Friday, October 16, 2020

Cat Stories

 I’m sure I’m not the only one to feel like the days are flipping by so quickly.  Already October is half over.  I need more hours in the day. My editor sent me her notes on ONE FOR THE HOOKS. Even though she was just suggesting tweaks, I am going through the whole manuscript, rewriting here and there.

I am working on two other books at the same time. I started out devoting different days to different books, but I got so wrapped up in ONE FOR THE HOOKS, I have given it consecutive days.  

The two cat girls seem to be okay without their older brother Spyderman. And now that they’ve been with us for about six months, it feels different with them.  It seems different for them as well.  They have relaxed, realizing this is there home.

I didn’t know but Buttercup belong to a cat hoarder before she was taken in by a shelter where my son and his wife adopted her.  She’s a beautiful long hair cat with butterscotch and white markings.  Apparently, she shared a home with 50 cats.  That was all years ago, but I’m sure she is still learning to appreciate just sharing food and cat boxes with one other cat.

She took a long time to make up to me and still is a bit skittish.  She seems to be ruled by furniture.  If I sit on the couch, she always comes up to cuddle.  But if I’m sitting somewhere else, she walks by with barely a notice.

Kitten aka Kona has decided that I’m her human and my lap belongs to her.  She’s taken to sitting on the kitchen table in the morning when I’m  having my coffee and then when she feels like, climbing into my lap.  She is big on butting her head against my arm and eventually she moves around until her head is on my shoulder.

She hangs out in the room where I write, jumping in my lap when the mood strikes her.

She is the only cat we’ve had that I knew as a kitten.  She’d belonged to one of my daughter in law’s students.  I’m not sure of the details, but I think it was one of those situations where they thought a kitten was like a cute toy and then changed their mind.  

We took care of all of my son’s cats when they traveled.  It was usually no problem except the first time we had to take care of Kitten.  She was tiny, small enough to hold in one hand. One night when we came over to their condo townhouse we couldn’t find her.  We freaked out, thinking we’d somehow lost her.  We checked and rechecked, the garage and each of the two floors.  Thinking she must have slipped out, my husband went out into the alley looking for her.  A bunch of stoners were hanging out there smoking grass as he went around calling out “here kitty, kitty.”  Needless to say, he got some strange looks.

Meanwhile I was inside looking for her and then she suddenly appeared. Apparently, she had a way of hiding under the couch where no one could see her and then reappearing when she felt like it.  These days there’s no chance of that because she gotten kind of round around the middle and wouldn’t be able to hide that well.

I am always amazed when I look down at her as she sits on my lap rubbing her cat hair into my clothes that I am not sneezing.  I used to be terribly allergic to cats.  My eyes would tear until I couldn’t see and my nose would run.  And then when I was 17 working as a nanny for the owners of a summer resort in Michigan I found out my allergy was gone. They had a cat who used to sit on my chest at night and I had no reaction.

It never came back. I can get a face full of fur and not be bothered at all.   

 

6 comments:

Linda O. Johnston said...

You certainly sound busy with your writing. And your interactions with your felines sounds fantastic! They each sound unique and fun. And the fact that they both are rescues, though with different backgrounds, is wonderful.

Betty Hechtman said...

Linda, it's nice to have some pets again after being without any for a few years.

chkntza said...

I love hearing about your cats. I think cats are amazing. My best friend has two cats. She rescued them and now they are 12 and 13, a mother and son. They know me and come to me when I come in. They roll on their backs for tummy rubs. I love how I have a relationship with the cats.

Betty Hechtman said...

Chkntza, how nice that you have a relationship with your friend's cats. I am fascinated how each animal has their own personality.

Linda Osborn said...

My two calicos are like my kids--only actually the kids were better behaved. These two are some of the smartest of the literally dozens of cats I've had, probably because there are just the 3 of us in the house. They understand many things l say, sense my moods, and let me know when they want something. I adore them !

When will the next book be out in the US ? It seems like it has been a long time !

Betty Hechtman said...

Linda, your cats sound wonderful. I always heard that cats were aloof and didn't connect the way dogs did, but my experience has been like yours. The first cat we had was a Siamese. He'd belong to a friend of mine in Chicago and she didn't want him anymore and sort of gave him to us as a wedding present and we drove from Chicago to L.A. with him. That whole trip was an experience but that's another story.

Years later my husband was managing a comedian who would go through a personality change and the cat always picked up on it and his hair would pouf out.

Murder Ink, the first book in he new series comes out in the U.S. in February. I'm not sure when One for the Hooks will come out. I'm close to finishing the edits. Then it goes to a copy editor and they send it back to me. Then I get the galley pages to go through for minor corrections. Then its off to be printed. I'm guessing it will be released early next year. I hope the books turns out to be worth the wait.