The Tale of a Cat Collar With Bell

Boo

He was a pint-sized black kitten with a touch of white; a blind, small, slight creature when I first rescued him that dark winter day in the cold barn. When, months later, he regained his strength and a little more growth, I gave him his very first cat collar with bell. Boo loved it and would shake his little head just to hear his cat collar with bell jingle. Many years later I was to find out that he was a Tuxedo cat and considered by experts to be very clever. Boo was indeed cagey enough to achieve the removal of his cat collar with bell and not a couple of times, to lose it as well. Of course this sent me searching the entire trailer for his cat collar with bell and scrutinizing each blade of grass outside for it. I usually managed to find the cat collar with bell for him again. 

Poor Boo, he genuinely missed his cat collar with bell the few times he lost it; so much so that he'd follow me out of doors to help look for it. As he grew older I had to extend his cat collar with bell for him. Boo didn't care for this because he wasn't wearing it and he insisted on having his cat collar with bell close by so he'd play with it and grab it out of my hands. Later, when another of our cats would try to play with his cat collar with bell, Boo would give them a whack and take it back. The cat collar with bell was his and his alone; no one was allowed to touch it! He was certainly not about to part with or share his cat collar with bell; that was just understood. After we'd had him for several years, Boo traveled with us on that memorable seven day road trip across Canada, that I'd like to forget, when we moved from Alberta to Prince Edward Island. I had the cats in my van so I was privileged to listen to a constant barrage of complaining and his cat collar with bell whenever he moved or shook his head, which was often! 

Boo was very disdainful of his bath time since it meant separation from his favorite toy, his cat collar with bell for the period of the bath; a long interval for him. It typically happened that he would reach over with one paw (his dry paw) and snatch the cat collar with bell when I was otherwise occupied. He'd drag it into the water and play with the cat collar with bell while I shampooed him. Well at least it kept him busy so he didn't mind as much. It quickly proved quite impossible to separate him from his darn cat collar with bell when it was sopping wet and set to dry on the register; he'd sneak in and steal it! Before long I'd hear the jingle of the cat collar with bell and discover Boo playing with and dragging it about the house. 

On occasion I had to mount a reconnaissance when they roughhoused in the basement and a loud, angry yowl would go up; Boo got the cat collar with bell off again but one of the other cats had absconded with it. My retrieval missions for the cat collar with bell were routinely successful and Boo was, to his great delight and to the peace of the rest of the house, was happily reunited.

After we lost him a year ago, I kept his cat collar with bell as a living reminder of a very special cat who once graced us with his special friendship and shared our lives for awhile. I miss hearing his cat collar with bell. So much so that every now and again I almost think I hear his cat collar with bell dinging faintly through the house. I still go looking for the sound only to find his cat collar with bell still hanging right where I left it. I miss you, Boo.

Here is to one of our best friends, our unique Tux cat Boo; in memory of him and his cat collar with bell.

Catspaw