Unlikely friends

EDITOR,
This spring, a baby blue jay fell out of its nest in my yard and suffered a damaged wing. As I watched, a neighbor’s cat suddenly attacked it, and injured it further.
I chased the cat off, and the parent birds came to defend it. It couldn’t fly, but it ran around the yard, under the parent’s watchful eye. I saw it a few more times, but lost track of it.
Today, I saw it sunbathing on the ground, still with a badly damaged wing. When it saw me, it got up and walked into a shady area. I wondered how it had survived so long.
I then saw Abby, the same cat, sitting right next to it. A few moments later, Abby got up and walked away. To my amazement, the bird got up and followed. They have apparently become friends.
Mike Alperin, Ben Lomond