Before I married philb, I shared a house and a life with another man, and a varying number of cats. Victoria Elvina, the eldest, was a regal, totally-black lady who ruled the household with an iron paw. We lost her in 2001: found her lying on the ground outside, having died some time during the night.
Her daughter, Myrrah, was a tabby and white cat of very little brain, and a timid personality. It took her three years to decide I was Not Monster, and not long after I left to decide I was Monster again. She died last week, of cancer, and I mourn her loss. She was a spoiled Madam of a cat, with a most unsettling start in life: she was one of two litters that Vicky was carrying simultaneously, with the wrong litter being born first. She was the only survivor of both litters, and both Vicky and her were nearly lost. She was often called ‘miracle’.
Myrrah
My ex is now left with two cats – both of whom were my fault. Talen, the eldest of the two was a cat with two mothers, as he lived with two queens, one of whom had lost her litter and was helping to raise the other’s. His name is taken from a character in the Elenium, by David Eddings – a boy with two mothers. Admittedly, my Talen isn’t a thief and an artist.
Talen
Cobweb is the survivor of the pair of kittens we adopted in 2001. His brother, Puck, was hit by a car at the age of 6 months
Puck is the sleeping white kitten, and Cobweb is the black kitten. They were so named because at the time, I was living in an old (AD1697) cobwebby house and the night he arrived, he kept hiding in corners and coming out covered in cobwebs. It was then very difficult not to call his brother, a little imp who got into everything and everywhere and generally caused chaos, Puck. They were two halves of the same cat, and Cobweb was devastated when Puck was killed.
I will miss Myrrah, for her tantrums (think a feline Violet Elizabeth), her pretty nose, her fearfulness and her purr.
