The World According To Anne Arky

Saturday after O’Malley died, I found an ad for a really pretty boy cat who was three years old, neutered and needed a home. Sunday I went to meet him, and decided to take him. I was on my way to have dinner out with some friends, and I couldn’t very well leave him in the car while we ate (it IS Georgia, and it WAS August, and I wouldn’t do that even in December), so I arranged to come and pick him up later in the week. He was very friendly when I first got there, so I just poopooed the owners’ assertion that he was a bit skittish – that is, until I brought him home and didn’t see him for a week. I renamed him Godfrey (his previous name was less than dignified), and he pretty much became a UFO (unidentified feline object) who I barely saw except as he flashed from under one piece of furniture to under another one. I considered renaming him yet again to either Frady or Scaredy, and even considered taking him back to his owners, because he was ignoring the litter box I had put out and hiding all the time. I didn’t remember this kind of “get acquainted” experience when I got O’Malley, and after two and a half weeks of it, I was beginning to get a little fed up with it.
My friend fancies herself as something of a cat whisperer, and whether you believe in that kind of thing or not, she is amazing. She came up here a week ago by herself and did her laundry while I was at work. She lured Godfrey out and had a long “conversation” with me, wherein she later related that he had felt that his previous owners didn’t like him and sent him here as punishment for some unknown transgression. She assured him (presumably in catlish, which I do not speak, but which she obviously speaks fluently) that living here would be a piece of cake and that I would not abuse him and that he should come out and visit. Beginning the next day, he’s been hanging with me, sleeping with me and following me around like a big, fluffy puppy dog, and at the moment, we are living happily ever after. So again, whether you believe in cat whispering or not, you can’t argue with her results.