy.

A truce amongst the community members was soon agreed and reconciliation with the outsider from the North and his young daughter was happily and quickly resolved.

From that day on, Lucio gained the trust and respect of all locals who now frequented his cafe which in turn happily forced him to employ a good amount of staff to assist with all the trade now coming through his doors. This also included Serafina whose main task was to make sure a certain customer always had his midday coffee at the exact same time prepared at just the right temperature he liked.

Nemorino.

To show his appreciation for the town's softening towards him and his daughter, Lucio decided to abandon his Sunday mornings of beachcombing for gifts to place at his wife's shrine and instead took Serafina and Nemorino to the newly repaired church where all three attended Mass as a family.

Singing with hearts full, it didn't go unnoticed that both father and daughter possessed the most strong and pure voices which in turn enhanced greatly the church choir. Nemorino also did his best to join in meowing in relative unison with those in attendance.

And in a final revealing twist of fate, Lucio and Serafina were informed by the Priest of the church that Nemorino had also lost his feline partner the night of the fire a beautiful Birman that was as beautiful as any in history with eyes like the brightest of stars and fur as soft as the most luxurious of carpets.

Learning of this shared tragic affinity with his furry friend, Lucio later reflected if perhaps it was grief that brought them all together and not his coffee as he first believed.

Or maybe he thought, it was both. After all his coffee was pretty exceptional.

But then he remembered what had seemingly brought about all the positive turn of events in recent weeks and saw Serafina's smiling face in his mind's eye.

"Serafina," Lucio said softly, just like a prayer.

For it had been his daughter's own diligent prayers to God every morning and evening that had brought good fortune back into their lives once more.

And in Serafina's beautiful face, the memory of Alessia would never be forgotten.