The Cat Café in Paris
beginnertravel198 words
Lila travels to Paris with a smudged postcard from her mom. Can she find the café where her mother wrote, 'Meet me here'?
Lila presses her nose to the train window. Paris blurs—gray buildings, a river, a man selling flowers. She grips a postcard. The front shows a café with a black cat. The back says, 'Meet me here,' in her mom's handwriting. Her mom left when Lila was three. Today, Lila is ten. She will find the café.
She walks. The address on the postcard is smudged: '12 Rue...' The rest is a blur. She asks a baker. He shakes his head. A boy with a red scarf stops. 'Lost?' he says. Lila shows the postcard. The boy's eyes widen. 'I know that cat. It's on a sign in an alley.'
They run. The alley is narrow, walls covered in ivy. At the end: a café. A black cat sits on the windowsill. The sign says 'Chat Noir'—black cat. Lila's hands shake. She pushes the door. A bell jingles.
A woman turns. Her hair is the same as Lila's—curly, brown. She sees the postcard. 'You found it,' she says. Her voice is soft. 'I wrote that when I was pregnant. I knew you'd come.' Lila steps closer. The postcard is warm in her hand. The cat jumps to her foot.