Gypsy Lee & Räjer

One evening while working in the garage,

I heard a faint meow from out of the darkness.

I cried out, “Here, kitty, kitty!”

Immediately a lanky-looking Calico

darted into the garage.

With her little motor purring

she began weaving through my legs.

We gave our feline visitor 

some warm milk in a bowl.

I have always wanted a Calico cat,

and I could not believe this was happening!

She was skinny, but she was beautiful.

 

Since we couldn’t find out who owned her,

we decided to keep her and

gave her the name, Gypsy Lee Kitty,

and she became part of the family.

One day an unknown tom

paid a visit to Gypsy Lee.

What became of that rendezvous

was Gypsy Lee giving birth

to a healthy litter of three:

Cally, a calico,

Oreo, a black and white,

and Räjer, an orange and white.

Cally and Oreo were eventually given away to good homes,

but Räjer Kitty remained with us along with Gypsy Lee. 

Just looking at Räjer and Gypsy

you would never suspect

they were cut from the same feline fabric.

Their color, size, temperament, and

even their “meows” were different.

Räjer Kitty sounded as if he had a perpetual hairball

lodged in his throat.

His attempt to meow always sounded

like a pitiful “haah.”

 

Räjer loved to be held, petted,

and befriended anyone

who loved to sleep with

an orange and white fluff ball

weighing in over 13 pounds!

He would lie beside you

or on top of you;

it really didn’t matter to him.

 

Räjer was not into climbing up on windowsills,

tables, or countertops. 

While outside in the yard,

he might go several feet up the trunk of a tree,

and decide it wasn’t worth the effort.

His favorite view was the back of his eyelids;

catnapping was his favorite pastime.

 

Gypsy Lee, unlike her son,

was sleek, slender, and loved to climb.

She knew all too well the tabby taboos

and violated every one of them consistently.

Räjer, on the other hand, though not perfect,

was compliant with the tabby taboos,

except for one!

Now, Gypsy knew that the tabletops

and the countertops were off-limits.

Turn your back on her, and she was set

for another violation.

Whenever Gypsy Lee got caught red-pawed

on those forbidden places,

she would let out a guttural growl that

sounded like, “rarrhee,”

as she leaped to the floor in flight.

 

Once when she was accidentally locked in the bathroom,

so she dug up the plant on top of the toilet tank lid,

ripped the wallpaper, and

unwound several feet of toilet paper.

We had no idea Gypsy was accidentally imprisoned in there.

When I opened the door, she shot out of the bathroom

like a cannonball leaving the barrel,

making that indignant “rarrhee” sound. 

 

During the winter months

Gypsy would run  

up and down the length of the

hallway repeatedly at times.

We figured that she was just stretching her legs.

She would let out that eerie “rarrhee” noise

as she sprinted to and fro.

Those antics were a little creepy to us.

We suspected that she had some formidable issues!

 

Apart from the annoying

claw marks around the house,

our patience ended with Gypsy’s rebellious ways  

when our son was scratched on the head as an infant.

while he was taking a nap on our bed.

We heard our son crying, and

discovered that Gypsy had scratched his head!

The decision was made that very day

to find a good home for Gypsy Lee.

We found a young single woman

who was looking for a Calico cat as a pet!

The new owner understood why we were giving her away. 

So, Gypsy Lee was heading for a new residence.

Her new owner spoiled her rotten!

We could not be more pleased.

 

Räjer, unlike his mother,

never scratched anyone and

was good to our son during 

the majority of our son's pre-teen years.

We discovered that Räjer 

loved having people over to visit;

whereas Gypsy did not.

 

As good a cat as he was,

Räjer did possess a penchant for

peeing by the door leading

into the house from the garage.

I tried everything from

face-to-face talks,

spraying smelly deterrents around the area,

to “rubbing his nose in it” therapy,  

all to no avail.

He had the whole yard to go pee,

but apparently, he wanted to save it

for the litterbox in the house only.

I never thought about putting another

litterbox down in the garage...

It was challenging punishing a docile cat

who would let you throw him over 

your shoulders like a sack of potatoes

or hang him upside down without complaint!

 

The only other undesirable trait

was Räjer’s signature hairball.

With his orange and white long hair,

he would normally cough up

a big one once a week in the hallway.

This became most disturbing

when you stepped barefoot

on that moist and hairy thing

in the middle of the night!

Images raced through your head.

Räjer was wanted, loved, and cared for from day one,

which made all the difference to him and to us. 

Gypsy Lee came into our lives as damaged goods,

and in spite of the overtures of love and care shown to her,

she left the way she came to us that first night.

 

Cally, Oreo, and Räjer were never like their mother.

Our friend, who took Gypsy Lee into her home,

was excited and embraced her new pet.

We lost contact with our friend when she moved,

and we never saw Gypsy Lee Kitty again.

Cally and Oreo were given over to a loving home.

 

Before moving just south of Atlanta,

we gave Räjer to an old lady on a small farm

who gave him all the rats and room to be a cat;

I have always regretted that decision of giving up Räjer.

We lost contact with his owner, too, once we moved!

Ironic as it may seem,

in spite of Gypsy's coldness toward us,

she gave birth to three of the most loving cats

we have ever known...