the adventures of suzanne

i've been with my mama for over 15 years. actually 15-1/2. i'm old enough for a learner's permit, but she just won't let me behind the wheel.

before my last ben crossed the rainbow bridge, we'd plan how we would swipe mama's keys to take the car for a spin. ben--who liked lots of attention--said he'd steer. cuz i'm kinda shy, i agreed to work the pedals (no, not like a bike...the 'zoom!' and 'stop!' pedals). we never did do it. ben left me last year. the new guy that mama got doesn't have any fun ideas about driving or any other adventures. he's not always very nice to me...the big galoot. it's probably cuz he's still practically a baby; he's only 3.

anyway, this is my 'baby story'. sometimes at night, mama tells me this story to help me go to sleep. she rubs my tummy and holds me close while she talks.

she says that i was born in a garbage dumpster in olympia in the summer time. the woman who brought the newspapers found me with some other babies and a mother kitty. the woman rescued me and brought me to my mama. my mama couldn't take all the babies because she already had 4 other cats. she chose me.

i lived with mama and the other kitties for a few days. i didn't know that my mama was going to be so good to me, so i stayed away from her for awhile. i cried a lot. one day, mama came and picked me up while i was crying. she talked softly to me and held me. i looked into her eyes. i was so surprised! it was my own mama looking at me. i stopped crying right then. i snuggled close and purred.

even with the other kitties around, i spent most of my time with mama. i didn't like to go outside. loud noises scared me. deep voices scared me. i was ok when it was just me, mama, and the other kitties. if we had company, though, i hid. i learned to pull the box spring lining loose so i could hide inside the box spring. mama always found me.

one time, we were moving into a new apartment. mama had brought me and ben over early. i got scared and tried to jump up onto the closet shelf. i landed on top of the hot water heater and slid face first down into the triangular hole behind it.

did you know that full hot water heaters are super heavy? mama had to find a maintenance guy to drain the heater so it could be moved and i could get out. she was really scared and almost cried.

another time, we were living in a tiny cottage at the beach in maine. i was scared of all the noises of the people walking by all time. i found my safe place to be: up on top of the shower stall, where the cottage was unfinished. she was scared when she couldn't find me. then i called to her and reached out my paw, and she found me!

once, we lived in a house. i would jump from the bed to the edge of the dresser, and then up onto a shelf in the closet. mama put a pillow up there for me to sleep. i liked to be up high and cuddled in, all nice and cozy.

the best--or maybe just the one that makes mama laugh--is when she put a cable tv box on top of the tv on the dresser in her bedroom. the cable box was warm! and i'm miss warm-and-cozy! i slept on top of that cable box until mama couldn't turn on the tv. she lifted onto my closet shelf and pulled the cable box down to see why it didn't work anymore. she expected to find the vent covered with orange and white fur, or the inside filled with that same fur. she was so surprised to see that it wasn't fur inside. i had left her a present after i had groomed myself a little too well (i got sick). she told me that it cost her $25 to get a new cable box. i wasn't allowed to sit on the new one.

that's part of my baby story. i like to hear it when we're cuddled together under the covers getting ready to go to sleep...when i'm miss warm-and-cozy.