Sunday, January 27, 2008

Mally the Alley Cat


I am not fond of the feline population.


Maybe it has something to do with the fact that at an early age I developed an allergy to them...


Maybe it is because, at around the same age that I developed those pesky allergies, I was informed of the "fact" (actually an old wives tale...) that cats could, and most certainly would, if given the chance, suck the milky breath of life away from a new born infant.

Or, maybe it is just because I watched Lady and the Tramp during my impressionable years... Do you remember Aunt Sarah's two Siamese cats, Si and Am? If you do great... if not, here is a brief recap: Si and Am created all sorts of mischief and caused all sorts of trouble for Lady (the dog heroine of the movie). Lady manages to keep the goldfish and canary safe from harm, but she begins to bark when the two cats go up the stairs to see the baby (!) and try and steal its milk. Lady ends up "scaring" Si and Am and when Aunt Sarah happens along, they pretend they are hurt. Aunt Sarah then takes Lady to a pet shop to have her fitted with a muzzle, but Lady escapes the shop...and so the story continues...


I hated that part of the movie! It was so unjust...and, needless to say, at a very early age my regard for cats hit rock bottom.


When Mr. M's parents, Bill and Sherilyn, lived here, they had this very vicious "outside" cat...Mally.* I don't know if they bought her or if she just started hanging around their house, but Sherilyn has a very soft heart for animals...except birds**...and she was faithful to feed Mally. To reciprocate her mutual feelings of respect and admiration, Mally would leave her latest "conquests"- various species of fowl and field mice- on the door step...
much to the chagrin of the household.


When the Marshall's moved, Mally sort of disappeared. She was always very independent and was not at all domesticated... but Sherilyn felt bad for Mally and worried about her. She would often ask if we had seen her. We assured her, No, no we haven't seen her, I am sure she is doing fine...living like a jungle cat...eating like a king...


One day Mr. M was walking to school when Mally appeared! She walked around him and snuggled up to his legs...
Most people would take this as an invitation to reach down and pet the "friendly" cat...but he knew better... reach down and pet this cat and you may lose a finger!


Nevertheless, Mr. M was beside himself with excitement. Mally had found him (think theme music from Homeward Bound...) and remembered him! He immediately called his Dad/Mom to share this joyous news.


Now we have a cat.


This is our arrangement: she jumps up onto our window seal, taps the window with her tail, and posthaste we give her some food. She then vigilantly guards our stoop during the night.
In the morning she is gone...exploring her jungle, I guess.

Often I will catch a glimpse of two flashing eyes peering through the blinds into our living room. At first it really freaked me out. But now whenever I get the feeling that "someone is watching me"- I know I am not being paranoid... it's just Mally.


Mally. She is the perfect cat for me. She doesn't asked to be cuddled and held... she would rather not be. All she wants is a family to belong to... a home base, so to speak, and maybe a little Kit Kaboodle.***

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* Name short for Malicious.

**She has a fear of birds...no malevolent tendencies towards the aforementioned.

***Purina brand cat food.

3 comments:

Karon Willoughby said...

I was the same way when we "adopted" a cat few years back. I was soundly asleep one morning when Jeremy woke me up holding this what looked like a small ball of black fur in his arms. Make a long story short, this kitten was only a few weeks old when she was found wondering in the middle of a busy street. Jeremy stopped traffic, picked her up and brought her home. Lane was just about 3 years old and he named her "cash" because he loved Johnny Cash music at the time...I wonder why since he used to listen to all his cd's everytime Jeremy would have him in the car. Unfortuntely "cash" was a girl, but Lane still liked the name. I called her "June" (Mrs. Cash)..since she WAS a girl. We only had her for about a year. We moved and couldn't take her with us. We took her to an animal shelter where I'm sure she's in a good home. I've never unliked cats, but wouldn't have had one in my home...until that day. We talk sometimes of getting another one...just not anytime soon! ;)
I'm sure "mally" will bring lots of love and excitement for year to come! ;)

Anonymous said...

The pictures you posted on the side are great! Good luck with the cat! Sounds like a cool cat!

Tucker's Family said...

Thanks for the Mally update. I'm always amazed at your collages!!

I recognize that look she gives when she is peering through the blinds!! She seems to be saying, "I'm trying to be patient....but you better hurry up and feed me...."

Thanks for being kind to the 'malicious one'.

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