A wonderful cat has come to live with us!
Yesterday I was hanging out on Facebook when I got a message from this guy named Ben who used to be Lesley's boyfriend five, almost six years ago. We're Facebook friends, but we don't chat much. I don't know him very well but have always thought he was a good guy with a nice heart. We met less than five times probably, but if he went to IUS instead of U of L, I like to think we'd have been friends. One night we went on a double date to see A Clockwork Orange at a midnight showing. I thought my Ben was going to propse after seeing his plans on here, so I got drunk to convince him to hold off and steady my nerves to do it. Ben with the cat was drunk too, stumbling at the movie and landing on the ground once, but it was all good.
Anyway, in his message he told me he was trying to rehome two of his cats, since his wife has previous rescue affiliations and a soft heart. they were trying to downgrade from six cats to four, and they were afraid he'd get out and ran over by their house on teh busy highway. I checked out a picture of this cat, a slightly overweight 2-year-old male named Duke and fell in love. They had found him as a stray in aparking lot and gave him a second chance and got him neutered, much like how we got to know Jasmine when she was a stray in the neighborhood. We set up a meeting for 8:00 yesterday evening at the Falls of Ohio, since I hate driving in Louisville and would have to brave the expressways and probably get lost to get there, and this point was midway and quiet enough not to freak Duke out and to find each other's vehicles in the lot. This worked out pretty well. It was already 6:00, and close to 6:30 when Avery and her mom got Autumn to come swimming, and I got some basic cat care items from the Family Dollar store before heading over to the farm.
When I was picking up a cage for transport from the farm, a creepy guy blocked me in the driveway. It looked like a police car, black and shiny with that spotlight thing above the left mirror, but he was scraggly, a weird fit. He asked me if I lived there. I told him it was my parents' house. He asked my name, and I asked him why he wanted to know, not wanting to give too much personal information and really scared. He stayed in his car even with a car waiting behind him to get through. I kept the car running and my seatbelt on andlooked back to sort of yell at him enough to be heard but kept the tone even, wondering how fast I could dial 911 if need be and if it would be fast enough. Farrah had fallen asleep in the back seat. He said he lived up the road and vaguely pointed. I should have asked his name but wasn't thinking. I told him my parents' last name and he asked me what their name was and I gave them the last name. He asked me which kid I was and I told him my first name. He thought about it, and I told him I was the oldest. I was NOT going to give him my last name or any way to find me. The farm has been broken inot twice in the past month, first the two outbuildings and then the house, and no one has noticed really. Nothing was stolen that we can see, not that there's much of value there besides the rabbits and chickens my parents drive out to care for. Finally he left, so I got the hell out of there. When I got to the Falls, I called my mom and told her, and she later told my dad. She doesn't like me going to the farm alone because she is afraid of all the people who pull in our driveway to ask about renting or buying the properly when we go out there, teh last of which we think is the break-in culprit. She thought it was funny this was the time someone checks in. I was scared for my life and for Farrah, so I won't go out there alone again. And Dad wanted me or my brother to live there and probably still does...
I got to the Falls and two guys were driving golf balls into the raging, flooded out fossil beds. The conservation officers missed this by about ten minutes, although they did investigate a third idiot, friends with the other two, had left his truck door open and wandered off. I rolled my window down a bit so I could hear approaching vehicles and did a little reading. I was starving from forgetting to eat all day, so I had two graham crackers and some Powerade. I stopped reading before they got there, interested in my surroundings and a bit nervous about the strangers about, but the spot was good since it was quiet. We could find each other easily, and Duke would probably feel better than if we met in a busy lot. Farrah stayed asleep until we were nearly home, so that probably made things easier.
When they came, Ben's wife Molly was driving. They got out and he waved. She shook my hand to introduce herself. I noticed how pretty she was and warm. Ben had done well for himself, which made me happy, since his relationship when I knew him had been so sad and there was nothing, it seemed, he could do right for her. This girl was a little taller than me, average weight but not overly thin or overly heavy. She seemed like a kindred spirit. Ben told me about the cat some more and she did too, feeling free to tell me some quirky things. They said they were trying to control his weight but he waited until the other cats finished their food and swooped in for the rest, so I assured them he'd be an only cat. They told me how much he loved attention, but being one of six, didn't get enough sometimes. that will not be a problem here, even though the girls are in love with their guinea pigs. Plenty of love in our house. I told them how happy the girls would be, especially since they are still sad about Jasmine. I hope he will help heal our hearts. Ben kept petting Duke throught the cage, coming back just when we thought he'd pet him enough, and Molly said her good-byes. they gave me a can of cat food and his toy mouse. She told me how his tail looks like a target when he holds it out because of his coloring (He's got white areas and then brown and black tabby markings). She almost started crying. They told me how he cried on the way over, since they only take him to the vet in the Jeep, and he cried most of the way home with me despite being talked to and even scratched on the head at a red light. Poor guy. This woke Farrah up, so he cried while looking at her. She loved him immediately.
When we got home, I got him to come out of the cage and carried him in to see my Ben, who was playing computer games and had already picked Autumn back up. They both liked him. Autumn thinks he's a bit heavy for her to carrya around--I think he probably weighs a bit over 10 pounds when Jasmine was an even 5. He sniffed them and heard Ben's noisy computer game he was playing online with his cousin Dave (Ben told him he'd have to get used to hearing that). then he retreated to under the girls' bed while I set up his litter box and food bowl. He scratched both girls and hissed at Farrah, who were in there even though I told them he needs a few days to adjust. When I went to the bathroom and went through the bedroom to get there, he looked at me and I talked to him. Sursprisingly he came over for another round of rubbing. I found myself telling him I loved him and truly meaning it. I wasn't thinking and picked him up to kiss his head and he tried to bite my nose and run off. After finishing up in the bathroom, I found him standing on the bed where I rubbed him. When I went to leave, he tried to bite my leg that was on the other side because it scared him, but it just bruised. He's sort of confused, I think.
This morning I talked to him and he waited until I said his name to come over. I carried him to the computer room where he sat on my lap a second and then went up on the table and then back finally to sit on the housing for the computer, I guess it's called, and watched me use the computer like my co-pilot. I turned off the sound so he wouldn't be afraid, but later I put on some music, and he didn't seem to mind. Ben and farrah came to look when i called ben in to check him out, and Duke tookthat as his cue to leave. Molly and Ben said how he loved her most and sort of saw ben as an adversary of attention, so maybe this is going to be my cat. We have had several that jsut haven't been interested in me in all the years of cat ownership when I lived with my parents. Maybe this is my chance. I just hope he grows to love the girls too and that he just hasn't seen many children and needs some time. All in all, he's a very good cat and i feel so thankful for having the opportunity to share our home and our collective love with him.