Last Call
Pleszczynski, Wlady
lasT call Shades of Blue by Wlady Pleszczynski A t some point during the shrill and shameless attacks on Sarah Palin, I didn’t bite when I read that on top of everything else...
...You might say he has something in common with Sarah Palin...
...By morning they wanted out for a day of solitary hunting...
...But Mr...
...Bluey (that’s the new guy’s name) sits on my chest and pets me, scraping the whiskers off my beard with his sandpaper tongue...
...And they now eat from the same plate, atop the counter, at safe remove from our minidachshund—who’ll be hurt that I’ve only now mentioned her...
...You see, I’ve just been accused of being a cat-hater myself— all because my wife and I recently purchased a purebred instead of adopting a cat from the local shelter...
...But as he’s aged he’s become nicer and even sleeps on our bed at night...
...And if you saw how those cats were kept at the shop (one was actually asleep in his litter box), you’d have liberated them too...
...Plus he eats up all his special cat food...
...And what did we get in return...
...lasT call Shades of Blue by Wlady Pleszczynski A t some point during the shrill and shameless attacks on Sarah Palin, I didn’t bite when I read that on top of everything else “she hates cats...
...He arrived by plane shortly after Labor Day...
...Certainly there was no corroborating evidence, nothing along the lines of the shabby treatment Mitt Romney meted out to the family Irish setter during a vacation trip some decades ago...
...Not to stray too far afield (like my wandering setter invariably did), I think no matter what the truth, Gov...
...He remained grateful the rest of his days, which ended in the dark of last winter...
...Sometimes they’d come in for a midday snack, but mainly they’d wait until sundown before joining us for their main meal...
...It was like this: Back in the fall of 1996, our boys fell in love with two Abyssinian kittens they saw in a pet shop...
...Our older son was aghast—how could we do this to the senior cat...
...The ruddy, it turned out, was more of a homeboy...
...Supposedly these beauts were half-brothers, one a ruddy, the other a blue...
...The little guy in turn samples the big guy’s turkey...
...One thing I wasn’t prepared for...
...A friend expressed alarm that we actually paid money for them...
...A great companion, yes, and loyal, but he just wasn’t big on emotional displays, other than always rubbing against my legs when he came in, or flying after me if I left for a walk...
...Cancer...
...No way he could bereplaced,butwhenthetimecameweknewwe’dget anotherblue.Buttrytofindone.Whichweeventually did—on the other side of the continent...
...As far as I was concerned, the backseat was his natural habitat, with both windows rolled down if that was his preference...
...He weighs too much and never seems to smile...
...So let me hastily add that no one greeted the new arrival more enthusiastically than the doggie, her maternal instincts kicking in immediately (her wagging tail was the giveaway...
...A tiny little thing, but with more personality than a gaggle of New Yorkers...
...To this day he’s always within calling distance, allowing his prey to come to him...
...The old boy pretty much ignores him...
...Emergency surgery saved his life—it was only when we picked him up the next day that the loving look in his eye told us that he knew who we were...
...Can I say something in my defense...
...Or at least with Piper Palin...
...The little guy licks and hugs her, with both paws, and jumps on her back...
...Two gentle cats who never liked to be held or sleep on a lap...
...He’s something else to observe, a perfectly gorgeous creature...
...Back when my family had an Irish setter, I would have sooner ridden in a crate atop the roof myself than subjected him to such cruelty...
...Palin’s reputation is safe with me...
...Once he crawled back home badly mauled and infected...
...His departure left an awful void...
...Or at least plead extenuating circumstances...
...Our late blue, as I mentioned, wasn’t a hugger...
...86 THe amerIcaN sPecTaTor November 2008 The blue, by contrast, preferred to go on safari, sometimes disappearing for days...
...It’s a nice bit of theater and heaven combined...
...No problem, as it happens...
Vol. 41 • November 2008 • No. 9
