Jackie

I know that this has nothing to do with cooking, but I just found out that my 21-year-old cat died when I was on vacation. I am very upset. She was a very good cat and I loved her very much, so I want to say something about her, because she had a very interesting life for a cat.

Jackie was born in April 1986, one of five kittens born to a three-legged stray cat that my family named Hissy (she was unfriendly and hissed at everyone). I named her Jackie, short for Jack-o-lantern, because she was a black cat with orange eyes, reminding me of pumpkins and Halloween. As a kitten, Jackie was very shy and unfriendly; she was the last of the five kittens that we were able to pet. Finally, though, she came around, although throughout her adult life she continued to be very nervous and extremely wary of strangers.

One Christmas night, I think in 1989, but I'm not sure, my mom let her outside for a bathroom break. She didn't come home that night, but that wasn't entirely unusual, so no one was worried. But then the next day, she still hadn't come back, and the day after that, and the day after that as well. Soon four weeks had passed, and we thought Jackie must be lost for good. But then one afternoon, five weeks after Jackie had gone missing, I came home from school, and both of my parents were home. Strange, my dad isn't usually home in the afternoon. They looked happy, and told me to go look in the kitchen. There was Jackie, lapping up milk from her little bowl! She was skin and bones now, her ribs showing, but she was alive! We guessed that she must have gotten locked in someone's garage and survived on water all that time.

As an adult, Jackie was tough, very muscular, and didn't get along with other cats well. She found her little niece annoying, and frequently scratched her nose.

As old age set in, Jackie mellowed out, learning to tolerate her niece, and even occasionally letting acquaintances pet her. She liked milk with her meals, and sleeping in the neighbor's backyard was a favorite pastime.

I feel bad because I usually make sure to pet my cats right before I leave for the airport, but this time I didn't, and now Jackie is gone. She liked to sit in my lap and purr, and I loved her.