The Band-Aid Cat

(Written some time ago; but will share again here)

                                                                                                      Winnie... 1986-April 25, 2005

I sometimes refer to Prissy as the Imperial cat, but in truth, she is a "Band-Aid Cat", the real Imperial Cat was named Winnie. She was my friend for 19, almost 20 years. She was that special pet who becomes more than a pet; the one who becomes a friend, a confidant, a part of your heart. And when they die, you feel as if a part of you has died with them and no amount of grief seems to make the emptiness go away. The silence they leave in your life is deafening.

That was Winnie, my friend who purred me to sleep and made sure I never read anything that might upset me in the newspaper because she was always lying on it. She tested the tuna to make sure it was tasty enough for me, and she kept my lap warm and cozy every time I read a book. And I was the only thing in the world that she loved...that is quite a gift.

So, when she died, she left an awful hole in my life. I said that I was not going to do it again, Never another cat, but that silence kept getting louder and louder until I had to have something to ease the pain. It was either get a kitten or turn to drugs. So I got online and started "just looking" at the shelter sites. "If I happen to see one that catches my eye...well, maybe." And there she was, this tiny, fluffy kitten so much like Winnie I could hardly believe it. I called the shelter and they said, yes, she was still there, "waiting for me to come for her." So that is what I did, I brought her home and she put a Band-Aid on my heart. Her bright eyes and soft fur gave me comfort. Her endless antics made me laugh out loud. She is the funniest cat I have ever met!                                           Miss Prissy! Yes, I'm fierce!

I thought for a while that she must have tiny concealed wings as she seemed able to get to the top of any obstacle. Leap tall sofas with a single bound, landing squarely on any passing creature, canine or human...didn't matter. We were all play things to her.

She is a treat. I came home one afternoon and she had attacked the stuffed teddy bear that was twice her size at the time and tried to drag him into the basement though the "mouse hole" (a hole I put in the door at the top of the basement stairs for Winnie).

She drowns her mice. She has about two dozen toy mice and she rounds them up and drowns them in her water bowl. I once found a real one in there. I am not sure whether she drown it, or it committed suicide to get away from her. I suspect the latter as she is not much of a mouser.

Now, I introduce you to my friend Tutt. Tutt has been my friend and companion for 16 years. We don't live together, but he spends and awful lot of time here. When we first started dating, I had a grand total of five cats, all indoor cats. Tutt is not a cat person. I would go so far as to say he was an 'anti-cat" person. But as he wanted to stay on the good side of Ann, he became a "Cat Tolerant" person. It was a bit of a stand off as the cats were not so Tutt Friendly either. And so it went until all the old cats were gone and the new star arrived on the horizon...Miss Prissy! Who expected the entire world to worship at her paws and adore her for the Imperial Cat she is. Picture Tutt with raised eye brows...

Prissy is crazy about water. She loves it. She loves to play in it. She loves the sound of it. She comes running if she hears water running. Always has, from the time she was very tiny.

I came home one afternoon from work to find Tutt sitting at the kitchen island with "a look" on his face. He said, "Well, the good news is...I didn't kill her." To which I replied, "Oh...?" as I waited for the other shoe to drop.

He proceeded to tell me about his experience with the water-loving kitten, Prissy. He had gone into the bathroom to relieve himself...ahem...okay, he had to pee, and being the "guy!" that he is, he didn't close the door. He said he had just started when he heard her coming down the hall at a dead run. He said she leapt full throttle, all four legs spread out like a cartoon cat into the toilet bowl...he was still peeing folks, guys generally can't stop once they start, consequently, he was peeing on the cat. But, having the super powers of an Imperial Cat, she levitated out of the toilet bowl and took off running though the house. Tutt explained that by the time he was able to "pull himself together" and get after her, she had managed to run across every piece of furniture in the house.

At this point my friends, I was hopelessly gasping for air on the floor of my kitchen as I was laughing so hard. Tutt was not amused...

He said, " I just dried her off with a towel. I didn't wash her off, I just dried her off. But I didn't kill her. She's kind of cute and she sort of grows on you."

                                                   How could you not love this cat?

So, in spite of himself and years of cat loathing...Tutt has become a subject of the Imperial Cat.