newjerseynewsroom.com

BY PAT SUMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Somewhere on Governors Island, NY right now, a woman and a cat may be smiling at each other. If that smile is conspiratorial, why not? Since last weekend, the cat has become famous and Governors Island has moved higher on the greater New York destination list.

And all it took was a reported swim – by the cat, not the woman – from New Jersey to Governors Island. More than a mile. With mid-April water temperatures.

And this aquatic feat was not even the work of a Turkish Van, the breed known to love water and swimming, but a black, white and orange Calico cat. She was thought to have been washed into the river during New Jersey’s torrential rains last weekend, and thence to Governors Island.

Maybe, a later story offered, the feline clung to flotsam during her voyage. In any case, she turned up on the north shore of the 172-acre island wet, matted, salty and seaweed-tangled.

Uh-huh.

Now let me tell you about a bridge for sale – from the state of credulity to the empire of tourism.

Once word spread about the fabulous feline find, the story’s icing was lathered on: the “castaway cat” needs a name. So now, according to local news sites like Dailynews.com, DNAinfo.com, Gothamist.com and ThirdAge.com, countless people (probably none of whom could swim a fiftieth of that distance) are coming up with puns, allusions and other plays on words to name the swimming cat.

It’s Purrdinand Meowgellan and Christopher Columpuss; it’s Pusseidon and Ishmael, Gilligan and Wilson. It’s Isla and Nori. And Catamaran of course.

Speaking of which, no one has suggested this story was a case of “cat overboard.” Nor has her weight been specified, perhaps for good reason: her “after-swim” images suggest she’s too solid to have been swept away.

Now, you may be as idolatrous of cats as the average ancient Egyptian. But did we also mention that New York is developing the island, with plans including a waterfront promenade and 87 acres of green space? Or that readers of the GI blog where the cat’s amazing arrival was first reported had earlier named a popular picnic spot?

Spokesperson for both Governors Island and its not-for-long-nameless cat, Elizabeth Rapuano is described as marketing and communications director. Ms. Rapuano has done her job well – as the tourists attracted to the island by her cat story will soon prove.

Time for a Cheshire cat grin.