Bed Hopping Cat

As I sit here tonight, reminiscing, I am reminded of a kitten. When I was younger, like ’86 or 7, I had a best friend and we would ‘camp’ outside often at his place on the Spokane River. One time there turned up a pretty little female kitten. I don’t recall where the thing came from or how it ended up at his place. I think it may have been one of his sister-in-law’s cat’s litter, but who knows.



Anyway, it was one of those colorful fluff balls just old enough to have been weaned for at least a little while. My friend and I were sleeping in one of those big white canvas tents on cots. The cot I was using had a hole in it at about my tummy area and that cat would crawl down there and curl up. The sleeping bag would form a pouch in that hole just the right size for that cutie, and that’s where she would sleep. It didn’t bother me any, I love cats and I didn’t even have to worry about squishing her when I rolled over because she was hanging below me. I could sleep right on top of her. Even so, I found out that often switched beds with my friend throughout the night.



She was a colorful animal with prominent orange and reds as well as everything else. I’m sitting next to a similar one now, not so prominent on the o’s and r’s. She’s a sweetie though. She’s lived with my aunt for what has to be over 15 years. I know because she’s the last of the babies from my family cat who’s been dead for about a decade now. We gave her to my aunt long before the mother died though. She looks just like her mother.



Anyway, she’s slept with me for past couple nights, when I know she also sleeps in my aunts bed. She’s a be hopper.



She looks so much like her mother Tiger (don’t let the name fool you, she was calico). When I look at her my eyes well up. We had tiger for so long and I found memories. Tiger used to hunt with me. She was my hunting cat. Any time I had that Bee-Bee gun, she was there. She knew that if I didn’t get a good kill, she needed put that bird out of it’s misery ASAP. Often she would glare at me when my shot did kill. What a wonderful animal, I can’t wait to see her again someday.