In memory of Zander

I miss a cat. Sounds completely child-like I know but it is as simple as that. If I had a cat now I would be really happy. Just any cat. I would say my cat back home but she's so obese now she's not much use..besides I think she thinks she's human. I want a real cat. A cuddly, playful and curious cat. The one that is always sniffing around everything and anything. The cat love of my life died when I was 15 or so.

Sigh... Alexander James III but he liked to be called Zander. He had a white face with black fur around his head so he looked liked he had hair but the best part was that he had a tiny black spot above his mouth to give him a very Cindy Crawford look. If there ever was a more debonair looking cat I'd like to see that.

Anyway my little black and white cat of mine and I would spend days together just discussing everyday issues. He was quite clever that cat of mine. I swear he would nod at the right places everytime I express a view. Those days I use to hang on the phone like forever. The days where mobiles were a privileged, God the amount of grief I got for tying the phone up. That's why we now have three lines in that little house. My very own legacy. Anyway Zander would sit on my lap whilst I cackle away on the phone. He used to just bite and chew my finger..not in a I-want-to-kill-you way but just for affection sake.

Our favourite game was the Paperbag Routine. You see Zander he just can resist an open paper bag. He would just rush in to explore it. So what I'd do is put a paper bag at the edge of the table and when he zooms into it he flies off the table... what great fun! Even after the millionth time he still falls for it. But most of the time I catch him in the bag and he looks all adorable scrunched up in a ball. Sometimes I think he does it for the routine.

I was pretty proud of the fact that I taught Zander how to sleep using the pillow like people do. Head on pillow and the rest not. But he liked to hog the bed. I didn't really mind but he gets up earlier than I do and insists on sitting on my head until I got up to let him out.

I don't like ice-cream very much but Zander loves it. Strawberry is his favourite so I indulge it and we would share it together. But all good things comes to an end and Zander contracted leukemia and despite weeks in the hospital there was just nothing that could be done. I would rush straight over there every day from school and spend ages with him. You see he was very scared in that hospital. It's all very barbaric, they put cats in cages. My Zander has never been in one before and he looks at me with pitiful eyes and mews me to take him home.

Soon after he died. I went to pick his cold body which was now hard. I dug the hole as deep as I could in my backyard and buried my little furry keeper of my secrets. I nailed two wooden planks and created a headstone with his name on it. Mom took it down cause she was afraid the gardener would think a person was buried there. Me, I was upset for the longest time.

10 years have gone past but I never forgot Zander. I think in some sense I am loyal like that. Yes new cats come and go but for me that was the cat love of my life. Someday I will get me a cat but not now ...when I settle down, it's just not fair to get one now. I'm not that stable. But it's hard you know. Trying to find the right cat. I'm fussy like that. Sometimes they look and act like cats but they are actually dogs inside. And I'm a catperson through and through.

So there you go. My little Cat Story. I'm regressing methinks.