Murrmurr
SF VIP
- Location
- Sacramento, California
I put food out for the neighborhood homeless cats. Right now there are 3 that come to eat every day, and 2 others that come sporadically. They don’t have homes, though; I asked around. And their ears are tipped, a sign they’ve been trapped, neutered, and released.
3 cats live with us, one I’ve had for about 8 years, and 2 that were homeless but I invited them in to live with us. The youngest of those is a black and white tuxedo cat I named Charlie, because his “tuxedo” is kind of sloppy and he has a thick black mustache that’s tilted to one side, like Charlie Chaplin. He’s lived with us now for about 10 months, maybe 11, and he was a little tiny thing when he moved in, but I think he was probably 3 months old or so, because his ear was tipped.
Now, the reason I invited Charlie in when I already had 2 cats is because it was real obvious he isn’t your average cat. I’ve owned several cats over the years, my kids always had at least one, and Charlie’s pretty unusual.
First time he showed up in the backyard, he looked directly at me through the sliding glass door and knocked on it with his tail. I was sitting in my recliner and wasn’t sure I saw what I just saw, so I kind of froze and stared back at him. And after staring at each other for several seconds, he knocked again…boomp-boomp-boomp…with his tail. Didn’t take his eyes off me the whole time.
And, about his eyes; they convey so much awareness, it's borderline disturbing. Cats look intelligent. You can see intelligence in cat's eyes, and dog’s eyes are very expressive. Charlie looks aware, and that isn’t quite the same thing. When he looks at you, you feel like a person is looking at you.
There’s a few other things that are very unusual about Charlie, like, the way he holds his tail – up along his back with the tip of it pointed at the back of his head – he follows me ev-er-y-where and watches every freaking thing I do, intently, and he doesn’t meow, he says “beepa,” like one of those old bicycle horns, and “eep.” And his voice is really high-pitched and squeaky, like an old bicycle horn, the ones with the bulb that you squeeze and they go beepa-beepa. It sounds just like that. He doesn’t make those sounds a lot. A few times a day: when I get up in the morning and whenever I come out of the bathroom.
But, starting about 3 days ago, he
…man, I don’t even want to say it. It sounds crazy. It sounds like a total lie, but…
He talks. Charlie talks. He does. He says 2 words, and they’re not high-pitched and squeaky. He looks right at me and says them softly and clearly.
“Hi. …Hi, you.”
I am not pulling your leg. And I’m not imagining it (I’m almost positive). The cat has said this to me 5 times over the past 3 days.
The first time, I was feeling crappy, hurting real bad and had to use the wheelchair most of the day, so I went and laid down on the bed for a while. After maybe 5 minutes or so, Charlie jumped up there and slowly walked over to my head, and just stood there looking down at me. So I reached up and scratched behind his ear, and whispered, “Hi, Charlie.”
And Charlie whispered back, “Hi,” paused a moment, and said softly, “Hi, you.”
Now, I thought maybe he was trying to meow, you know, like the other cats. So I meowed. And he just stood over my face and stared down at me like a gotdam person. So, after a moment, I meowed again. And he sat and stared down at me, like he was losing his patience or something.
So I said, “Hi.”
And Charlie said “Hi.”
And then he jumped down off the bed, and walked down the hall with his tail pointed at the back of his head.
(P.S. I yelled after him, “So am I supposed to make you a cup of coffee in the morning, or what?”
)
3 cats live with us, one I’ve had for about 8 years, and 2 that were homeless but I invited them in to live with us. The youngest of those is a black and white tuxedo cat I named Charlie, because his “tuxedo” is kind of sloppy and he has a thick black mustache that’s tilted to one side, like Charlie Chaplin. He’s lived with us now for about 10 months, maybe 11, and he was a little tiny thing when he moved in, but I think he was probably 3 months old or so, because his ear was tipped.
Now, the reason I invited Charlie in when I already had 2 cats is because it was real obvious he isn’t your average cat. I’ve owned several cats over the years, my kids always had at least one, and Charlie’s pretty unusual.
First time he showed up in the backyard, he looked directly at me through the sliding glass door and knocked on it with his tail. I was sitting in my recliner and wasn’t sure I saw what I just saw, so I kind of froze and stared back at him. And after staring at each other for several seconds, he knocked again…boomp-boomp-boomp…with his tail. Didn’t take his eyes off me the whole time.
And, about his eyes; they convey so much awareness, it's borderline disturbing. Cats look intelligent. You can see intelligence in cat's eyes, and dog’s eyes are very expressive. Charlie looks aware, and that isn’t quite the same thing. When he looks at you, you feel like a person is looking at you.
There’s a few other things that are very unusual about Charlie, like, the way he holds his tail – up along his back with the tip of it pointed at the back of his head – he follows me ev-er-y-where and watches every freaking thing I do, intently, and he doesn’t meow, he says “beepa,” like one of those old bicycle horns, and “eep.” And his voice is really high-pitched and squeaky, like an old bicycle horn, the ones with the bulb that you squeeze and they go beepa-beepa. It sounds just like that. He doesn’t make those sounds a lot. A few times a day: when I get up in the morning and whenever I come out of the bathroom.
But, starting about 3 days ago, he
…man, I don’t even want to say it. It sounds crazy. It sounds like a total lie, but…
He talks. Charlie talks. He does. He says 2 words, and they’re not high-pitched and squeaky. He looks right at me and says them softly and clearly.
“Hi. …Hi, you.”
I am not pulling your leg. And I’m not imagining it (I’m almost positive). The cat has said this to me 5 times over the past 3 days.
The first time, I was feeling crappy, hurting real bad and had to use the wheelchair most of the day, so I went and laid down on the bed for a while. After maybe 5 minutes or so, Charlie jumped up there and slowly walked over to my head, and just stood there looking down at me. So I reached up and scratched behind his ear, and whispered, “Hi, Charlie.”
And Charlie whispered back, “Hi,” paused a moment, and said softly, “Hi, you.”
Now, I thought maybe he was trying to meow, you know, like the other cats. So I meowed. And he just stood over my face and stared down at me like a gotdam person. So, after a moment, I meowed again. And he sat and stared down at me, like he was losing his patience or something.
So I said, “Hi.”
And Charlie said “Hi.”
And then he jumped down off the bed, and walked down the hall with his tail pointed at the back of his head.
(P.S. I yelled after him, “So am I supposed to make you a cup of coffee in the morning, or what?”
)