Month: August 2014

Senorita Jakita and Peter Cottontail

 

Jakita tells the tale of Peter Cottontail to Calico Gen and the Adorable, Wide-Eyed Stuffed Monkey, Ruby, who shares all hopes, dreams and secrets of all those who sleep in or on Momma's bed - (Ruby was a gift given to Momma many moons ago, by Super Boy).
Jakita tells the tale of Peter Cottontail to Calico Gen and the Adorable, Wide-Eyed Stuffed Monkey, Ruby.

One day, long time ago, Momma’s father (a.k.a Grandpapa to me) told her and her sisters that he had met up with Peter Cottontail that very day in the forest. (OK, alright, settle down, they lived in the country, not downtown Toronto).

Now at that time, you did not argue with or disbelieve your elders.  To their amazement, Grandpapa told them Peter communicated with him that he (Peter) had gone out to the local store, dressed in the disguise of Little Red Riding Hood and bought a package of Wrigley’s Spearmint gum. Peter wanted my father to give a stick  of gum to each of his good children.

With that said, Momma’s father solemnly reached in to his  breast pocket of his blue plaid lumberjack shirt, extracted the package and passed it around from oldest to youngest, for them to each take a piece of green wrapped Spearmint Chewing Gum .

Momma never asked her sisters if they believed that yarn but I deemed my Grandpapa’s Peter Cottontail story to be totally plausible. I’ve had my eyes on the cotton-tails and know that they are nervy enough to eat the vegetables out of  Momma’s garden, staring at me, ears all a twitch, taunting me, just brazen, the lot of them.

So soft, so sweet. Who could be mean to a little white, fluffy bunny rabbit with pink stick-up-straight ears? From Morguefile.com IMG_7421.JPGBy xandert
So soft, so sweet, so deceptive, yet who can not love a fluffy cottontail with pink stick-up-straight ears?
From Morguefile.com
IMG_7421.JPGBy xandert

I have no doubt that Peter would fool  the storekeeper with a disguise. What probably  is harder to compute is that Peter Cottontail would give the gum to Grandpapa to share with his kids. The deed of  buying the gum and tricking the storekeeper was believable, they are a crafty lot who could easily bamboozle the locals, but sharing their spoils, I doubt it. Certainly not the Cotton-tails in this part of the woods, who don’t even flinch when I bark and growl to try to chase them from the garden. They are of the mistaken opinion that the lettuce, the carrots, even the tulips from the flower gardens, are for their consumption and I had better get with the picture.

Where Grampsey met up with Peter Cottontail (so I am told) when he was cutting down massive trees that were made in to lumber at the local saw mill. The sunshine beckons you down the path to an Enchanted Forest where the Four Footed share their Shangri-La and wisdom with the Two Footed. Don't you wish you were there?
Where Grampsey met up with Peter Cottontail (so I am told). Don’t you wish you were there?

Momma told me about that well-loved bunny, Thumper who befriended  Bambi in the movie, helping him adjust to the reality of the forest and all of its blessings and challenges.  I am telling you, there are no Thumpers in Jakitaville, no, we got city slicker rabbits, with ra-bi-tude who look at all domestics and the Two Footed with disdain.  Since Peter Cottontail was from the Country, maybe he was that altruistic,  I am not going to totally rule it out…..because well, you know already, Ruby, Gen and I like to believe:                  

‘The truth is out there.’

 

 

Sir BB as in Black Beauty, Blue Beard or Beastie Boy

 

Relaxing on the couch at Chez Momma after my initial stay at the Vet Clinic to be rejuvenated and re-hydrated. See the little patches of white, scattered amongst the gleaming black fur. Also note the numerous scratches and patches of fur missing. Life was good, never better. If only....
Relaxing on the couch at Chez Momma. Life was good, never better. If only….

