We've had our cat, Louise, for about 6 years now. She started following us when we would take the dogs out for their morning and evening walks. She would show up from underneath a parked car and walk along behind us, but wouldn't let us too close. After a while, she started showing up at the door unannounced and I figured out that she had been left behind by someone who had moved away. Although I had no intentions of getting a cat, I started feeding her. What else could I do? She was hungry and had no home any more. Before long she came into the house and started to occupy our hearts as well as our home.
I don't write about her much, because she is one of those very independent types. Many of my friends have never even seen her. The other day my neighbor of four years asked me if I knew who she belonged to. When I said "us" he was astounded. He never knew we had a cat! She's not unfriendly, she just doesn't have much use for us. She doesn't spend a lot of time in the house, especially in the summer. She's an excellent hunter and often brings us gifts, or as the bf calls them, "threats". Because we have a dog that needs a lot of attention (and up until recently we had two that needed a lot of attention), Louise is the perfect cat for us. She is great at taking care of herself, comes in a few times a day to eat and she sleeps on the bed when we're not in it. We rub her belly for a little while, and she's good. Ready to go back out and reign over her queendom.
Well, as the title of this post implies, this story is not all about Louise. Two weeks ago, I was walking to my car from my office, across a very busy street downtown, to get my yoga mat out of the car and go to class down the street. It was a rainy Tuesday evening. Up ahead I noticed a small group of people standing around talking and as I passed them I heard them saying "Is that a bird?" "Is that a car alarm?" "Maybe it's a cat?" (I didn't say they were very smart people, did I?) As I walked by I definitely heard a cat. A little tiny "meow". I looked in the car that was parked there. No cat. I listened at the trunk. Nope. I looked under the car. Still couldn't find a cat. Until I started to get up off the street. There, inside one of the openings in the car's wheel rim, was a tiny, tiny, soaking wet kitten. All the people on the sidewalk clapped and then walked away quickly so they wouldn't have to deal with a found cat.
Once again I found myself having no intention whatsoever of getting another cat, but what could I do? I sure as hell couldn't leave her there.
So...meet Thelma:
Unfortunately, while Thelma is anxious to become friends, Louise wants nothing to do with her. I hope they will eventually tolerate each other, or maybe even become friends. Jack, as you can see, loves her, and even better than that, he loves her Kitten Chow. Man! That stuff is yummy.
