A few years ago, this cute, scrawny marmie tabby started hanging around our house. We assumed he was a stray, but he was very friendly. Then he showed up with a collar (no tags, though). Ends up he was the companion of nearby neighbor, Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews (and some of his grown kids, grandkids, etc) lived in several houses across the street. Mr. Matthews was a retired fire chief and general everyone-knows-him kind of guy.
I don't like to see cats outside - at least not in an urban setting such as ours. I see enough dead critters in the road to know what happens to kitties who aren't street-smart. So the fact that this kitty (I think someone said his name was Chase, but it totally doesn't suit him) kept crossing the street to hang out on our porch made me nervous. But it's not like we could just steal him and lock him indoors. Besides - he seemed to like the fact that this little part of Montgomery was his turf.
Several years ago, I was at home during a day off from work, and I heard the rumble of trucks - lots and lots of trucks. From the upstairs den I looked out the window to see a line of fire trucks, draped in black, coming up the street, all their drivers and passengers in full dress uniforms. I found out the next day that it was a funeral procession for Mr. Matthews.
I believe this wonderful kitty still has a home with the Matthews kids, but I think he likes to hang out on his own, hunting moles and chasing groundhogs and birds. Only after Mr. Matthews died, when Ghetto was looking scrawny, did we start to feed him. Cats, after all, are territorial. He'd hang out at our place whether we fed him or not. We chose to feed him when we're blessed with his presence.
We called him Ghetto after a few "conversations" he had with our youngest, Dobby, through the sliding screen door. It was as though he was telling the "kid" about life on the streets. For some reason, Joe and I thought that "Ghetto Kitty" talking to young, naive Dobby was the funniest thing we'd ever heard. And so Ghetto stuck, and it suits him just fine.
5 comments:
I have this image in my mind that "ghetto kitty" should be character on South Park - I don't know why, it just seems to fit. But having met Mr. Ghetto personally, I can say he is a fine addition to life on the porch!
I can't wait to sit and knit on that porch! You'll be lucky if Lorena doesn't try to take it apart board by board and bring it back to Gainesville.
The wood would have to fight for space with the yarn in my bags. Unless... maybe I could dump out some of my friend's yarns in their bags, and put the wood there! Yeah! LOL!
Knowing all that Joe and Beth put into their porch, and knowing just how awesome a "room" it has become, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say they would fight you tooth and nail if you tried! But then again, knowing the kinds of friends that they are, too, they'd probably insist that instead of you taking the porch, you just come and visit more often!
Reading these comments only makes me want to read your blog more to find out about this beautiful porch.
Ghetto is a beauty as well. I really think the name is quite cool, and fitting since he isn't your inside kitty. He is gorgeous. You should take more pics. Orange cats are kinda rare, and are supposed to mean goodluck. :)
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