Dinner with a Beach Cat

I have often—well, too often—been in meetings where the get-to-know-you ice-breaker goes like this:
“If you could be an animal, what animal would it be, and tell us why.” (You’ve been in this meeting?) This is an easy one: a beach cat. “Beach” is not a specific breed of cat, although it kind of is. They’re tough, resilient, generally untrusting loners, unlike the pampered felines of households who believe they rule your roost (and they kinda do, BTW). Beach cats are free to explore the island, catch up with a lizard, scare up a bird, pull in dinner in any way their sleekly-muscled bodies and alert quick minds can achieve daily sustenance, including such things as small fish that wash to shore when the shrimpers clear their nets, –but mostly the pelicans and dolphins let little of the trawlers’ largess go unnoticed/uneaten. Then there are gifts of day-old pizza, breakfast sausage—a veritable smorgasbord of proffered tidbits from tourists.
Of course, hanging out near a restaurant is also a strategy. Last night at The Crab Shack I met “Tootsie.” She’s a sweet thing, a grateful trencherman, and totally overweight. I guess, “you never know where your next meal will come from” and “eat while the eatin’s good” are guiding principles in Tootsie’s philosophy of food. She’s the size of a modest speed-bump—and yes, ate each piece of shrimp or crab I provided—with gusto!
It’s a good life, alternately living under the stars or under the pier-and-stilt construction of this home or that, making new acquaintances daily, roaming the underbrush of dune vegetation, napping in the sun, a tropical climate with no harsh winters—yes, I’d say that’s my ideal.
Feed ‘em if you got ‘em. Never worry that a beach cat needs a better home, or adoption into your world of Friskies and furballs. They’re just fine, thanks.  The “catch and release” program on Tybee takes care of the neutering. They are the island’s beloved pets.

Yes, I want to be a beach cat.

The half pound snow crab and half pound boiled shrimp is meant to share!