I was a single parent with four children.

  The youngest, Ben, a 3-year-old, wanted a kitten and my friend had a feral cat in her yard who had a litter of them.  We already had a dog, a bird and other cats, and I did animal rescues besides, so I did NOT want or need a kitten.

  Well, the day my friend gathered up the kittens and the mother from her yard to take them to the animal pound, she ran in the door at my house and handed a tiny bundle to Ben who whooped and hollered, while I yelled at her to take it with her.

  What a wild bundle of energy.  This little cat immediately bonded with Ben and everywhere he went, he carried her.  He slept with her, he ate with her, he took a bath with her in the room.  She was his best friend.  He named her Blue.

  Every morning they got up and went through their routines.

Ben would eat breakfast and while Blue waited, she played with the dog. She would aggravate the dog and make the dog chase her.  Under the table around the chair under the coffee table and over the other chair, into the wall and then Blue would run to the stairs where the dog could not see her and wait so she could pounce on the surprised dog as it ran around the corner.

  Later, Ben and Blue would climb sideways into the recliner with the dog on the floor next to them and take an imaginary tour around our city which always included a stop at McDonalds and always letting me know what was going on.  Each time Ben reported a "stop", he and all three animals looked at me for approval.

  Next, a game of checkers or maybe matchbox cars in which Blue sat with Ben and learned to play.  She tried to push those cars and the checker pieces but they did not move and she never quite understood why this happened for him and not for her.  Amazing, this little thing devoted her life to him.

  Blue was a talker.  She tried to communicate like a person with meows that she adapted for different things.  Ben understood her and they were able to have their own little conversations.  Also, if the water bowl emptied, Blue took it upon herself to climb into the water bowl and sit with that loud scream of hers until someone came and filled it.

  Ben went on to school and she waited patiently for him to come home each day and tell her about his day.  As Ben grew older there was less time for Blue but they were still the best of friends.  Some of the play time turned into sleep time and Blue decided to make peace with other members of the household.

  Blue took a sincere interest in the rescues that came in the house.

Most rescues only stayed until they found their own families but once in awhile they did stay.  Blue snubbed the cats while displaying the attitude that she was the only cat in the house but the dogs were a different story.

  Each and every dog was trained by Blue.  Each and every one was made to chase her as she ran them into the wall or pounced upon to make sure they understood their place in the household and who was boss.

At one point we had a 105 pound male dog who would not conform or give in to Blue.  So, she sat on the kitchen table every day and made a horrible sound and when he came into the kitchen to see what was wrong, she threw herself onto his back and screamed and then ran off.

Eventually, he got it.  Believe it or not, this was a prelude to a wonderful relationship between this dog and Blue.  Every morning they greeted each other when they got up with a lick on the nose.

  Blue often did little things to make life interesting.  She would hide keys that she found on tables and sit and watch us look for them.

She would get up on tables when she was angry at someone and knock everything off onto the floor watching to see who would come to get her.

She had quite a mind of her own but if anyone would take the time to pay attention to what was going on, they could understand her.

  Ben finished high school and went into the Air Force.  Blue adapted by spending her time lazing and sitting with us.  When she was a kitten, this would have been horrible for her but now at the ripe old age of 22, she thought it was kind of nice.

  Whenever my kids came over, she spent all of her time doting over them, talking and telling them what was going on and making them hold and pet her.  She slept in the dining room in her Kitty Condo, hiding from the dogs and every morning she got up when we got up and greeted us at the door of the dining room.  She was getting a little hard of hearing but that didn't slow her down.

  One day, two months ago, Blue was not at the door.  She was sleeping.  I took her to the vet and we found out she had kidney failure and it was irreversible.  Blue had never been sick before now.  We spent every day hydrating her and feeding her expensive cat foods, fresh fish and chicken and petting her.  My daughter would take her into the yard and walk her every day until Blue got tired.  We would cuddle her and talk to her with our lips pressed to the side of her face because we swear she could hear us if we did.  I would tear up and ask her, "Blue, who will stay with me and train these dogs?"

  Ben got to come home to visit and see her during the past two months.  She was so excited.  I am glad.  We knew it would not be long. Then, yesterday, she went to sleep and did not wake up.  The kids hardly remember a time when she did not live with us.

  Actually, neither do I.  And I miss her already!

Cheryl Brown

Note:  Cheryl lives in Cleveland and works at a local community college.




A Morning Kiss

A morning kiss, a discreet touch of his nose landing somewhere on the middle of my face.
Because his long white whiskers tickled, I began every day laughing.

Janet F Faure

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