Crazy Cat Lady, Chapter Two

Continuing on with the introductions . . .

For about four years we had just the three cats in our house. We had settled into a routine and were pretty happy with how things were going.

In July of 2000, I traveled to NH for a week of visiting with friends. R stayed home to work on some projects. Early in the week, while working outside he heard a strange noise in the woods. He couldn't imagine what kind of creature was making the noise--maybe a bird in distress. He had to go investigate. What he found was a tiny black smudge of a kitten. Reaching out to catch it, the smudge turned around and bit him on the thumb. R hung on, knowing that if he let go he wouldn't get a second chance. He brought the howling dervish into the house to the bathroom. The smudge scooted under the toilet tank and remained there for three days, intermittantly sleeping and howling. By the time that I returned home from NH, Felix had warmed up and calmed down, so when I met him he was playful and engaging. We always say that R caught Felix by the teeth!

Felix's story: The second Christmas that we had Felix, he still was a scamp, getting into all sorts of mischief. I had an old coffee cup that I had brought home from work to wash. It was in a shopping bag on the floor in the corner of the kitchen. I was preparing breakfast. Felix was nosing around. He found the bag and began to investigate. I didn't become alarmed until I saw him stick his head through the bag's handle. At that moment, it seemed like the calm before the storm. I saw disaster happening but was helpless to stop it. I knew that if I rushed at him to remove the bag from his neck, it would spook him. I tried to move slowly towards him, but alas, didn't get there in time. Felix pulled back once and the bag followed him. There was a pause . . . then PANIC! Felix was off, tearing though the house, bag and coffee cup in hot pursuit! It was a neck in neck race for about three laps around the house and then we heard a great shattering noise. All grew quiet as the dust settled. We cautiously searched the reckage. Upstair in the bedroom, we found the tattered remains of the shopping bag, now containing the many pieces of my old coffee cup. No signs of Felix anywhere. After about 15 minutes of searching, we finally found him cowering in the basement. Two hours later he finally emerged, shaken but unharmed.

To be continued . . .