We work with cats on the computer and they sleep on the furniture and sometimes with the guests. They are admired for their grace, beauty and absolute conviction that everything should revolve around their immediate needs. Pres was the cat that came in from the cold. As a young tom, he wandered into the neighbor's yard and lived outside in their tack shed. When they had to move to the coast, there was nowhere for Pres to go, so we began the task of moving him to our barn. We kept him in a covered dog run until we thought he'd stick around. He lived in the barn and Darryl 'tamed' him so that he would put up with us being around him. At the time, we still believed in inside cats going outside (bad idea) so the window to the porch was always open. After spending an entire winter alone in our barn, at Easter time he made his move. I came home from school to find this huge lump of a cat sitting in the porch with three very bewildered cats surrounding him.
He never went out again. He was Mr. Mom to the tiny barn kittens Deb & I snatched up from the barn and continued to champion their cause for ten years. He would bunt our hands and arms with his head to ask us to scratch his head over and over and over. He was the king of cats but as gentle as could be. He followed me everywhere. He was famous for his wondrous ability to ask, "What now?"
More importantly, he was MY CAT and that made him even more special than all the other cats. I went to sleep every night to the sound of his purring. I will not have another cat. It is far to hard to part with them. They leave their footprints on our hearts.
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