Sarah Prineas wrote a pet story today, and asked us to share ours. Right now, we have two wonderful cats: Sekhmet, war princess of the upstairs, and Bastet, the queen of all cats. In the past we have had Michael, god emperor of the yard. All 3 of these cats filled or have filled our lives with warmth and softness, hauteur and love all at the same time.
There’s always a special one, though. Toby died at the end of 2006. He was the victim of the poor pet owners across the street and Urinary Tract Infection. This is the story I wrote when he died. It still makes me tear up, because he was that well-loved. My apologies to those of you who have seen it.
Yellow Cat and the Man
Yellow Cat looked left, and then right, and then across the street. Across the street, The Man stood on the tip of a ladder, doing something to his porch. “This man understands me,” said Yellow Cat. “He likes to climb things, like I do. We will be the best of friends.” Yellow Cat padded across the street, all eagerness. It had been a while since he had been cuddled and tickled, and surely, surely The Man would cuddle and tickle him.
At first The Man seemed frustrated with him. “Get down from there!” Yellow Cat decided to amuse The Man with his high climbing prowess. “Come on! That’s no place for you!” But then The Man smiled, and he went into his big house, and came out with The Woman. The Woman was also amused, but she seemed less so than the man. “You stinker!” said The Man. “I think he’s a stray,” said The Woman.
Both The Man and The Woman couldn’t see the difference between Yellow Cat and Peanut. Peanut was also a yellow cat, but he wasn’t Yellow Cat. Peanut had a bushy tail and didn’t like people. Yellow Cat had already decided to adopt The Man and The Woman. They figured out the difference one night when they saw them together outside. Some things had to be made obvious to The Man and The Woman.
The Man was easy. He worked outside more than The Woman. Yellow Cat liked his big yard with fluffy leaves to jump and play and pee in. The Man liked to hold Yellow Cat. When the weather became colder and ruffled Yellow Cat’s fur, The Man would snuggle with Yellow Cat, and he even allowed Yellow Cat to climb inside The Man’s coat. Oh, how Yellow Cat loved The Man’s coat! So warm, and it smelled just like The Man, and eventually, a bit like Yellow Cat. It became scarred and pilled underneath Yellow Cat’s claws, and The Woman would complain, but Yellow Cat didn’t care, and he knew that The Man had too much good sense to care.
The Man built him a little house. This was good sense, as Yellow Cat planned on spending time on The Man’s porch, and he needed somewhere to entertain, or at least to wait for his new Man and his new Woman to come home from that place they went to every day. At first they seemed to want him to go back across the street. Foolish Man! Foolish Woman! Someone had to look after them now. He wasn’t one to shirk his new responsibilities, not Yellow Cat.
Snow began to fall, but Yellow Cat was constant. His People needed him. He waited on the porch of The Man and The Woman’s big house. From within, other cats hissed at him, but he wasn’t one to shirk his new responsibilities, not Yellow Cat. The Woman was not easy, like the Man, but one night The Man came to Yellow Cat. Putting Yellow Cat inside his coat, The Man carved a hole for Yellow Cat in a new home, a large palace just for Yellow Cat, and The Woman smiled at Yellow Cat just a little more.
The Man was sometimes a little slow. Yellow Cat would bring him something to eat, and The Man didn’t want it. He would go so far as to take things from Yellow Cat. “That’s what cats do,” said The Woman. The Woman was harder, but she understood Yellow Cat’s motives. The Man took away rabbits, squirrels, and birds. Yellow Cat learned to eat first and hide food from The Man, but The Man must have had a good nose, because he almost always found the food. Stupid man!
Still, Yellow Cat loved The Man most of all. The Man bought him an outdoor swinging couch, and the two of them napped there in the summer and the spring and the fall. He called Yellow Cat nonsensical things, like Buddy Boo, and Turd, Stinker, and Mr. T, Toblerone, and King Tiger. The Woman did that too. The two of them would let him lie on his back and tickle his tummy. When he wanted them to stay, he would grab their hands with his paws, and they played well, and didn’t mind the nicks. He protected them too. He chased all the stupid other cats out of the yard. One old white cat they chased out of the yard after a stupid time of letting him stay. That was only fair.
The Man came to see him every day. He told The Woman he had to polish the cat, and Yellow Cat would sit with The Man. These were the best times. The Man would let Yellow Cat into the crook of his arms, smashing his head as though he could love The Man more by smashing his head into him. Yellow Cat wanted The Man to know that he was the most important thing in the world to Yellow Cat, and that Yellow Cat took his responsibilities seriously, even if The Man wouldn’t let Yellow Cat take proper care of him.
The Man adapted well for Yellow Cat. He bought a clawless paw and played with Yellow Cat. He gave Yellow Cat food every morning and every night and petted Yellow Cat. He poured water for Yellow Cat to drink every morning, even though in the cold weather it turned into a block of ice. The Man came to the cold garage in the winter and sat with Yellow Cat. He dug a path for Yellow Cat from the garage to the house in the coldest weather, so Yellow Cat’s paw pads wouldn’t be quite so cold. Yellow Cat loved The Man, and Yellow Cat knew The Man loved him.
The Woman would play games with Yellow Cat and The Man sometimes, and that was when Yellow Cat was happiest. Yellow Cat climbed from one set of their shoulders to the others, purring with glee. This was best in the cold garage on cold winter nights, because it was warm and their coats were thick. They would pretend to talk for him in a high, squeaky voice. Yellow Cat felt that he was doing enough talking by purring, but they were his people, and he would humor them.
One might, Yellow Cat hurt his leg. He dragged himself home, and he waited for his people. He knew that they could make him feel better. The Woman was the one to hold him and sit with him, but The Man was always near, so near he could smell him. There were many days of pain and loneliness, but Yellow Cat knew his people would come for him. He worried about them a little, because it was so unlike The Man not to come.
Finally, The Man came, in his coat. The Woman came too. Yellow Cat climbed into The Man’s coat, and all the pain and loneliness and fear were still there, but there was nothing that The Man and Yellow Cat couldn’t last through together. When they were together, it was always the best of times, and Yellow Cat nustled into The Man, burrowed into him. “I love you,” said the Man. “You’re my Buddy Boo.” Yellow Cat knew it was so. He purred to let The Man know that it was so. He was so happy his people had come, and he could look after them, finally, after worrying about them for so long. He closed his eyes, and they whispered to him, and stroked him for a long, long time. He started to clean himself, because he didn’t want his people to see him messy, to show his people that they were his, and he would take care of them.
The Man and The Woman cuddled and petted Yellow Cat, and then Yellow Cat grew so very, very sleepy. He was happy though. He was with his people again, on The Woman’s lap, and The Man stroking him, and everything smelling like The Man. “Shhh,” said The Man. “You’ll be all better soon. Visit me in my dreams.”
The Man was right. Yellow Cat went into a deep, peaceful sleep on the outdoor swinging couch, the wind ruffling and kissing his fur. Every night, just as The Man went to sleep, he would wait there so The Man could polish the cat. After all, The Man was his, and Yellow Cat wasn’t one to shirk his responsibilities.
***
The Vet Hospital will send us Toby’s paw print in a couple of weeks. They were fantastic. We had a special room to say good bye in, ironically the first time Bryon, Toby, and I had been INSIDE a building together. The doctor and her assistant kept talking about how much Toby had touched them, and how sincere they were to say that, that they saw a lot of animals, but he was special, and how we must have loved him so much, since he was so full of love. We can’t even begin to take credit for any of that, because that was just Toby, God’s gift to us for three short years.
Good night, Buddy Boo. Good night.
*snif*!