Kittens I have known

People have mentioned cats in their blogs in past weeks. I'm just reminiscing.

The first cat I really came to love was Lucy, a brown tabby who showed up at my girlfriend's (later wife) house. She was the epitome of a lap cat. Whenever anyone sat down, she was right up there on the lap. She was scrawny when she showed up, but gained weight nicely. And then a lot more. Well, you know what happened - four kittens. There was a black short-hair I named Freena. She was snaggle-toothed, and had a nice personality. And there was a brown tabby named Boosie, who was very shy, and whose tail was always curled like a question mark. And there were two males, Striker, a grey tabby, and Alex, a short-hair grey cat. They were both boistrous and ornery. They are all gone now, and on the assumption that there is a heaven, I'm looking forward to getting down in the grass and playing with them again.

Then there was Teddi - the first cat in our house. She was a black short-hair with a psychotic personality, but I loved her a lot. When we went through a multi-year period of living separately, she stayed at "home," and died before I moved back. That still bothers me a lot. Then there is Liberty and Justice, the cats who still live at the office with my former partner. Liberty (after Liberty Valance) is a huge orange tabby, who is soooo social. Justice is a tortoise-shell female who was sick when she was a kitten. I was the only one to handle her for about a month (because I did the whole body-fluid precaution thing), so she was really bonded to me. And I miss those kittens a lot, but I've never been back to that office.

Now, I live with Luci, who is a black & white female shorthair that my wife got at the pound. And finally, there is Betsy, a long-hair female (actually the longest haired cat I've ever seen) who was with me when I lived alone.

Like I say, the only heaven I will consent to enter will have these and lots and lots more cats there.

R