Last week, my wife and I went on a cruise with her son and his fiance. Jamaica was our second port. We arrived there Wednesday morning. My wife booked us all on a “comfortable” bus tour around the island. It was probably the worst excursion we ever went on. The bus was small, and the spacing between the seats was designed for people under five feet tall. Worse, and something Rose didn’t realize when she booked it, was that it was a five-hour trip. We were stuck crammed on this bus for five hours with only a few opportunities to get out and stretch our legs. Those opportunities involved stopping at a place where a dozen vendors were waiting to pounce as soon as you got off the bus to try to sell you genuine Jamaican souvenirs made in China. We chose to suffer on the bus rather than off most of the stops.

The only bright spot of the trip was when we stopped for lunch. It wasn’t bright because the food was good (It was the worst food I ever experienced on a cruise). It was bright because I got to meet several stray cats.

The first one greeted us when we got off the bus. He followed me to the bathroom and then waited outside for me.

We then went to where they were serving lunch. They offered us three choices: jerk chicken, pork sausage, and chicken sausage. I chose the chicken sausage. We sat down to eat, but the sausage was a bit spicy, which is why I avoided the jerk chicken.

I saw two more cats show up as people started eating. This one was getting attention from a human and another cat.

They then came to me.

I gave them some of my sausage and they happily ate it. Soon a third cat showed up.

I suppose they were used to the food there. After a while, the first cat I saw came to me but he wanted nothing to do with my chicken sausage. I guessed he was the smartest one in the bunch.