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. .About 11 PM on the coldest night of December 1995 with winds of -40 while I was checking one of my vacant apartments for frozen pipes, I heard what sounded like a baby crying outside in the gangway. I went outside with my 4 cell flashlight and traced the sound coming from a large hole in a broken sidewalk. While shining the bright light deep into the hole a spooky black cat stared back at me with his 2 big K-9 teeth overlapping his lips like it was Halloween.
He was obviously starving and freezing so I called the cat and without much hesitation he came out arching his back looking exactly like a Zeller Schwartz wine label. I carried him around my apartment building knocking on doors trying to get one of my tenants to take him in. I even talked to some people walking down the street but no luck.
Nobody wanted a big adult black, skinny, shivering kitty, so I brought him home and I listened to the cat frantically telling his tale of woe for hours in between wolfing down an amazing amount of food and water. He weighed less than 6 pounds and resembled one of my angel fish.
Showing how grateful he was, and since he really looked like a Halloween cat, I named him Spooky because of the way we met and his 2 longer than usual K-9 teeth. I knew I couldn't keep him because I never had a cat before and I didn't know what would be involved keeping him. So the next morning I brought Spooky down to The Anti-Cruelty Shelter on Lasalle Street. When they took him out of the pet taxi and felt how thin he was they told me "not to get your hopes up about this one." So I made a nice donation and came home figuring that I would forget about it. As each day went by I kept wondering how he was doing, so I called to check on my feline friend.
They reported he had no diseases and for a starving cat with no reserves he was doing quite well and would be put up for adoption as soon as he got a little stronger. It became obvious to me that if he survived all he had been through, he deserved to be a fat cat. I went back to visit and when he saw me he assured me that if he had a good home he would be the best cat I had ever had.
Since I had never had a cat before, I figured that wouldn't be a very hard promise for him to keep, so we left together. Spooky did quite well and adapted nicely to my long boating departures eating plenty of food from his automatic feeder. I make sure he had plenty of food to survive at home during my summer adventures. When I would come home he always had a tale to tell about the long frustrating days by the fish aquarium watching what he seemed to call the "flying mice's" that were impossible to catch. We celebrated our first Halloween together and that black cat would hide and even scared me on that Halloween!
I never thought that I would be a cat person, but I looked forward to 2 decades together with the little guy. (Cats live about twice as long as dogs and besides, he still had 8 lives left). His weight quickly went over 13 pounds and didn't miss a meal the entire time I knew him. I wanted him to live so long that I started giving him a tiny-tiny pinch of garlic with his food because I believe garlic will actually extends any ones life.
I thought he needed another friend when I was away boating so I got another kitty to be a buddy for Spooky. He's a little Scottish Fold breed with cute little ears that fold over like a puppy and his name is "Lit'l Petey".
They ran through the house and took care of each other until they ran out of steam, then they would come to sleep with me.....I said "that is it" on adoptions of cats because I am not going to become a "cat collector." Both Spooky and Petey had been 4 paw declaws and the only way I would consider another cat in this "pride" is if another beautiful 4 paw declaw showed up on my doorstep.
Well.......you guessed it, in August of 1998 a beautiful Siamese with crossed blue eyes showed up on my back porch which happened to be a 4 paw declaw. (I always keep dry food and water out there for the traveling unfortunate little guys). The only problem with the Siamese was that she was very pregnant. So I was really hoping that she wasn't a stray at all, but just an irresponsible pet owner letting the cat run loose in the city. So I put a collar on her with a tag that explained "I think I'm a stray but not too sure. If you own me please call Bill (and I put my phone number) because he is feeding me and is very concerned about me. Then I would send her on her way each night after a free meal.
Well nobody called for 2 weeks and after running an ad to locate the owner in the neighborhood newspaper, checking for a ID computer chip, asking around and putting up "found cat " signs I gave up and declared the cat mine and took charge. The Anti-Cruelty terminated the pregnancy, spayed her and implanted a computer chip with my name and address as the owner. Now I was a proud 3 cat owner, and I really meant it this time-No more cats!
My little cross-eyed Siamese snores and sleeps with me. I decided to name her Gretta-Gretta (A quote from the Little Feat song "Representing the Mambo").
Everybody was doing great until the first week of January 2001 when I went on vacation for only one week. Spooky had a urinary blockage apparently just before I left which I didn't recognize because he was eating so well and showing no signs of distress. The old lady house sitter feeding the cats while I was gone assumed that Spooky was just hiding when he quit showing up for his meals.
When I got home a week later I found him curled up in his favorite place and had died a few days earlier. Obviously I was devastated that he surely must have suffered during his short illness and I wasn't there to help him.
I looked for another cat in the honor of Spooky but realized that he cannot be replaced and calling another cat "Spooky" would not make much sense either. If another cat finds his way to me as Spooky did then I will consider admitting him to the "pride", but Petey and Gretta-Gretta feel in balance to me and are closer than ever. They didn't even start purring again until a week and a half after Spooky left us. We all grieved together. A week before he died he had caught his first mouse and brought it to me. He was so proud that he caught it without any claws and I praised him.
I feel that animals don't have to benefit all of us in any way to justify their right to life-- Even though they do benefit people by (among other things), and have a healing effect by increasing a humans life span. Besides, I want to be the person my cats think I am..
He was cremated on January 11, 2001 with the inscription:
I've traveled the pathway before you
I've made you Lord of my day
But now that I've gone on before you
It's only to show you the way
Keeping his ashes nearby somehow make me feel better knowing that he has come home again after his journey. He made the world a better place with his purrs and paw prints. Now my household memorabilia contains Muddy Waters recordings and a small container of black cat bones with an inscription and picture that sits on top of my "kitty bar".
Spooky weathered the storms into a lavish life and on to an exclusive one. We love him and will miss him. .
There will be no heaven unless Spooky is there to welcome me.
"The Greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated"...A quote from Gandhi. .......
