This week I innerviewed a fellow pet of the feline purr-suasion, Tuesday Jess, who’s a rescue.
Soon as we rang, a lady opened the door an invited us in. But there was no cat in sight. “Humm,” I thought. We were getting settled in, when this frenly brownish-grayish tiger cat strolled over, all frenly. “Ah ha,” I thought.
“Good morning! I’’m Bonzo the Columnist. You must be Miss Tues …”
“I’m Maverick Jess. Welcome to our home. This is our Mom, Amanda. Our Dad, Jon, is at work. Tuesday is a liddle shy with strangers. How ’bout you scrunch down, so you don’t seem so big.”
I’d never thought of myself as big, but I scrunched.
Maverick turned toward the sofa and called, loudly, “TUESDAY! I KNOW YOU’RE UNDER THERE! GET YOUR FLUFFY CABOOSE OUT HERE AND MEET MR. BONZO!”
I jumped, an the couch cover moved. Then a liddle nose poked out, an a soft liddle voice said, “Is that you, Mr. Bonzo? You sure have big paws.”
I addressed the nose politely. “They’re mostly fluff, Miss Tuesday. I’d really like to hear your story. I’ll just sit right here, nice an quiet, OK? I’m really a big fan of cats. I’ve ackshully innerviewed several.”
After a brief paws, Tuesday emerged – about half way. She had one of those super pretty orange, white an black coats called cally-co, which I’d never seen in the fur before.
“You have a beautiful coat, Miss Tuesday,” I told her.
With the tiniest liddle smile, she purred, “Thank you, Mr. Bonzo.”
“See, Tues, Mr. Bonzo’s not scary at all,” Maverick told her, curling up next to me. “I’ll just hang right here an you can tell your story.”
So, with me scrunched down on the floor and Tuesday halfway out an halfway under the couch, the innerview proceeded.
“I’m ready to hear your story,” I told her, pencil poised.
“My Mom was working in the far-muh-see at Target, an also volunteerin’ at that nice rescue place, H.A.L.O., so everybuddy knew she was always helpin’ Animals Less Fortunate. Well, one day the Target Security Human came over to Mom and said, ‘Hey, you rescue animals, right? Well, there’s a kitten in the bushes out front.’ It was me, all alone an real hungry an real scared.
“It took Mom an the Security Human an hour anna half to get me into this funny carrier thingy cuz I didn’t know what was happening, an I got even more scared. Finely they got me in it, an Mom took me home. It was aMAZing, Mr. Bonzo: when Mom took me outta the carrier thingy an put me down in her house, I stopped being scared. I just KNEW it was My House, too, an I was gonna be OK. She gave me a liddle food an wadder an I was So Happy.”
Another cat voice chimed in. “Me an Mav were the welcoming committee. We wanted this liddle gal to feel comftubble an happy in her new home.”
I looked up. A dark fluffy cat I hadn’t noticed before sat in a big chair across the room. “I’m Bosco, by the way,” he said. “I was Mom an Dad’s First Rescue. I was a Stray an just sorta wandered in one day. Dad said, ‘What’s that?’ an Mom said, ‘I guess it’s our new cat.’ An that was that.”
“A pleasure,” I replied, writing as fast as I could.
“Mav an Bosco are wunnerful big brothers,” Tuesday continued. “Anyway, one day I started feeling so tired I couldn’t play or anything. My tummy was all poochy, an I kept barfing an barfing. So Mom took me to the doctor. They took lotsa pickshurs of my insides, an guess what?”
I was afraid to ask. “Er, what?”
“The pickshurs showed this big buncha something in my tummy. Not the usual cat stuff, either. They couldn’t tell what it was, but they knew it was A Big Problem an I hadda have an oppa-RAY-shun.”
“Oh, Woof!”
“Trouble was, I only weighed 1 pound. The doctor said it was Too Risky, an we hadda wait till I weighed 2 pounds. They gave me medicine an food till finally I made it to 2 pounds, an had the oppa-RAY-shun. They hadda use special, teeny liddle instruments. An guess what?”
I was even more afraid to ask this time, but I did.
“There was a rubber glove in my tummy.”
I was speechless.
“My memry’s fuzzy, but I remember being SO HUNgry, an findin’ this funny-shaped thing that smelled like maybe it was food. It was real chewy, though. Anyway, after the oppa-RAY-shun, I felt much better, but I kept tryin’ to bite my bandages, so I hadda wear a tube sock. Mom has ’em in all colors, so I was very fashionubble.”
Tuesday showed me a pickshur of herself tucked into her tube sock. It was so cute an funny, I almost laughed.
“While I was getting’ better, an wearin’ my tube sock, I was s’pose to stay calm. Bein’ a kitten, it wasn’t easy, till Mom put YouTube for Animals videos on her phone, the ones with birds. I could watch ’em for hours.”
“Now that you’re all better, what’s your day like?”
“Mom’s a furniture artist, an I help her. I delicately walk in the paint an create lovely paw prints on Mom’s drop cloth, an other spots. It’s my SIG-nuh-chur. I play with Mav an Bosco, an our pooch siblings an bunny siblings, too. I like nappin’ in the Bunny Room.”
Heading home I was thinking about 2-pound Tuesday havin’ her oppa-RAY-shun, an how the doctor was like an artist, too, with those special, teeny liddle instruments. An now liddle Tuesday’s part of a Blended Forever Famly, with a Bunny Room: imagine that. Happy endings are the best, don’t you think?
Till next time,
The Bonz
