Counting Cats

 

The stray cat streaked across the lawn of the house next door and the work dogs avalanche’d past me and hit the fence like a squadron of stormtroopers. Unable to reach the cat, they instantly turned on one another and mayhem immediately ensued. Everything was teeth and claws, saliva and blood, and a noise level that rivaled controlled demolition, but I had seen the cat first and was prepared. When the water hose didn’t work, I had to disentangle them with a shovel and all the while the cat watched from a safe distance, imperious and contemptuous as only a cat can be. There’s nothing so annoying as a smirking cat and I confess the thought of turning the hose on her did cross my mind but I settled for rattling the chain link at her and after a few seconds, she dismissed me and wandered off.

I’ve always been a cat person. Counting the 4 that currently live with me, I’ve shared my life with a total of 19 of them so far. Each was his or her own cat with a distinct personality. Some were affectionate, some were distant. Some were sweet tempered and shy, some were disagreeable and sullen. Most all lived long and healthy lives and each one was irreplaceable. They all broke my heart one way or another.

I worry about the strays that live in the properties adjoining and behind the agency. They are mostly if not completely feral and perpetually at risk from dogs, traffic, sickness, hunger and weather. And yet they survive and sometimes even thrive. Stubborn creatures, cats, stubborn and stoic, proud and fierce and independent minded. You take them on their own terms or not at all.

For all my little ones who graced my life……. Sometimes I recite their names to help me fall asleep.

Tiffany

Sassafrass

Amanda

Pooka

Magic

Murray

Sugar Bear

Sara Jane

Patchwork

Nicodemus

Willie

Mike

Widget

Chloe

Cassidy

Muggs

Smudge

Zackary

Suki

Lizzie

Mischief