Our next several flashbacks will take us back to the summer of 2006. We were living in a furnished 2 bedroom house on NAF El Centro, waiting for our house to be built. Back then, the base had a serious feral cat problem. A whole colony of them lived in the bushes in front of the commissary.
Whenever we shopped, Coree would peak through the branches to see if she could catch a glimpse of any of the kittens. There was one in particular which she felt confident she could get to. She even bought some cat treats with her own money in an effort to lure him to her.
One of the snowbirds who bagged groceries took this somehow as a sign that we actually wanted to make this cat our own. How on earth he came to this conclusion, we'll never know. At any rate, the next day we dropped by Cliff's work on the way home from the movie theater to find that this man had captured the kitten in a borrowed kennel and dropped off said kitten in Cliff's building. After we got over our initial indignation, we decided to let him stay with us on a trial basis. We were already cramped, but what's one more when you've been living the trailer trash lifestyle?
Look at those little faces! Coree named him Lil' Smokey.
And this is where the cat spent 90% of his time...on top of Coree. He was like an appendage.
BTW...I did NOT like those ears. He looks like a jackal.
Brownie was SO curious about this cat, she could hardly stand it...but he was having nothing to do with her.
We were taking turns playing with the pencil, trying to get the cat to get nearer to Brownie.
Then Cliff tried feeding them treats together, you know, hoping that breaking bread forges bonds in animals just like humans. Eventually Lil' Smokey figured out that Brownie wasn't going to eat him.
This cat just creeped me out! Look at those eyes and ears. He looks sort of alien like.
Coree just doted on him during the few weeks that he stayed with us. (Apparently, the bed isn't good enough...he needs her pillow AND his bed.)
Brownie would just settle for the bed!
Unfortunately, things didn't work out and we had to take Lil' Smokey to the Humane Society, where they assured us he'd get snatched up. The timing was all wrong. There was really no place we could keep his litter box in the temporary house that he could access it but Brownie couldn't...and Brownie didn't get the fact that it was a litter box...not her own Easy Bake Oven. This coupled with the fact that he had a real scratching problem (like carpets and furniture) made for a deal breaker.
At least he was saved from a life of foraging in the commissary dumpsters. Hopefully he was adopted by a family more suited to his style. Maybe some sci-fi fans?
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