Meet Phantom, the proud owner of Anne Stuart...
I wandered onto the property of my pet, Anne, one fall afternoon. Foolish girl, she had an excitable dog and another cat at the time, and I was going to poke around and then move on when the daughter of the house appeared with cheese. I cannot resist cheese. So I allowed them to lure me in and what do you think the first thing they did was?
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| Phantom & Anne |
Of all the indignities.
However, I was more than a year old at the time, maybe closer to two (I didn't pay close attention, living on my own like that) so I figured a warm house and nice human pets were worth a couple of testicles.
I quickly showed the other cat who was boss—the same with the silly dog, and claimed Anne as my particular pet. I like to crawl on her chest and shove my nose in her face—she calls it my "hello kitties."
Sigh.
I do like to sleep on her stomach at night. I just curl right up and go to sleep, and fortunately she's learned to sleep that way as well. I'll settle for Richie if she's away on a trip, but I do prefer her. She's softer.
I'm not sure I'm crazy about the name they gave me. When I'd slip around outside they called me "The Gray Ghost," which had a certain amount of dignity to it, and then they changed it to Phantom as a temporary moniker. Unfortunately they took one look at my face, which, as you may notice, has one side dark and one light, and decided Phantom would remain, since Anne's sentimental and loves Phantom of the Opera. I forgive them, though, because they adore me, feed me Fancy Feast and never put me off their laps. When I'm sitting on Anne (or occasionally Richie) they make the other one go and open the door so I'll get up on my own.
Silly humans.
But they do know how fond I am of open doors. I've never met one I haven't adored. I can walk in the front door and go straight out the back if it's open, which confuses Richie. Anne simply says "he's a peripatetic kitty" and I thank God she didn't name me that.
All in all, they're pretty special, as pets go. I think I'll keep them.
Phantom
The boss of my last set of cats was also named Phantom -- Phantom of the Opera being her full name. She was a tuxedo cat with white splitting her face. I got her and her sister Peach (started life as PJs, short for The Cat's Pajamas, somehow turned into Peach) when they were 7 weeks old. Of all my 13 cats, Phantom lived the longest --18 years, 8 months.
ReplyDeleteI love the name Phantom! I hadn't thought of it as a cat's name until Anne's post and now after reading your comment Patricia I think I may have to use that for one of my fictional kitties! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAnd 18 years, 8 months is amazing! My oldest, Smalls, lived 17 years, 4 months. I was really hoping she'd be around a little longer, but cancer got her.