Smok(e)y the Cat
I was cleaning Marlene Tucker's swimming pool in the summer of 2004, July, as I remember. Marlene (RIP) was quite a character, large and loquacious, quick with a smile and happy greeting. Not surprisingly, she was a popular waitress at the original Rite Spot restaurant, which occupied the middle room of Pete's Bar in Neptune Beach, and later at Singleton's in Mayport. Marlene fed feral cats. There were 30 to 40 of them occupying her back yard at that time. It was disturbing, but I put myself in "You can't save the world" mode, when I cleaned her pool.
So one day, when I approached the pool, all the cats scattered, as they usually did, except one tiny bedraggled black kitten, with her eyes closed and weeping goo. I thought she was born blind, and agonized all week until I returned, about how God could let a living creature come into the world like that. All the cats scattered again except for the black kitten, who had her eyes open and didn't move when she saw me. There might as well have been a sign in the sky, "David, take the cat!" $800 later after the emergency vet cleared an intestinal stoppage and treated her for various other ailments, Karen and I took her home. She weighed 8 ounces and would fit completely in the palm of Karen's hand. Her fur was blotchy and her tail looked more like a rat's tail than a cat's. She looked like the result of copulation between a bat and a monkey. With love, special care (Karen took her to work for a month), and a few more visits to the vet, she became healthy.
Smoky's first (and last) bath
Coming from a feral brood, even at 2 to 3 weeks old, she had a wild side. She would tolerate something she didn't like briefly, and then go native. Our regular vet asked us not to bring her back, after she was full grown. God bless Mary Cleary, our local mobile vet, for looking after her. We told Mary to do what was most important first, and when Smoky flipped, the visit was over. I would weigh her in the house with both of us on the scales.
At the time of this writing, Smoky is 15 1/2 years old and looks and acts half of that. She climbs effortlessly up a slanted ladder to a loft (for security, privacy, and to get away from Sadie Hawkins, the dog). She uses a switchback method to navigate the steps, going up and down. She weighs @ 8# these days.
November 19, 2019.
