Goober
The Cat That Wasn't Mine
A novel by Wagner Rosati Carvalho. Scroll to follow the cat.
After a pandemic year back home in Brazil, Daniel returned to Ireland and started again in Galway.
A small studio, a bass guitar on the couch, and a quiet that could sometimes feel lonely.
One evening, while lentils simmered on the stove, a cat appeared outside the glass door.
He kept coming back. So Daniel started leaving a small gap in the curtain, just to check.
It was silver.
It was silver.
Then one rainy Monday, it was red.
Then blue, with bells and a tiny embroidered cat.
Then turquoise. Every week, a new collar. Whose cat is this?
A tracking tag read Goober, and an address two doors down. Nobody had lived there for a long time.
Even among the arias of Vienna, his mind kept drifting back to a cat in Galway.
He came back soaked from the Galway rain, wearing a collar Daniel had never seen.
Asked to stop feeding him, Daniel closed the curtains and walked to the docks instead.
Then, one day, the unmistakable jingle of a bell.
So Daniel followed the tail. All the way to a wooden house at the end of the street.
Who was changing the collars? The answer is waiting behind the gate.
Leave the curtain open.
A new collar every week.
Five collars, in the order Daniel saw them. Pick one. No spoilers past the gate.
Silver
A cat appears at Daniel’s glass door: patches of dark brown and black over soft white, like a little lion, with bright golden eyes. Around his neck, a shiny silver collar.
The people Goober chose
Goober
Fluffy-tailed, golden-eyed and selective about who touches him. Known to the whole neighbourhood, owned by nobody quite completely.
Daniel
A remote designer and introvert from Brazil. Black coffee, a bass guitar on the couch, and a door he starts leaving slightly open.
Meena and Colm
Forced away by a sudden visa hearing, they return to find their cat no longer remembers them the way they remember him.
Mrs. Theresa
A former University of Galway lecturer on art and cave paintings, elegant and lifelong vegan, living in a wooden house behind the greenery.
“To every Goober across the globe, the unexpected companions who wander into our lives.”
From the dedication · Choose to adopt, not shop
The author
Wagner Rosati Carvalho
A creative professional with a career across advertising, marketing and UX design, shaped by years of storytelling for leading agencies and brands.
Founder of Vegan Jobs Ireland and host of the Manada Podcast, Wagner advocates for animal rights. Through Goober, he bridges the gap between people and the animal world.
Leave the curtain open.
A heartwarming story about love, loss, belonging and the quiet magic of unexpected connections.
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