A couple of years ago one of the secretaries at work asked me, because she knew I like cats, whether I'd be interested in adopting a kitten from a woman who had rescued an abandoned cat and her three kittens.
The woman brought all them for me to see, all the way from Front Royal. They were not really old enough to adopt, in my opinion, but the three orange babies were so cute that I kept them all, including the mama.
Mama cat is named Mystery because every time I looked at her face, I got the feeling that I knew just the name for her but I got that tip of the tongue thing, and finally just gave up and said it's a mystery. I still have that feeling when I look at her, like I know her name but just can't think of it.
Mystery is the most mighty huntress I've ever had, and I've had quite a few cats. A couple of nights ago she left a very large crow on my front steps, bigger than she is. She comes in to eat and goes back outside again.
Arthur and William are Frick and Frack. They hunt together as a mini-pack, and they sleep rolled up together.
Mama cat hunts all by herself. She won't have anything to do with the kittens now, although she was an excellent mother, and nursed them all until they were almost as big as she is.
Kiwi is The Baby. She was in an accident when she was half grown, and was in a cast for a couple of months and got fat and never learned to hunt, so I made her an indoor cat, but I do let her out for a little while during the day so she can eat grass and bask in the sun. She sleeps at the foot of my bed. I brush her fur every day, and it's very soft. She isn't very good at jumping so sometimes I have to pick her up if she wants to get on, say, the window sill. Otherwise she tries to jump, and hangs, dangling, by her front paws, scratching with her back paws, and looks silly.
Kiwi likes to play with the dead animals that the others leave as presents on the steps, but this is the first time she's caught her own prey. Although I suspect that Arthur caught it and she took it away from him. He was sitting with her when I first saw her, and came in when I opened the door.
That might be why he wouldn't go back out, he was waiting for her to finish. |
