My Sweet Halloween Kitty!

  By rights, Halloween cats should be fierce!  They should be scary-looking!  They should howl and hiss and take swipes at anyone who nears them.   They should not be sweet, loving kitties who want to be scratched on the ears and receive belly rubs.  But...my Halloween Kitty is just that.  While Ms. Nycto is not very useful as a mouser, she is adorable and has wormed her way into our hearts since the first day she showed up here on the Bayou.

  Back when she first came up to the doorstep seeking food and shelter, this cat was adamant about this being her home.  I tried to shoo her away.  "Go back home, Cat!" I pleaded.  I did not need another critter to feed!  She walked around the house and came back to the same door.  "Shoo!" I said again!  She walked the same path and came back for the third time.  Well, what could I do but feed her since she was so persistent.  Once the cat was eating, I tried to hold her. Nope...not happening!  She bit me!  Alrighty, then!  I immediately told Son that we were going to keep this cat.  It seems that I have several prerequisites for a cat to become a member of the family.  First, they must be black and second, they must bite me at our first meeting.  (Not really but that is how the first meeting of all the adopted strays has gone in the past.  We have adopted a string of black cats and all decided to take a chunk out of my hand at some point!)  Needless to say, Ms. Nycto became a beloved part of the Bayou Family.

  Since the passing of Ms. Put, the Bayou Queen, Ms. Nycto is slowly filling the reign as monarch. Even though the two cats would tangle occasionally, I think Ms. Nycto misses her rival as Ruler of the Bayou.  She seems to be constantly searching for the old cat.  Never before has she ventured up on the rooftop where Ms. Put spent a good deal of her time.  Nor has she roamed room to room all the while meowing.  She senses that the other cat is not here any longer but she is unsure of her new found royalty status.  

  This morning, I found Ms. Nycto had spent the night on the bench on the small deck.  She had slept by the fall mums under the watchful eyes of two steadfast owls.  Perhaps she knew she was in the perfect spot to be a Halloween Cat or perhaps she just felt safer with her two guardians.  My sweet Halloween Kitty!