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by Marmalade
I am an old orange tabby cat named Marmalade. I have an interesting
story to tell about my mother (she happened to be named Sassy),
who is gone now and in cat heaven rolling in catnip all day.
When she was just an annoying little kitten, she was bought by a
young woman and her new husband from a family friend. However, the
couple soon went through hard times and had to sell their house
and move into an apartment. They could not keep my mother with them,
so they turned her unkindly out into the streets of the town they
lived in: Petaluma, California, USA, a small town on the Petaluma
River north of San Francisco, in the wine country.
My mother wandered the streets for a long time before an alley cat
she met told her about a house where she could go. So, my mother
found her way to the house--and old Victorian in downtown Petaluma.
Cats were everywhere. My mother thought she was in heaven.
Turns out that the lady who lived in the house was known as the
cat lady, and she had a home where cats could go and be safe for
a while. In the beginning, she had tried to find homes for the cats,
but usually didn't succeed. So she just let them stay at her house
and get a free meal.
About two years after my mother arrived there, the health board
got a complaint from a neighbor--one of many that had come before.
That complaint was the straw that broke the camel's back. The health
board came down and told the cat lady that she had to find homes
for all the cats within a month--or pay the consequences, which
I can't even say without getting some unpleasant thought.
The health board said she could keep 5 cats--no more. The cat lady
couldn't choose between her cats, since a lot of them were only
on her property for meals. So, she just advertised selling them
and was going to keep the five she had left when all were sold.
The end of the month began get nearer, and soon only three days
were left. So were six cats, my mother being one of them.
Then one of the leftover cats was sold, and my mother got to stay
at the cat lady's house. My mother was happy there for about two
years.
Then the cat lady died.
Her relatives had to decide what to do with all the cats because,
of course, there were more cats than six because of all the kittens.
My mother was pregnant (with me and some of my siblings!) at the
time. They put her with the (in)Humane Society.
Right before we were born, she was bought by a college student who
wanted some company in the house she was sharing with four friends.
When we were born, I was lucky enough to stay with the college student.
The others went with the other people of the house.
Now I live with the college student, who is married and has a child,
and my mother recently passed away of old age. She was a good cat,
and lead a great life.
I feel lucky to be her kitten.
Marmalade
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