This is Hector (formerly w/ a ‘k’, now w/ a ‘c’ to indicate he’s MINE). He used to belong to my sister. My sister has the landlady from … well, very hot climes. And said landlady, DESPITE my sister paying a pet deposit, is threatening consequence for her (totally legal) pets. So Hector came to live w/ us yesterday.

He has a new collar (turquoise, the traditional colour our family has been giving Siamese cats for the 50+ years we’ve had them). He has a new tag, w/ his new phone number. He has bowls, a brand-new litter box, and his own room to adjust in.

Lucky for us, Hector is verrry mellow. This is a cat that just walked out of the cat carrier, jumped up on the bed in the new house, & proceeded to roll over so you could give him a tummy rub.

He’s my gratitude today. Because it has been sooo many years

since I had a normal cat (and yes, there are such things.. at least  Hector reminds me there are less ABNORMAL cats). All my cats dating back many many years have been traumatic rescues — bitten by wild animals after being thrown from a car, dumped as a very young kitten, mother died and had to be hand-reared, etc. NOT NORMAL, even for the notoriously idiosyncratic feline species.

Hector,  on the other hand, is about as wonderful as you can imagine. A) he’s gorgeous — big silky Siamese w/ soft blue eyes. B) he doesn’t seem as… well, vocal as most Siamese. I can handle it, but my beloved would rather not. C) he likes to be be held!!

My cats, still suffering from the PTSD of strays & abuse victims, do not. They will suffer to sit on my chair, and verrry rarely let you head-butt them (as if you were an inferior cat). But Hector? He revels in being held, petted, played with. I spent almost an HOUR today batting him w/ a fishing rod bird! (Our current cat — Sophie — finds this the dumbest of games.)

And did I mention how mellow he is? Even the crazed barking of two mad French bulldogs doesn’t phase him. Well, not much, anyway. He just looks through the gate in the spare bedroom at them, w/ that lovely inscrutable superiority cats cultivate as soon as they open their eyes.

Let’s hear it for cats — those wonderful gifts that often turn up when you don’t expect them, may not even WANT them. And almost always when you need them.