Let me share a little something that is, however crazy, at least true in the way I look at the universe. Jane and I have always said that our kittehs’ having nine lives—and I’m sure doggies have something the same—is their way of keeping up with our long human lifespan. And when a kitteh is getting ready to leave us, somewhere a kitten or cat or other four-foot is getting an extra life, not maybe apparent, but so there, one will.<\/p>\n
So when Efanor left us, I showed Jane pix of black kittens I’d found on the interwebs, and most were meh, nice, but—<\/p>\n
Then one litter of them just reached out and grabbed her. She looked at two of three. We were and we weren’t going to get one of them, maybe—then not: they’d been promised—and finally got an offer of the third, the youngest; and Jane confessed of the three, that one—that one, that little face in the background was the one she kept thinking of. So we had to pass muster with, I think, the whole extended family of the people that had the kittens; and we agreed, and they agreed, and we drove 50 miles up north. Jane picked up the kitten in question and it was just instant—she wasn’t turning loose of him. Eushu settled in Jane’s lap on the return drive and stayed there, all during a 50 mile drive home, and never cried, which was very odd for such a tiny kitten. His mannerisms are sometimes like Efanor, but oh, now and again he resonates with that Prince of Cats, Elrond, that Jane lost in OKC. So we’re sure we nabbed a couple of spare lives that so needed to come home.<\/p>\n
I nearly lost Ysabel this summer, too; and she’s had her off and on crises—dangerous, since Eushu was such a handful—he’d hit her like a ton of furry bricks, all good will, but hard.<\/p>\n
To protect Ysabel from Demonkitten, we decided we needed a second kitten. We planned on it. I looked. And then I saw Seishi’s picture on the internet, and I couldn’t stop looking at it. I read the body language in that photo, and I just was hooked. An adult cat. I’d never planned on an adult, let alone an adult tomcat. We went to get him, with Shu in tow, to see if they could possibly get along, because oh, I wanted him. Seishi was a whole year old, and a little more. But strong enough to stand up to Shu’s rowdy antics. To our relief, that part worked. They love each other. And Ysabel gets to have her naps secure in the knowledge she won’t be landed on.<\/p>\n
But the spooky part. I’m getting to that. When I got Ysabel, it was because I’d lost my dear old Khym, who passed somewhat before Elrond; and Khym was so special, had such special ways of communicating with me, I declared I wouldn’t get another Persian. I couldn’t. I’d get a little boy kitteh as different as possible, a Siamese, and start over.<\/p>\n
Well—I got Ysabel instead—quite by accident. The kitten I’d agreed to buy had gotten sold, right before I arrived to pick him up, and at this point I so needed a kitten, in the worst way. So I took a female I hadn’t planned on, who turned out to have allergies and every strike against her.<\/p>\n
Except two. She had me. And Jane. And she was our kitten, our odd little we-don’t-know-how-we-got-her kitten, Who reminds me most of my streetwise Tabby, who was the kitty that started all my kittehs, when I was about 6—independent. Self-willed. I had no idea what her name was. <\/p>\n
But on the way home in the car, with this Siamese kitten, who was blond and stripeless, she informed me her name was Ysabel. Had always been Ysabel. With a Y. No reason. No figuring. Peaches, Queen of the Universe, was back. And I have loved her every step of the way, and she does remind me most of long-lost Tabby. She brought up Efanor. She lost him, and nearly pined away. And then, poor old dear, she took on Eushu, tried to teach him manners—and needed help with him.<\/p>\n
Well, so we got Seishi. He was shy. A little standoffish. But the hour I got him to trust me, he couldn’t contain himself, just wanting to be held. And I realized suddenly what I’d seen in that photo, in those huge gold eyes. That was Khym’s look. That was absolutely Khym’s look, the one I thought I’d never find the like of again.<\/p>\n
I still have Ysabel, thank goodness. I’m lucky. She’s taking care of the household and keeping the boys in line, being the matriarch, She Who Must Be Obeyed. But every morning, once I’ve given Her Furry Grace her brushing, and her kibble, and her fresh water, and her respect as head of household, here’s Sei, sweet and shy, and so wanting to head-butt and be held and petted for a little while, not in Ysabel’s Chair, but in the one I work in.<\/p>\n
I think they find us. I don’t know where Sei got his extra life, or if he was born with it. I’m not a superstitious sort, but that’s my Halloween cat story, for October, and that’s what I’ll say about Seishi. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Let me share a little something that is, however crazy, at least true in the way I look at the universe. Jane and I have always said that our kittehs’ having nine lives—and I’m sure doggies have something the same—is their way of keeping up with our long human lifespan. And when a kitteh is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":751,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cherryh.com\/WaveWithoutAShore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cherryh.com\/WaveWithoutAShore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cherryh.com\/WaveWithoutAShore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cherryh.com\/WaveWithoutAShore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/751"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cherryh.com\/WaveWithoutAShore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cherryh.com\/WaveWithoutAShore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cherryh.com\/WaveWithoutAShore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cherryh.com\/WaveWithoutAShore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cherryh.com\/WaveWithoutAShore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}