I was sitting in my space on the top row, looking out at a couple kittens in large cages on the floor, when I heard Wendy’s voice. She’s the shelter director and she had kind of taken a shine to me.
She was walking ahead of a tall guy. He was very pleasant looking. She was saying something about ears healing. I’d been in a couple scrapes in my young life and in one of them my right ear was torn. Cats don’t use mirrors, so it wasn’t a big deal to me.
Wendy opened my cage and the tall guy was right there. I needed a stretch anyway, so I figured I’d take a walk. So, what the heck, I stood up and walked out of the cage, onto the tall guy’s shoulders. He seemed cool with it. I did a nice pivot, gave his head a good brush and sauntered back into the cage.
I think he was just a bit surprised. Wendy though, knew I was a charmer…I’d already charmed her and most of the women in the place. Just takes a few good manners and a little respect. It doesn’t hurt if you’re furry and have a nice face.
Anyway, after I returned to my cage and turned to look at the guy, I felt a real connection. He was looking at me in a way. It is hard to explain, but I think he saw something. Perhaps he recognized a fellow wordsmith. He asked for my name, I think…I felt a little lift, a bit of a flutter. But, you can’t get your hopes up.
A couple of days later a woman walked in. She saw the little furry guy two rows below me first…one of the kittens that came in with me. He had been pretty worried about the whole ordeal and had asked me some advice the night before about looking at the people who came to look at him. What could he do, he asked, to stick out from the crowd?
I liked the furry little guy. He was black like me. So I figured it wouldn’t hurt to teach him the head tilt. You look deep into the eyes of your potential admirer, cock your head firmly but ever so slightly to one side and give a plaintive little mrrrw. Works every time.
The kid was a natural, he was devastating…I regretted teaching him the move immediately. Then again, how could I begrudge him a good move? It’s like a book idea…you can tell someone your idea and they might use it…but they’ll never execute it quite the way you will.
So this woman, she’s totally sucked into the kitten. But somehow – perhaps she realizes he has nothing yet to follow up with – she looks away from him. Our eyes meet. It was nice, really nice. I liked her. She was interested in me. We just looked at each other a bit.
She went away. She came back. Next thing, the door to my space is open and we’re talking. We spend some quality time together on the floor. But, after a time, she leaves. I can’t quite shake the memory of her.
Time passes. I don’t think it was more than a couple bowls of food later. Here they come in together her and the tall guy! Wow. The door is open and suddenly I smell the glorious smell of catnip. Fresh, organic catnip…laced with a scent I could only describe at the moment as stripey girl cat smell. (Oh, yeah, cats can smell color.) It is a furry mouse. I can’t help myself…it’s all licking and rubbing and purring. They are nice. We talk…
Then they go again, but they leave the mouse. It was rugged.
But one short bowl of food later, there she is. She’s picking me up. We’re signing papers together, taking vows to care for each other. She’s paying my bill for me. Into a nice carrier and then into a very nice black Volvo with a big purring engine and very nice suede seats (I made a mental note to remember to mark these later…didn’t want to get possessive right out of the box.)
Right at that moment, I could have done without the trip to the vet…but, in retrospect, it was the right thing to do.
Then I went home…which is not so much any one place but a set of emotions and relationships that are fulfilling. I owe a lot to the good folks at the Sauk County Humane Society but, I love my home.
As soon as we had some quiet time that evening, I did the head tilt move. I guess it worked.
