Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Scout

Scout was born in 1995 in the closet of my home on Grim Street in North Park. He was the most outgoing of the litter and so therefore an obvious "keeper". Like his mother, Sunflower, and siblings, he loved people and never passed up an opportunity to get some love from someone. Before he was even full-grown, he had my neighbors convinced he was a stray and worthy of their morning cereal milk. What a stinker!

For some crazy reason, he used to jump up onto the sink when I was in the shower and paw at the shower curtain. More than once, he decided to jump up to the shower curtain rod and teeter around for a few moments. I easily imagined the chaos that would erupt if he fell into the shower on me. Yikes!

He was an avid hunter and I enjoyed watching him sit very still under the bird bush for hours, ignoring even the shaking of the treat can, until it filled up with unsuspecting chirping morsels. In fact, he loved being outdoors so much he chipped his front two canine teeth jumping out my second story window onto the driveway below (on two separate occasions!). After our move to our Alabama Street home, he still managed to bag a bird from the safety of his screened patio every now and then.

In our new house, Scout took immense pleasure in tormenting his new roommate Beck, got stuck in the walls and crawlspace during our varied construction projects, and took every opportunity to make a run for it when a door was left open a crack.

I'll never forget the look on his face when we brought Jacob home from the hospital. He ran over to sniff that strange creature in the baby carrier and then gave me a look that said "just try to replace me." In the end, he was surprisingly tolerant of the arrival of the babies, enjoying their warm cribs every chance he got. As toddlers, they each got their fair share of swats and bites but they learned how to treat animals with respect and love. I think they thought of him a just another brother.

Our beloved cat Scout died January 20, 2008 after a mercifully short battle with cancer of the liver. Although 12.5 years seems so short now, and I really expected him to live forever, he had a very good life and was a truly remarkable cat.

No comments: