@^@ Flops
My family is a pretty busy one.
We live in the middle of an orange grove, where we still see the
occasional fox, wild hog, turkey, quail, and feed a myriad of wild birds,
including the notorious scrub jays, who fear no humans. But we had no dogs
or cats, or any desire to have one.
About three years ago, my mother suffered a terrible accident. She was in
a coma, and I spent a lot of time going back and forth to North Carolina.
When she finally improved enough to leave the hospital and then rehab, we
made the decision to bring her to live with us. Mom was in pretty bad
shape at first, not able to walk or sit up by herself, and required
nursing care and therapy often. We adjusted to accommodate, and life went
on. Working, running to doctors, taking care of the house, meals, soccer,
homework, teaching at night, helping my husband's mother and her mother,
were all part of our hectic lifestyle.
An elderly man nearby was removed to a nursing home, and his son came and
cleaned out his trailer and put it up for sale. No one knew about his cat,
until my mother and I found the poor battered thing begging one evening.
Her eye was infected and she was doomed to lose it. She looked like she'd
been sliced and diced, and had obviously been in one doozy of a catfight.
Knowing that my husband would not be happy about taking in a stray cat, we
wrapped her in an old towel, and gently cleaned her wounds. She was a
pretty little thing, a calico, and purred contentedly when we'd fix her
little tidbits to nurse her back to health.
She looked for us in the yard, and would simply flop over on her side when
she saw us. She'd then put on a terrific show, rolling on her back,
stretching, and showing us how happy she was to see us. We began holding
her in our lap in the yard, and she grew more adventurous about coming
inside. Once in the house, she established her domain on a blanket on the
couch in the middle of all the comings and goings.
I was right, my husband was not pleased.
But he tolerated her, and even our teenage son would poke at her as he
walked by. Mom was absorbed with her, and would fill me in constantly on
what "Flops" had been up to.
More and more often she'd be at the back door, then inside, and she is now
the cat that we don't have . Well, Mom and I think we have a cat, but my
husband will be very quick to correct us. She is a quiet cat who appears
instantly when I sit down to curl up in my lap. If she doesn't want us to
read the paper, we don't. She's a master at manipulating you into stroking
her head, and sometimes mews pathetically while sitting in the kitchen to
remind us that her food dish is empty. She prefers drinking water out of
the tap, which must be something her previous owner taught her. She
absolutely refuses to use kitty litter, even during the last three
hurricane scares, and insists on going outside.
Flops finally ventured into my husband's lap one evening, and he ordered
her to just lay down and be still, and she did, he's been seen scratching
her ears and making the same nonsensical little comments that we all seem
to do to animals. But we act like we don't hear him -- and sit back and
enjoy their bonding!
But the big change has been in Mom. Since she's alone a lot during the
day, Flops is there to snooze with her, be scratched through Oprah or the
game shows, and keep Mom hopping to get a drink of water when she needs
it. We think of her as a gift, with therapeutic powers. I've watched Mom
go from struggling to stand up by herself to race Flops to the bathroom
sink, and to be sitting outside waiting for me when I get home, holding
our little nearly blind guest in her lap, both totally contented.
There is certainly a special magic in animals that touches us deeply. I
suppose a great deal of it is the basic friendship they offer, without
ever arguing, talking back, or making demands. They don't ask much, and
when full-bellied and ready to rest reward us with such purrfect noises!
-- Wanita Bates
Ninure Saunders aka Rainbow Christian
http://Rainbow-Christian.tk
The Lord is my Shepherd and He knows I'm Gay
http://Ninure-Saunders.tk
My Polling Place
http://ninure.100megsfree5.com
My Yahoo Group
http://Ninure.tk
My Online Diary
http://www.ninure.deardiary.net
-
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches
http://www.MCCchurch.org
To send e-mail, remove nohate from address
.
|
