Cat in the Rain

1925. An American couple is staying at an Italian hotel. Their room faces the sea, a public garden, and a war monument. That day it is raining, and the American wife is looking out the window. She sees a cat under a table, trying to keep dry. She tells her husband, who is busy reading, that she is going to get the cat; he tells her not to get wet. Downstairs, the American wife is greeted by the hotel operator, whose seriousness and willingness to please she adores. When she goes outside, he sends a maid after her with an umbrella. The American wife does not find the cat, however, and goes back upstairs feeling sad. She proceeds to ask her husband if she should grow her hair out; he says that he likes it the way that it is. She now decides that she wants not only a cat to stroke, but also a bun at the back of her neck, a table with her own silver, and some new clothing. Her husband tells her to shut up and find a book to read. She says that she still wants a cat. Just then, someone knocks at the door. It is the maid: she has brought up the outdoor cat, at the request of the hotel operator.