A few paragraphs on the lengthy history of two once-abandoned cats.

Spotos and Tiger were two prematurely weaned and starving--and soon to be lucky--animals when our family found them in autumn; in a local park; 21 yrs ago. They were given names that logically branded them as apt as "Red" or "Slim." Of course, being that our family's Dysfunctionality Index hovers around 7.8, Spotos would come to be known as Sasha to all except me. Sasha. What does that convey? The way she walked? No, she moved like any other feline; might as well have called her Strayos. Why not? It sounds like Stavros and that's legitimate. Anyway, Spotos settled down with us and Tiger went to live on the first floor with my in-laws (that reminds me, I got to pick up a costume).  There, Tiger stayed with no contact from Spotos. If they knew of each other's existence they kept it to themselves.

Now, Spotos had a relationship of mutual respect with our Jack Russell (ground rules were those of the top cat and they were set day 1).  Tiger, on the other hand, would recoil in horror at just the thought of seeing the dog. However, life is changing and fleeting. Towards the end, the dog would come to enjoy napping close to Spotos, the now ancient cat who was no longer desirous of apartheid. After dying in her sleep, she was interred with as much fanfare as possible without attracting any neighbors--I played Chopin's "Funeral March" as my daughter found that there were higher levels of embarrassment that could emanate from dear old Dad.

Tiger too towards the end, stopped his aversion to our dog and would walk in front of him as if the dog had gone into another dimension. The strangest thing that's very personal to me is that Tiger, after 20 years, decided to visit me towards the end of his life. I've heard it said once that near the end of life, many regress to childhood behavior. Had old olfactory kitten-hood memories kicked in to direct him to the human that adopted him and filled his newborn belly with God-knows-what-it-was I concocted. Or, there's another explanation; one that a priest or cat-whisperer medium might give me: Tiger was playing peacemaker by trying to bring me closer to my in-laws from whom I've kept my distance a while.

Tomorrow might shed some light on the latter as I've been delegated to bury Tiger next to Spotos on top of the hill where the dog is himself too old to climb the hill and go digging up bones.