« Previous | Main | Next »

Sole Survivor

September 30, 2005

ph_sep_olysy3.jpg
Meet Olympus, my sole survivor kitten. Oly, who is named after the camera company, not the mountain, is Mrs. Watson's daughter ~ Mrs. Watson, being my purrfectly wonderful feline who passed away a month ago due to liver failure.

Over the past 12 years, between me and an ex-boyfriend, I've owned 5 cats. At one point, we had them all in the same house, which was NUTS! NUTS! I tell you! My ex and I pondered at one point which one would live the longest. No doubt, we pondered such a thing when we had ALL FIVE CATS TOGETHER IN THE CONDO AT ONCE and were ready to lose our minds ~ it was a short conversation that went like this ~

ME: "Jose! We have TOO MANY CATS in this house! Can't we give one or two away?"

JOSE: "How could I pick one to give away? They're all so special."

ME: "Well, we can't give Mrs. Watson away, she's the best. Ummm... how about one of your cats?"

JOSE: "Not Mr. Pooh Bear, he's too cute."

ME: "Not Arbus, she's too smart"

JOSE: "Why don't we just wait until one dies?"

ME: "Okay... good idea, we'll wait till they all die."

Which led to a macabre discussion of which cat would die first, second third, fourth and fifth... and by god, wouldn't you know, our predictions came true? Sometimes, I wonder if we didn't put a hex on them all that day... or... if the power of our thoughts are just that powerful. Maybe we were psychic, I don't know... all I know is they died in the predicted order, which I find to be totally wiggy.

Oddly enough, Olympus seems to be LOVING her Sole Survivor status. She missed her mother terribly for the first few days. There was a lot of frightened meowing and howling for the first day ~ but she's completely adapted and is so much the better for it.

You see, Olympus has spent most of her 13 years of life hiding in the closet. I've often referred to her as my lesbian daughter ~ she hid in there so much. No matter how much I tried to coax her out of her shell, she continued to be shy and mistrusting. I guess it's just her way. I adopted Mrs. Watson and her two baby kittens 13 years ago, and she's been hunkering down in closets ever since. Maybe this is part of the reason I figured she'd live the longest ~ she was so intent on protecting her remaining 8 lives, refusing to take any risks.

So here we are, me and my inside-the-closet cat, only she's out-of-the-closet now. Who the heck woulda thunk? She sleeps with me, and jumps on my lap! My goodness, she's borderline CHUMMY! My little girl has blossomed. Funny how that happens when you come out of the closet and into the real live world. You gotta take risks if you expect to blossom.

So my newest quest is to take pictures of a cat I've never been able to get a good picture of. She's still skittish, but at least she doesn't run out of the room like she's seen a ghost when I pull out the camera. One of these days, I'll get one that's in focus!

ph_sep_olyshy1.jpg
A Blur of Purr.

Posted by vincent at September 30, 2005 09:24 AM

Comments

"A Blur of Purr." How fitting for a cat who won't sit still for the camera...

Posted by: dan at September 30, 2005 11:06 AM

Some cats just don't shine unless and until they are the ONLY cat. Saggar is the same. She never spoke until she became the only cat. Now we can't keep her quiet.

Posted by: joy at September 30, 2005 01:21 PM