by Rio LaCour
In 1986, a stray cat we came to call Miracles had a litter of kittens in a friend's yard. Unfortunately, her mother's boyfriend (NOT a cat lover) found the litter first. He placed the babies in a garbage bag and threw them into a busy road. I found only two left alive. Being only a few days old, the babies didn't have much of a chance. One died only a few hours later. The other, a male long-hair, I named Nanki-pu the wandering minstrel after a character in The Mikado. He was a strange thing, having no other cats anywhere to teach him the things cats do. He didn't purr until he was almost a year. And since I was in college at the time ( and no one is poorer than a college student) , I had two choices: either I ate cat food or Minse ate my food. Needless to say, The first two years of his life Minse lived on french fries, Steak-um sandwiches, and 7-11 nachos (with jalapenos). Over the years Minse and I had many adventures. We lived in Florida, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Missouri and Ohio. He fathered one litter before he was "fixed" with a siamese cat named Genevieve. In the early '90s I began a private kennel called Sanctuary where over 30 feline companions, as well as ferrets, hamsters, birds and snakes lived following their rescues from various "bad places". Minse survived three devasting rounds of feline leukimia, along with his companion Putter, a brain-damaged tuxedo who had been badly abused. In the years after Sanctuary, a bad marriage, false friends, poverty and my own personal nightmares never seperated Minse, Putter and myself. Everything and everyone that came and went never changed our little family. Then in '98 we lost Putter to advanced age. Minse was still here, and now new friends filled our home. He became a grandfather to Dot-Dot's kittens, Allura Danaan and Deucy. With the addition of Spawn and Sir Hiss (a burmese python) our family was again full. Now a new fiance for me, and a new home in Pennsylvania. Fat and fluffy (and just a little grumpy), Minse now had many titles : Cantankerous old fart, Senile old bastard, Grumpy old man, Tough old bird. But always he was my best friend, and the last survivor of Sanctuary. In September of 2000, Minse became ill. He lost all his weight, dropping from 15 pounds to 5 pounds. His lovely fur started falling out. He withdrew from the others and started hiding. He was hospitalized on September 24 for blood tests. He had gone anemic. After many treatments, force feedings and tube feeds, I was told on September 29 that as soon as he began to eat on his own I could take him home. That night the vet's assistant re-examined him. The next morning she called me with an ugly word: CANCER. His mouth, toungue and throat were polluted with tumors. Inoperable, and unresponsive to steroid treatment. i only had one choice, a choice I never thought I would have to make. I said goodbye to Minse at 8:00 pm September 30, 2000. Alone in the room, I had one final vision : Minse and Putter, fat little kittens again, chasing butterflies in a green growing field. In spite of that terrible day, I felt myself smile. I know not if this vision was true. My last words to Minse were "Tell Putter I'll be home soon." And I have to think that he did just that, and wanted me to know. A new baby has taken up residence with us, but little Lexington will never take the place of my last friend. I continue my service in the name of Bast, protecting her children in this world. Goodbye, Minse...I'll be home soon.