BB – That would be as in Black Beauty, (just a streak of white underbelly, with a white star under the chin) or Blue Beard (the one-eyed pirate as suggested at the vet clinic), Beastie Boy (around Clem) or Beau Baby in Momma’s arms.  I had history, unfortunately, a lot of it way negative, my energy attracting cat fights that I never won. I was covered in scratches, big gouges ripped from around my mouth, my eyes, all over my skinny black body. I will never forget the night I went home to Momma, crying all the way, with only one eye functioning. Was it my nemesis or Clem or the Forest Freak, whoever it was, got me good, clawing the right eye, to the extent that we had no  idea if I would lose my sight permanently  or get partial sight restored. What could poor Momma do? It was beyond her meager skills of feeding, watering and nurturing.  It was time to take me to meet Dr. C.

You can see, this was one ugly wound even after healing for a week. The perpetrator should be charged with assault, with a deadly weapon (clawed paw, possibly?). It is time for me to start a Kitty Court, all Judges to be black cats with a touch of white patches. All other cats can be Lawyers, Prosecutors, Jury, Victims and the BAD GUYS. Justice for the Abused!
You can see, this was one ugly wound even after healing for a week.

What you should also know about me is I was the LIFO  Cat (Last In First Out) which in inventory refers to the way items are stored.  But I did not know that because, well, I did not know much. One day when Andy had come over to the Cat Colony to lord it over us, I followed him home, meowing loudly, stop, look at me, I am sick, I am hungry, I am so lost and lonely. When Momma opened the door to see what all my caterwauling was about, Andy looked at her with beseeching eyes, ‘Just make it stop’.

Now that was the first time I realized there was something called cat food, poured in a dish, just for you, while the other cats were all given their own bowl. On top of that we all had our own water.  Wow, what a system.  I learned fast. You don’t go putting your nose in someone else’s bowl. You wait till he finishes, then you check out his bowl while the other cat checks out yours, for leftovers.

I bonded quickly with Wonder Boy, I loved his energy, the way the squirrels came right up and took peanuts from his hand.  Momma, well, that took longer, but it was solid once in place.  Then Dr. CK, Dr.WY, Dr.MW and all the staff showered me with love and free call backs over the last two months of my life. Even as much as they cared, I was like Humpty Dumpty with all my catastrophic diseases, impossible to put together again. It was easy to see why I would change my allegiance to  the Two Footed, who bathed me in love, while the Four Footed, ignored or tortured me.

So…it is okay,  Momma, no more tears, Momma, repeat after me ‘It is OK’. I did what you told me to, leaping from your arms to that fluffy blue cloud that catapulted me to RIP Daddy’s warm embrace.

Look at my Launching Pad, the blue cloud, floating along in an inexplicably awesome universe lit by the sun in the day, the moon and the stars at night.
My Launching Pad, the blue cloud, floating along in an inexplicably awesome universe lit by the sun in the day, the moon and the stars at night.

I saw you, Momma, when you arrived home with an empty cage.  Immediately, the love of my life, Jakita ran over, confused. She needed an answer. What happened to BB? And Sweet Gen (who would sniff my nose, to show me I was acceptable in her sight), joined them, communicating in soft meows, ‘Oh wow, Momma, I’ll be good, just please don’t take me away.’  I saw as your tears dripped on their heads as you consoled them.

Just remember, I had three months of food, whenever I wanted it.  I had three months of belonging to a family which meant three months of love.  If I was annoying because I  meowed so loudly and long, I  am sorry.  I know I even deafened myself  by mostly shouting out anguishing wails with volume set to full tilt. For that  I apologize. It was not respectful of the Zen like ambience that turns a home into a paradise. Now I know, you should only hear the flutter of butterflies, the chirps of satisfied birds  and the tinkling bells ring when angels earn their wings. As well, my biggest crime, I drove off Clem, who will tell his own story, I get it.

In the end, I was loved by you.
In the end, I was loved by you.

If I could change anything in my past life, my relationship with Clem would be a re-do. I would make him love me, just like the you, the Two Footed did.

So………..I was not meant for a long time, but in that three months, well you, Wonder Boy, the Vets, especially Dr C. and the Clinic Staff, you all made it a purr-fect time…  And in the end Momma, in the end I was loved by you.