Friday, December 31, 2004

Sophie.

Sophie was a small cat. Mom told me that when she and Sophie met she thought Sophie was a little baby she was so small.

This was in Providence, right after a move from Wilmington, NC. When Mom and Eddie were moving into their new apartment, this little gray tiger cat with white feet came bounding over and announced, "My name is Sophie. I live in the neighborhood. Do you have any kids I can play with?"

Mom said, "Well, I have a little boy, Eddie, but he doesn't go out."

And Sophie said, "Well, maybe I can come in some time."

Every day Sophie would come over to visit. This went on for ages. Mom learned that Sophie was really homeless, and that the girls in the house next door would feed her occasionally. (They called her "Baby," probably because she was so small, but that wasn't her true and secret name.) Sophie would supplement her diet with whatever she could hunt down, and she always let Mom know how well she'd done in her endeavors by calling to her from the alley next to the house until she came to the window to heap praise.

When the girls next door moved, Mom took over feeding duties. Sophie expanded her visits to sit outside the window where Eddie usually kept watch, and the two of them chatted through the glass. Mom wanted to take Sophie in but couldn't until she could take her to the vet, and the Cat Trust was almost dry after the move up the coast and only sporadic and interim temp jobs.

Then Mom landed a permanent job and all things cat related began to flow again. Sophie was able to come in at last! Except for being underweight and having some fleas, she was in good health as far as the usual problems go. No one could tell her exact age, though, and no one could know how long she'd been out on her own eating birds and who knows what and drinking from puddles of rain or worse. But she was so happy to have a real home that she repaid her gratitude with nothing but love and purrs. Mom said she was just the sweetest little cat ever.

Eventually Mom and the kids moved back to the southwest. In November 2002, six years after she joined the family, Sophie was diagnosed with chronic renal failure. I guess there are several causes for this, but it was probably due to that time of unknowns when she was out on her own.

It was about seven months after that when I came into the family. I was surprised to find her littler than me when I was only a tiny boy myself! She wouldn't play with me, though–she'd just stop and not move, which was no fun at all. I don't think her illness had much to do with it–her medications kept that pretty much under control for a long time. I think she was just too refined to play with reckless abandon like I did. And she spoke in a different language, too. She used short staccato chirps to communicate, and my only word at the time was "WEEEEEEeeee."

But this is her story.

When I was really really really really little, sparrows raised me. That's why I chirp but don't speak cat very well. But how this happened was that there was a windstorm one day and I saw all these baby birds falling out of a nest. The mom sparrow flew down and gathered all her babies and me, too, because I was about the same color and size, and right there with them! She couldn't tell I didn't have real wings because her babies were too young to have much to show either, so we looked pretty much the same to her and she was just relieved to have her family back. Anyway, when my sparrow brothers and sisters got bigger, my sparrow mom began to teach them to fly. I couldn't fly because I didn't have wings. That's when she realized I wasn't one of her babies after all. I had to leave because even though I was raised as a sparrow, I was still a cat. And cats eat sparrows, after all. So that's when I gave up being a sparrow and trying to fly. I started looking for my real home and my true mom and finally I found both.

When she could no longer fight her illness, Sophie grew her wings at last and flew away into her tenth life, one year ago, December 31, 2003.


Sophie napping Posted by Hello


Sophie Posted by Hello

We miss you.

Thursday, December 30, 2004

One Reason Why I’m Known as WMD.

Eventually we all sense the danger of toilet paper. I was just a baby when I bravely dispatched this roll and saved us all from unspeakable doom. I haven’t seen a roll since!


Get that tp! Posted by Hello


Almost! Posted by Hello


Eddie.

This is my big brother Eddie. Mom sometimes calls him “Little Boy” so I guess that’s really why I’ll always be “Tiny Boy” to her. Even though he’s bigger, I weigh almost as much, so we’re pretty even when we roughhouse like boys.


Eddie Posted by Hello

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

How I got here.

A long time ago, when I really *was* a tiny boy (July 2003), my original cat family was all but abandoned by mean, mean, MEAN people, and by mean3 I mean irresponsible, spiritually ugly and evil-doing people who should be banned from any contact with animals at all, especially taking in animals, or pretending to. (OK, that's what my female companion human means by mean3.) My biological mother (who was pregnant), sister and I were left to fend for ourselves in 100°-plus heat. I hid in the trees while my mother and sister took up residence under a car. Can you imagine!

Well, it was just awful. And scary, too. Luckily for us, two kindly and very cat-friendly neighbors who noticed us began to first put out water, then food. They visited with us and played with us. Then, after about a week, they hatched a plan to rescue us.


My mother Posted by Hello

My little sister Posted by Hello

My sister was taken in by one lady, had a health check and was spayed. She found a new home within only a few weeks!

A few days later, after we came out of deep hiding (we didn't know what to think with my sister having gone seemingly missing), Mom and I were taken in by the other. We went to the vet too to make sure we were OK (that wasn't very fun, but everybody there thought I was just so so CUTE, which I guess made up for all the poking and prodding and needles!). Although this lady had arranged for a rescue group to take us, we stayed with her for a long time because of Mom's delicate condition. We wound up staying so long in this new place that we both let her know our true and secret names! My mom's is Isabelle, and of course mine is William.


We are safe in this place Posted by Hello

We like the view Posted by Hello

This lady already had two kids, Eddie and Sophie. At first they were not very happy to have us around even though we had a room of our own. Eventually we had supervised visits with one another in the evenings but they were still less than thrilled with having alien kids in the house. I think the rescue group was ready to take me sooner than Isabelle but I was already really working on growing on my new mom, territorial posturing from the residents aside!

Isabelle eventually had her babies, three in all. (I was glad she finally did, because toward the end she had turned into a very big troll with the extra girth and the heat and all, and she was definitely not fun to play with.) But also, when that happened, I was allowed to have the run of the place with the finally-tolerant Eddie and Sophie while she got to tend to her new babies in peace. Seven cats with all of us! Finally, on August 31, Isabelle and her babies went into foster care to prepare for their eventual new homes.


I share a hug with Isabelle while her new babies feed (this is my favorite picture of us) Posted by Hello

And me, the tiny boy, I got to stay in my new home with my new mom, brother and sister!

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

WMD


Me. (And Olivia.)Posted by Hello

My name is William.

I'm also known as William of Mass Destruction, or WMD for short. My mom still calls me TB William sometimes, for "Tiny Boy William," even though I'm so not "T" any more. I'll be 2 next April!

I'm Eddie's little brother (he's 14). We have a little sister, Olivia, who's about 8 months. We live with our mom. She has thumbs.