Story Portrait of Wacky

This is Wacky’s story:

Wacky was my best friend when I was a little girl in Missoula, Montana.  I don’t remember much of her kittenhood, but she must have been adorable – all cream with dark brown smudges on her ears, nose, paws and tail.  But by the time I was 4, she was my very bestest friend in the whole wide world. 

She taught me how to climb trees, waiting patiently on branches while I scrambled up to catch her. She showed me hiding places in the raspberry bushes where we had secret picnics on summer afternoons. She was always patient and loving.

Once, I had a great idea. I knew that birds hatched from eggs… and that chickens were birds and that we had chicken eggs in our refrigerator. Birds sat on their eggs to keep them warm so they would hatch. I thought if I just kept the eggs warm, they would hatch! So I got some eggs from the fridge, found Wacky’s secret sleeping spot behind the sofa, and put the eggs under her… so she could keep them warm and they would hatch into baby chickens. She was a little surprised, but she sat on those eggs (most of the time) for at least a month. Alas, there were no baby chickens and the eggs got brittle and cracked and smelled horrible! But Wacky never wavered in her patience and love.

She was my confidante when my parents divorced. She snuggled with me after bad days at school. She never scolded or told me I was stupid. But would gaze at me with so much love in those big blue eyes, I couldn’t help but love her.

One day she followed me to school. She had never followed me anywhere before and as a 6 year-0ld, I thought this was the greatest, so I encouraged her. I thought she would wait for me and we’d walk home together. But she was gone when I got out of school. And she wasn’t at home, either. She never came home. My best friend was gone.

I hope she was picked up by some kind person who gave her a good home. I still think of her, all these years later, and remember her patience and purr.