She was a cat who found her place in life. Weak, skinny, dirty and abandoned, she
found Roni (my niece) in the parking lot of a supermarket, I believe. Roni took her home. Later, for some reason I have either
forgotten or never knew, Roni couldn’t keep her anymore, and took her home to
my sister, who at that time was dealing with a very young doggie, Nikki.
In time, Penelope got her health and strength back, and
after a few months was ready to get to know Nikki, a love, but very large dog
(a mix of who knows what) with a lot of energy. They chased each other endlessly. You would have thought them eternal
enemies… until you saw the evidence that it was a game. When Nikki stopped chasing Penelope,
Penelope was furious. She would
pester Nikki until Nikki took up the chase again. Later, they even slept together, in my sister’s bedroom.
It wasn’t Penelope’s time to go; she was about 9 or 10 years
old. A very independent cat -- is there another kind? – but every
day she was outside waiting for Larry, my brother-in-law, to come home from
work. She was there in his parking
space. Of course, she knew the
exact time he would arrive.
Penelope often visited the neighbors, an elderly
Japanese-American couple, who would feed her. Speaking of food, of course Penelope preferred Nikki’s
dogfood to her catfood, and Nikki had to eat chicken freshly cooked by my
sister, since Nikki doesn’t care for dog food.
I cannot imagine the next time I go to my sister’s
house. Penelope was buried in the
backyard.
Life’s unfair.
