It has been a great pleasure for me to have known so many cats throughout my life, beginning when I was just a small child.
There was Paganini, a black and white tuxedo cat my dad brought home to our houseboat one day. I still remember the smarting pain that rose when he scratched my hand to ward off my fervent advances just to touch him.
Years later, there was Max, or Maxwell, as my mom used to call him. What I remember most about Max was his alabaster mane, that appeared to hem in his head like a halo.
When we teenagers my mom took my brother and I to the Humane Society to pick out a kitten, a fluffy tabby we named Pierre. I remember Pierre very well. We were very close, and I missed him a lot when I moved out of my dad’s house to find a place of my own and attend college. Even when I became a so-called adult, Pierre and I still enjoyed chasing each other, his claws clicking, then sliding and
scratching at the wood floor at the end of the hallway to make the sharp turn into our dining room. I still miss him.
These days, my partner, S., and I are close friends with a long-haired tabby we call Captain. He stays at a hotel across the way from us, near the hotel’s pool. That is where we saw him for the first time, along with his brother, Gill, and his mom, Skip, about five years ago. One day Gill and Skip followed us back to our home, a 36-foot sailboat. They came and went as they pleased, back and forth along the long narrow docks and through a parking lot between our boat and the hotel.
Captain, a very sweet, very cautious tomcat never ventures far from the hotel’s pool area. Every morning and evening, rain or shine, S. and I come to see him. First, I brush his long silky coat, then S. sits on the grass and pets him while he eats, and I shake out the hair and debris from his bed inside his “house”, a little wooden shelter our neighbor constructed recently, right before the heavy rain started last year. Then I put a hand-warmer or two under the blanket on his bed and pour fresh water in his big water bowl. Captain insists on having these cat duties completed in this order. If not, watch out! S. and I would love it if he came with us back to the boat, but he won’t- and I don’t blame him one bit.
I often take care of our neighbors’ cats and dogs in the marina when they leave town. They have been here their whole lives, and it is home for them. Captain’s home is on land, and I take comfort in knowing that he’s nearby and we can come over and see him anytime.
It is my sincerest wish that all people experience the great pleasure that comes from knowing cats and taking care of them. The world would be a better place.
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