Cat Tales - KIM!

8 April, 1998
Houston

KIM!
                                                                                        金

KIM at my Grandparents

For nearly all of the Sixties, my mother was dating an Air Force Colonel. He was by no means a "softie" and not the kind who I'd imagine to be interested in cats. But for some unknown reason, one day, a propos of nothing, as my mother would say, he decided to buy us a cat.

I know I had never indicated I'd like to have a cat. I had lost my second pet, my white rat, Missy, two years before, so this little fellow was not intended to replace her.

However it was, on July 25, 1966, we went to some house across town and purchased a tiny, white cat. (I'm guessing that person place an ad in the paper, or was a word-of-mouth deal). To be technical, it was a Siamese Seal Point. He was little more than a kitten when we bought him.

金I had read a Classics Illustrated comic book version of Rudyard Kipling's "Kim" and thought that it was a good name for a cat from Southeast Asia. The folks seemed to like my choice, and so Kim it was.

Mom & Kim at Parkchester

The little furry fellow was to have a rough time of it at first, though. We had him only a coupe of weeks when Kim began to get sick and weak. It was the fight of his life: he caught distemper, a malady often fatal to young animals, producing high fever and chills.

We all thought we would lose him in those dark days. He curled up next to me at night to keep warm, and I awoke frequently to check on him... and to make sure he had not died. I made the mistake of mentioning that I felt sad because we had only had him for a very short time, and here he was about to die, and I hadn't even taken one picture of him. Andy cuttingly remarked that we only had to wait a bit, the cat would die, and we could lay him out and take all the pictures we wanted of him.

I recall lying down on the floor of the bathroom, and he'd come snuggle up for warmth. We had the ceramic tile floor completely covered with towels so he wouldn't be cold.
Well, the kitten fought the good fight, and in a few days, he was much better - eventually making a full recovery. He began to become the lively, curious, playful kitty he should have been. And soon enough I did get to take my pictures of him - not in death, but very much alive - in his favorite sleeping spot: in a basket atop the refrigerator! That's right - not under the bed or in the corner! Kim had a lofty perch high in the kitchen where all the action was! From this vantage-point he could supervise the most interesting of things. It was also close to where his food was, and it only took a meow and he was up or down.
With Kim, it was often difficult to tell who was the pet!
 

金From up there, Kim enjoyed the kitchen and all its culinary operations. he particularly loved to watch my mother do the dishes. (Always fascinated ME!) Later on he figured out how to climb up onto my mothers' shoulders and whenever whe sould begin to wash, he'd come running, and dig his claws into her skin to get traction. Did it hurt! Itwasn't so bad when he was small, but it used to kill her when he got big. I could always tell when he used her as a staircase: my mother would utter a few not-necessarily-mild expletives. Unphased by all the shouting, Kim would settle down as if he belonged there, on top of Mom's shoulders, ready to oversee the kitchen chores!

金Kim had a funny way of sleeping - I guessed it was typically Siamese: he would sleep on his arched, paws outstretched, and his hind legs sticking way up in the air. It was too funny! Another way of sleeping was curled up tight in a ball. When awakened, he would often purr and give me or my mother a cat-bath with his sandpaper-tongue.                                              金
The danger from distemper past, and with my absence for over a month, Kim began to bond with my mother. At night, though I wanted him to sleep with me, he'd stay for a little while until he thought I was asleep. Then he's sneak out from the covers and go off by my mother.

My understanding is that Siamese typically choose one person in a household as their favorite - and Mom was his.

                                                               Kim's first visit to my grandparents'.                                                              
金