That Yellow Cat

What can I say?  I love him.  Stupid yellow cat.

As far as I know he's only had three homes.  You know, places he's lived.

The first one I know of was the parking lot outside J. C. Penney at Arbor Place mall.   He was a tiny little thing covered in dusty, greasy, parking lot remnants.  The little bit of fur between his paws was matted together.  His yellow color was masked by a coating of that same parking lot dust.  Oh, and he had this huge oil spot on his right side.

It was July.  Remember, we live in the sunny south and July is hot, hot, hot and humid.  Kitty, not the yellow cat, and I went to exchange some items we'd bought earlier in the week.   It was all her fault that we found him. She chose that particular parking spot.

The sunlight beat down on the asphalt parking lot.  Heat bounced like a ball upward away from the pavement.  Leaving the comfort of our air conditioned car we saw a little blur.  It was scampering toward a family that was leaving the mall.  It trotted toward them and gave a tiny 'meow'.  Kitty's immediately response was, "Mommy!"  I shook my head knowing we would take this kitten home with us.  Quickly I gave her instructions to catch the kitten and wait in the car.  Be sure to turn on the air conditioning so you two won't melt while waiting.  Kitty and I took turns sitting in the car with our new pet, air conditioning blowing on high and the coldest setting.  I'm sure the yellow kitten thought this was a great improvement over the hot parking lot.

Jake, the master of the house, was lounging on the sofa taking his Sunday afternoon nap.  I was so hopeful that we could sneak this small, scared, flea infested kitten into the house undetected.    Jake lifted his head and demanded, "WHAT IS THAT?"   I answered in a calm, soothing sweet tone, "It's a kitten. He was in the mall parking lot. We're only going to keep him until we can find him a good home."  This was a lie.    The master of the house bellowed back at me; "I want that cat gone by Monday."

We took him downstairs where all 5, yes, 5 children gathered as he got a bath in the sink.  The bath revealed a pretty yellow kitten, big blob of oil and all.

Fast forward seven years later.  We've moved from that house to another.  And you know we moved that yellow cat as well.  He is king of the castle coming and going as he pleases.  He is a great warrior in the fight against keeping the ground squirrel population under control.   He prowls and protects our yard.  He greets us at the car when we come home.  He thinks he's part dog.  He's a nosy neighbor watching from the inside out twitching his tail as he dreams of catching one of those pesky gray squirrels.

Chico is a small handicapped dog that lives next door.  He has a wheelchair for his back legs. (You can't make this stuff up.) Yellow cat loves to lounge around in view of  Chico for pure aggravation.  He is also a sneaky brat.  A couple of weeks ago we had a dark and stormy night.  I couldn't find him anywhere.  I wanted him safe, warm and dry inside.  I called and called.  He never came.  So I just prayed for his safety.  Yes, I prayed for a cat to be safe. I  found him the next morning in the downstairs closet.  He was warm safe and dry and asleep in the house. My prayer was answered.  All that worry for nothing.  Still, I love that yellow cat.

So, our cat that was supposed to be "gone" by Monday is mostly referred to as Gone.  But he isn't. 

Just Bebe

And let's dedicate this today to Jan who loved hearing my yellow cat and dog stories.  She is resting in Heaven today.