Mitty’s first kitten had a traumatic birth experience. Mitty slipped out of the house early in the morning and no one was home all day. When Ms. Fabulous returned from work Mitty came running up and deposited one little black bundle on the doorstep. It was a kitten in distress, birth sack still over its head. One panicky vet stop later we were the proud keepers of an all black kitten. MillieJupiter named him “Black Coat”, what else? We called him BC for short. He was nothing like the other cats that had been with us. His fur was rough. He had a blank look in eyes, never seemed to understand anything. We used a spray bottle with water to keep the cats off the table and prevent furniture from being scratched. BC thought he was getting a shower. In the kitty job game we played, BC was a gym teacher.
Mittens had 2 other litters, a total of 5 kittens and MillieJupiter and a young Booth Boy enjoyed the growing up process of all of them. They went to good homes and after they were gone we lamented that we missed the kitten experienced. Mitty was fixed so she was no help but a neighbor had a cat with kittens and MillieJupiter had one all picked out.
Indy was a long haired cat with some coon cat mixed in. We got him the day of the Indianapolis 500, hence the name Indy. He was by far the smartest cat we had ever had. He learned to give kisses and effectively avoided the other two cats we had. It seems like we only had him a few months but his disappearance still affects most of us.
We had a storm, wind and rain and a pine tree fell across our driveway. When I returned from work that afternoon, I got out the chainsaw to cut it into pieces so that we could use the driveway again. As I was cutting, Indy was sunning himself on a rock wall by the drive. He got up went up the stone stairs, headed I figured to get in the house. We never saw him again. MillieJupiter called his name each morning and afternoon and evening for days but he never returned.
So it was Mitty and BC alone together for a long time. Mitty got all the attention and always wanted more. She would sit on the book you were reading, cover the keyboard of the laptop and look at you with an imploring gaze, “pay attention to me.”
We got a call, during the Christmas holidays of the new millennium. Friends had a stray kitten staying near their house. It was icy and cold and they were feeding it despite the father’s telling them not to and they were taking it into their house on very cold days despite the father’s severe allergies. What’s a bit of sneezing among family? We talked over if we wanted another cat and MillieJupiter and Booth Boy cried about how unfair it would be to Mitty and BC to bring in another cat. So we went on a holiday visit, just to see the kitten. MJ and BB fell in love the minute they saw her. She was a frail looking but healthy grey tiger striped cat. She would climb up on the window sill of our friend’s house and watch them eat dinner, talk about your guilt trips. We ended up taking her home, named her Millie after the millennium and she moved in. She was our first stray.
Mitty hated her because she got so much of HER attention. BC ignored her because he ignored everyone. She hid under Booth Boy’s bed her first night but soon was a happy, playful part of the family. She took a page out of the Mitty school of attention, climbing onto book, magazines and desktop computers with abandon in search of the behind the ears scratch.
She became MillieJupiter’s cat. Slept with her most nights and got terribly depressed when MJ went away to college. When she came home for visits and vacations, Millie ignored her for a couple of days to teach her a lesson but soon they were best pals again. Such was cat life in the wilds of Massachusetts until a new visitor came to stay.
To be continued...
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