Gyver's story.

" There are many intelligent species in the universe. They are all owned by cats."- AnonymousAs Leo Dworken says, no amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat. Gyver was a very good cat. The very best. I still miss him...but shhh, don't tell Issi!

Like most of our animals Gyver had personality & to spare. He was half grown when we got him, already at the gangly, adolescent stage. Our neighbours found him on their waterfront, half starved, with a fish~hook through his tongue. Obviously he'd been hungry enough to scavenge anything ~ including bait! They removed the hook & fed him & that was about it. The wife didn't like cats & though he did he was looking for another home for the cat to keep the domestic peace. I'm a sucker for cats, particularly blue~eyed cats, especially anything with Siamese in them. Yes, I know they are loud & raucous but they are incredibly smart animals & Gyver was a very smart cat.

Being Siamese he was not adverse to taking the long walk to the point with the boys. He knew jolly well there was bait in their buckets & that before too long there would be fresh fish as well. He would prowl from child to child keeping them company, chatting in the way only a Siamese can & reminding them that he was available for the feeding of tid~bits. When he was sated he would curl up in the warmest available spot & go to sleep for the day. When evening came I often had to hike down to the point & carry Gyver home myself.

He had the sweetest nature. He was not a cat to bite & scratch, no matter what the children did but he had a wicked sense of humour & never was it more evident than with a friend of Liddy's.

Liddy has always had friends who were boys. Something to do with having lots of brothers I guess. Anyway when she was about 5 her very best friend was a boy & I used to have the two of them regularly for the whole day.

Liddy's friend was a very nice little boy but he had a Siamese cat himself so he promptly & incautiously began teasing Gyver. Gyver, being a sweet natured cat, spent the morning with his fur on end from being lept out at from hidden corners & surprised. In the end I decided Gyver needed a break & the children needed to expend some energy in more constructive pursuits so I took the children for a walk.

We walked all the way to the end of the road then we began wandering home through the mangroves along the waterfront. A mangrove walk is always something of an obstacle course, especially if you have a mix of mangroves, as we do: buttress roots, spiky roots, cathedral roots, hoop roots. The children were well occupied just negotiating a path home.

All of a sudden a white shape lept out of the scrub. All 4 feet spread wide Gyver bounced up at his tormentor smiling manically then streaked for home! Seriously. The child nearly died on the spot. He let out an unearthly shriek then tore after the cat but the cat was smarter than he was & was nowhere to be found.

I stumbled after the kids nearly paralysed with laughter.

I acquired Gyver for me ~ & Joss promptly snavelled him ~ though Gyver was pretty impartial in his affection. Everyone was loved equally [unlike Issi who adores me alone!] but in his older age he was very much Liddy's cat because she wanted it that way.

I dream about him sometimes: the silkiness of his fur; his raucous greeting; the volcanic rumbling of his purr & I miss him in the mornings. He was always the first one up & he greeted me with delight, mewling about my ankles while I prepared his breakfast. Issi thought Gyver was a god & adored him lavishly, mimicking some of Gyver's quirkier habits. Losing him was really hard & though Issi eased the pain somewhat he is a very different cat. Gyver understood deprivation & he understood gratitude. He loved impartially without reservation. I learnt a lot about unconditional love from a cat.