Trust

"I can tell, just by talking to you, that you're a good person."

That's what somebody said to me on the phone yesterday.

And I was thinking, "um, really? really?"

It was about possible cat adoption. That rescue group out in the sticks? Turns out they've been helping a hoarder, er, collector, who has an unheated trailer even further out in the sticks which is full of cat shit. And cats. About twenty or thirty of 'em, all in varying degrees of feral-osity, all different ages, all in varying stages of veterinary treatment for miscellaneous living-in-filth-in-an-unheated-trailer diseases. Any of whom they will let me adopt. And if none of those cats fit the bill, they've got more. Oh boy, do they have more. And unlike the local shelters, this group will allow me to adopt, even though I let my cats outside. I have found my people!

As far as the trailer cats go, turns out there was an elderly lady who had a few cats. And was known to be kind-hearted toward cats. So whenever one of her hillbilly neighbors had a cat they didn't want to care for or an unwanted litter of kittens, it was time for a midnight dropoff at the kindly neighbor's house.

People out in the country? Are assholes.

So. Here we go. After I explained what I was looking for (males; kittens or young adults; must be bonded and need to go together; must want to be indoor/outdoor cats), that narrowed it down to, oh, ten or so possibilities.

This group doesn't have a shelter, and the trailer cats are currently being cared for in one of the volunteer's homes. She is going to email me some photos this weekend, and we'll go from there. Sophie's Choice, all over again.

But! Back to the point! And I do have one. Ha.

In speaking with the woman who has the trailer cats, I asked if she needed more references (I had already filled out a generic adoption application), or photos of my home (to show the size of the yard), or if she would like to do a home visit.

And that's when she said it wouldn't be necessary, because she could tell she could trust me just by talking to me.

And, well, maybe I have some trust issues, but I don't trust ANYBODY just by talking to them. I've been burned too many times by people who seemed nice to take anybody's word for it. Shit, I don't even trust my own mother, although honestly that's all thanks to the Alzheimer's.

That old line, "Trust, but verify"? Not for me. It's strictly "verify", because I don't trust jack shit. Shit, I'll bet Jeffrey Dahmer TALKED a good game - just look at all the dudes he lured up to his apartment.

Am I cynical? Jaded? Or just practical? What do you think? What about you - do you trust people? How about people you've never met? I'm curious.