“Cat in the Rain” by Ernest Hemingway Summary The story begins with two Americans - an American wife and her husband, George - are staying in a hotel on the Italian coast. There is a public garden and a war monument nearby. It was a rainy and deserted day. The head of the family George enthusiastically reads a book, while his wife looks out the window. The wife sees a cat in the rain hiding underneath a table. She feels sorry for the wet cowering cat and decides to go and help her. George listlessly offers to help his wife, but she refuses. Then American wife comes down, and the owner of the hotel welcomes her with a bow. She likes the old Italian hotel-keeper very much, because he is respectful, dignity and calm. They exchange a few words in Italian, and then she goes outside. Together with the American girl, a maid comes out into the courtyard with an umbrella. However, they don't find the cat. In the room, the husband asks his wife if she has found the cat, but she replies that it is missing. The American girl says she really wants this cat, but George doesn't pay any attention to her and continues reading the book. She comes and sits down in front of the mirror of the dressing table and looking at herself in the mirror, dreams of a new hairstyle, of her table, knives and forks, of a cat sitting on her lap and purring. But the husband is still indifferent tells her to shut up. Just then, there's a knock at the door. The hotel maid stands in the doorway with a large tortoise-shell cat in her hands. She informs that the hotel-keeper sent a cat for the American girl.
