Dear Reader,I never
thought this would be my first of these newsletters. Many others are almost
ready to send, but somehow the events described below seem more important to
share now. I think the lessons apply to all of us.– Jimmy Scott
Goodbye
Mister Felix
His real name was Felix,
but I called him many names–Felix, Mr. Felix, loudmouth, big mouth, little
pig, big guy, little guy, big fellow, little fellow, big buddy, little buddy,
nuisance, and some others. My home became his home when he was only a few
weeks old. He was all black save a small white spot on his chest. He was
handsome, proud, sometimes arrogant, and a very loveable cat. As he grew up
the land around us became HIS territory, and daily he would patrol it. As the
grass or other plants (some call them weeds) grew his trail became visible,
connecting all his favorite watching spots. He was an excellent hunter and
during summers mostly fed himself. Even in winter he sometimes ran through
the snow, tracking the small field mice as he heard them tunneling beneath,
occasionally digging furiously in efforts to catch one of them.
I was away for several days (very common for me!). When I returned Felix was
nowhere to be found. My other cat, Mandy, was there but no Felix. Then when
my office manager came in she told that Felix had been run over by a car,
some distance from the house. Sure enough on the pavement not far away were
the remains of a black cat. This poor flattened carcass was collected and we
had a somber burial ceremony in a small clearing in the woods at the edge of
the marsh near the back of my property. Several hours later I was about to
eat some dinner when I heard a scratching at the door. I opened the door and
in walked Felix! This was a joyful reunion but I did wonder whether he had
just used up one of his nine lives or whether the burial was for another cat.
Anyway, he was very hungry. He had lost a lot of weight and since he was such
an excellent hunter this meant he had done some real traveling. Now this part
of the story itself was very interesting, but paled in comparison with–
The Rest of The Story
I soon found out that at
the same time Felix disappeared both his brother and his mother also
vanished! They, however, never reappeared. His brother lived about 10 miles /
16 km away and his mother some 20 miles / 32 km away. Was it his brother who
was buried? Was there a family reunion somewhere? Were they together? Where
were they?
Everyday Life
Felix loved to follow me
around when I was walking around my property. One day I was at the back of
one garden area next to the channel I had put in to connect two ponds. The grass
was tall so Felix was hopping and bounding to get through, not an easy walk
for such a small fellow. He spotted a flat area and with a big jump he
cleared the weeds and landed in the middle of the flat area. Of course he did
not realize the flat area was water, covered in pollens collected on the
surface of the channel. I do not know how he did it, but I am sure his exit
was faster than his entry! He got onto the far bank of the channel, shook
himself off, glanced around with that sheepish “I hope nobody saw me do such
a silly thing” look that even people have. I have seldom laughed harder.
Felix had a talent I had never seen before. He would stand on a stack of
papers and riffle through them with his paw (and claws). He did this with
either foot equally well, and learned quite early that he received rapid
attention when he did so. The only way to stop him was to give him my full
attention for a while.
Lessons?
There are many other
stories about him, of course, but these are a few that are especially dear to
me. His presence in the house was very large, especially compared to his
physical size. We miss him.
How many times did I tell myself "I'll video record his paper–riffling
act so I can share it with others." The answer is exactly the same
number of times that I also said, sometimes explicitly, "I'll get to it
soon". How many times do we have to tell ourselves "I will do this
when..."? How many times do we have to realize that now we are too late
to do it? How many times does it take us to finally ”get the lesson”? We
adult humans just seem to refuse to "get it". Just watch any cat!
Just watch any young child! Hummm. Maybe some HK corrections are in order.
