Cat of the Month 06/08: Chessie
Chessie at last gets her turn to be Cat of the Month. Here is her story... Several years ago while living in Spencer, Indiana, my husband and I took a walk down near the railroad tracks not far from our home. I seem to remember there was a small craft fair or something going on at the time. On the way back home, we discovered a skinny grey kitten entertaining a handful of people on the corner. She rolled around inviting belly rubs, just too charming to resist.
An informed young girl let us know the kitten was a stray and shared her fear that the kitten may wander off and fall into the nearby river. Hindsight tells me that of course the kitten would not have carelessly fallen into the river to be swept away. But we were easily swayed and scooped up the ball of grey fluff and took her home.
Later watching her sleep, we agreed she looked just like the railroad cat Chessie and that’s how she acquired her name. It didn’t take long for Chessie to fit into our household of kitties. As a youngster she developed a curious manner of flinging an arm over the shoulders of any nearby cat and vigorously licking the top of the other cat’s head. In her slightly crankier old age she’s more likely to swat than lick any nearby cat!
After the death of my beloved lap cat, Abby, I wondered which of our cats would step up to take over the evening lap-time ritual. That cat was Chessie—every evening after dinner she arranges her not so tiny self (the kittenish figure is long gone) on my lap for a few hours, stretching out her paw to touch my arm every now and then to remind me that hands are for chin rubbing, okay?