Meow, meow, meow!

“There’s a black and white cat laying on its back in the middle of your parking lot. I thought it was dead, so I poked it with a stick and then it ‘meowed’ at me.” It was Joe, our maintenance man, coming in to tell us the potentially grim news. But, when my wife and I walked outside to look, the cat was nowhere to be seen. About a week later, when I walked out to my car after work, there was the little black and white cat, on its back once more, feet sticking straight up in the air, lying motionless in the middle of our parking lot. “Poor little fella,” I thought to myself, “He did die after all.”

Stray cats were always running amok in the alley behind our office, especially after one of the neighbors had torn down that old garage a couple of months earlier, where literally dozens of stray cats had set up housekeeping. This little guy, who I estimated to only be about six months of age, did not make it. “Probably for the best anyways,” I figured. Another neighbor was all the time rounding up as many strays as he could carry and dropping them off at the local shelter where, no doubt, most were immediately put to sleep. Most shelters, due to limited capacity, can only keep so many alive to, hopefully, be fostered out. With mass drop-offs like that, the vast majority just don’t ever stand a chance.

I looked about for a stick to help move his body out of the path of my vehicle, so I could go home for the night. As I touched the stick to his lifeless little body, “meow!” “What the…?” I jumped back startled. “Meow, meow, meow!!!” he said more emphatically this time. Fortunately for me, his indignance at being so rudely awakened was quickly replaced by his friendly, fearless inquisitiveness towards the rough beast that had stirred his slumber.

We rushed him off to the vet who estimated him to actually be about one year old and said he was rather malnourished. Additionally, his ears were damaged from mites. Otherwise, though, he was very much alive. Initially, we named our new family member, this little tuxedo cat with the boatload of personality, “Meme” (2 syllables) in honor of my wife’s maternal grandmother who had passed away one year prior. Eventually, though, we all came to revere him as “Batman,” due to both his persistent, “in your grill” fierce inquisitiveness and also due to the Batman cowl-like marking that he bore.

Over the past ten and a half years, Batman has grown to be liked, loved, or at the very least, tolerated, by all in our household. He was very close to our senior basset hound, Sarah, during her final two and a half years of life and was loved by our other basset hound, Wilbur, the wild puppy-man, until he passed away four years later. Batman mourned both of them when they passed. All of our other cats, and we have had eleven others throughout Batman’s time here, have grown to, at the very least, tolerate him, even the ones who don’t like cats! It’s never mattered whether it’s a hissing cat, a barking dog or a mischievous bunny, Batman has always gone face-to-face with them, a curious observer of the other, sometimes grumpy, residents of our household. We recently introduced two Corgi/Australian Shepherd puppies into our house and, true to form, Batman sits in the middle of their play area, curiously observing the rambunctious balls of fluff as they rough and tumble around, and into, him.

One of Batman’s more memorable behaviors was climbing into our underpants to sit while we would use the toilet. Everyone in our family found this to be so incredibly cute and endearing…until the time Batman peed in my teenage son’s underpants! My son never has completely forgiven him for that one. Lol! Batman is also a connoisseur of fine pizza, well, pepperoni at least. Whenever we bring home pizza from one of the local pizzerias, he sits on the warm pizza box until we give him his own dish of pepperonis with a smattering of cheese and sauce as well. But my favorite thing he does is how he always comes running, sprinting even, to enthusiastically greet me and hop onto my lap whenever he sees me come into the room. However, he demands that I sit with my left leg crossed over the right, never the other way around, so that he can settle in just right. After all, he is a superhero.

by jon m ketcham #jonmketcham

Author’s note: this story was originally written and submitted to Chicken Soup for the Soul for their Cat Lovers series in August of 2020. It was not selected by them and on February 24, 2021, Batman crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. There are pictures of him on my IG account @jon.m.ketcham