Squirrel Cat

Squirrel Cat was found standing in the middle of a windy mountain highway in the middle of winter by my mother, who so happened to be driving in the middle of the road at the time. Being a kind and gentle woman with compassion in her heart for wounded or abandoned animals, she came to a stop and opened the rear door of her car. The cat jumped in...no questions asked.

We called him Squirrel Cat because he was as gray as a squirrel and had a long, fluffy tail. Judging by his size, we determined that Squirrel Cat was probably a mid to late "teen" in cat years. He had an attitude and immediately began a love/hate relationship with everyone in the family except the family dog. The two cats we had prior to getting Squirrel Cat took the brunt of most of his mischief...and, my father.

We had a small twirling/rocking chair in the living room and Squirrel Cat would love to hide under it and take swipes at any ankles that were walking past. He was quite the hunter and his main specialty was hunting fathers. For some reason that cat would wait and wait under that chair until my father walked by. I would walk by, my sisters would walk by and my mother would walk by and he wouldn't take any swipes at our ankles. We figured Squirrel Cat was off somewhere else pestering someone else and then, dad would walk by. You always knew where Squirrel Cat was when you heard dad yell, "HIJO DE LA CHINGADA!!!" Yeah, Squirrel Cat was pretty patient for his age.

Our living room was a long one, about twenty feet long by twelve feet wide, and at each end of it was a full sized couch. I saw the couches and always looked at them as places to sit or occasionally a place to nap. I am sure most average cats saw them and looked at them as places to sleep or to sharpen claws on. Squirrel Cat didn't see them as any of those things. Apparently to Squirrel Cat it looked like a Nascar oval track with ninety degree banks in turns one, two, three and four. That cat would run full steam down the front straightaway hit one couch, go up the back of the couch and up the wall where he would start running out of momentum. Then, he would make the turn, come down the wall and down the other side of the couch and run full steam down the back straightaway, hit couch number two...and do the same thing. Squirrel Cat would make three or four laps around his track and call it a race.

Squirrel Cat wasn't all fun and games all the time. He knew how to take care of business too and remind us all just how tough he really was. He did this by running up to us with that sideways jumping-claws out-back hunched-teeth bared intimidation tactic that cats frequently use to show the world that they are a badass. He would hop at us two or three times just saying, "WHAT!!! YOU WANNA PIECE OF ME??? HUH??? DO YA PUNK!?!?!?!". Sometimes you could just be sitting in a chair and Squirrel Cat would be walking by like nothing is no matter and out of the blue he would bust out his badass hop on you, then he would dart off to some other part of the house or yard.

Speaking of outside.

Our two other cats were mainly outdoor cats but would come in the house periodically. They were brother and sister and the brother was your typical aged grumpy cat that ignored you most of the time. He was mostly white with little spots of light and dark gray in his mane. We could never agree on a name for him so we all just called him Big Cat. His sister was a little more sociable. Her name was Splits because she was a calico and half her nose was black and the other half was orange...split right down the middle.

Squirrel Cat would often try to give them his badass hop too but they would just ignore him. Squirrel Cats second favorite thing to hunt was Big Cat and Splits. They weren't as easy as hunting fathers, but occasionally Squirrel Cat would catch himself and Big Cat or a Splits. Squirrel Cat would hide somewhere...anywhere...and wait, and wait and wait for a Big Cat or a Splits to walk by. Once they were within striking distance, he would pounce and tackle them then dart away. I think the thrill of the chase was more exhilarating to Squirrel Cat than the actual kill, for I believe he never intended on killing Big Cat, Splits or my father...though if you saw his badass hop, you knew he probably could.

Feeding time for the three of them went pretty smooth. Usually Big Cat and Splits would eat first then Squirrel Cat would come along later and eat. We fed them in the woodshed and one day I was walking from the house to the shed (about twenty five feet away) and Big Cat and Splits were walking in front of me. Squirrel Cat was about sixty feet away from us chewing on a stick or something when he noticed us. BAM! He was up and running towards us. Big Cat and Splits were ignorant of Squirrel Cat and I was looking around to see if perhaps someone put a couch somewhere near by. He was heading at us full steam. I opened the shed door, Big Cat and Splits moseyed in and just as Big Cat was walking up to his food bowl, Squirrel Cat was right behind him, still at full steam and gave Big Cat two whacks on the back of his head with his paw as he was flying by. Then Squirrel Cat immediately put on the brakes and came to a screeching halt. I laughed, Squirrel Cat acted like he didn't do anything and Big Cat just stared at Squirrel Cat for a moment then meowed for his food.

One day Squirrel Cat disappeared. His fate was not known but such is life for animals in the country...unpredictable endings. Such was life with Squirrel Cat...unpredictable. One thing is for certain was that Squirrel Cat had a most interesting Cattitude.