Tallulah Belle

Our little cat, Tallulah Belle (aka Vilula Velcro), has gone to kitty heaven. She was a most loving little thing, part of the Willie-Sam-Harvey-Tallulah litter before Gracie was finally spayed. We had a small feline population explosion back in 2002 and I'd get so attached to them, I couldn't give them away. Willie was a cow-cat, too and his mission was to come and escort my nineteen-year-old cat Woodie to the Rainbow Bridge. Willie left us about a month after Woodie in 2003. We knew he was an angel kitty because of the two halo rings on his tail. Sam was an all-black kitty with a shy, but sweet disposition. He passed away a couple of year ago; the vet said that this whole litter was smaller than average and had problems typical of inbreeding. Lula was a lover - and when you'd pick her up, her little feet just seemed to velcro on to you - clothes or skin - she wasn't particular. She was also a big snuggle-bug and you could always find her on top of a cat heap. Her favorite sleeping partner was her grey tabby Uncle Charlie, who is a good-natured grump. It's hard to imagine that Charlie (his twin Walter and their sister, Lucie Bee) turned twelve this spring. Lula's socially inept brother Harvey is still with us. He's a cow-cat and a klutz. He's never quite gotten the hang of jumping up on anything; he either bounces off or you can find him hanging on for dear life by his claws. For a while we called him Youssarian (too much Meerkat Manor!) because he'd sit like a meerkat and his fangs would show - and of course, he - like Youssarian - had some social problems. He stole one of Oprah's kittens once and Tim came home to find me chasing Harvey around the house yelling, "Drop that kitten, you little bastard!" Harvey did eventually drop the kitten, who miraculously survived - but our mother/cat relationship was rocky for a while after that. I was seriously worried that Harvey was a closet terrorist and was trying to start an Al Catta cell right there in our happy household! Eddie, our head boy, stepped in and provided Harvey with anti-terrorist deprogramming and now everyone gets along just fine. We will all miss Tallulah but I'm sure her buddies were waiting to welcome her into the fold.