Story Boy

In early January 2016, I was given a kitten. A kitten that took a liking to me the moment that he met me. He was a tiny puffball, and I knew that one day he would grow to be a longhaired beauty.

He resembled a dairy cat in a way, but as he grew older it became clear that each of his black spots was not so random. In fact, they brought even more uniqueness to all that was the life of Story Cat, the black and white kitten born on New Year's Day.

He actually had a full heart, a broken heart, and a Mickey Mouse emblem on his body. And all were shaped from his beautiful spots.

But, Story's markings, beautiful fur, green eyes, and apparent fixation with me were not his greatest things. He was an incredibly annoying cat to many people, but he was my best friend.

I have had a few pets in life that really seemed to get me, but I think Story was the one who came into my life at just the right time, however, there was an innate sense of wildness to this feline from day one. He was born to a cat that had gotten into the bottom of a friend's trailer and had her kittens there. The friend, of course, noticed there were kittens, and being an animal lover she took the whole family in, but there were several kittens and they seemed to catch onto their mother using the vent systems to get in and out of the house quickly. Because of this, Story became notorious for getting in and out and there was no possible way this cat ever would have been content to be an indoor-only pet.

So, with my adoption of Story came this new dilemma as well. In time, I learned that he would come to my calling quickly and if I let him out for a few hours at a time he was certain to come home upon call or after a few hours of romping around our townhouse. And for a while it seemed to work great, but then one day Story came down really sick and we, unfortunately, were not able to catch this illness quick enough to prevent it from taking him from us. I remember the day I lost him clearly because it was the same day I finished completing the manuscript for my novel,

Forbidden Fantasies.

There's something to be said about an animal that inspires you so much that for years at your worst moments you wish they were still alive, and I recently lost my father.

Oddly, a few days after he passed a picture of Story face to face with me showed up in one of my stories, and I thought how nice it'd be to have him to chill with now that my dad is gone. Strangely, this topic is meant to be about pets that are important and left a mark with the goal of supporting dogs, and yet I am talking about a cat.

Still if I sit back and think of the topic I can't help but realize how much Story stands out, and while he may not be a dog I guess you might say he's something like Tiger out of Fievel Goes West

He might not have been a dog, but he was the best pet friend I ever knew, but I would feel wholly disappointed in myself if I didn't take a moment to touch on the best dog there ever was who had a simple name,

"Puppy."

In Loving Memory of Puppy dog🐕 and Story cat.🐈 ❤️ 💜