Icy, The Calico Cat With Cancer

Chapter One: The beginning of my story

Let me introduce myself. My name is Icy, and I have a really cool job. Some days I get to enjoy a lazy day curled up on my soft bed soaking up the sunshine, but there are a lot of days when I am very busy. Every morning when I wake up I arch my back and stretch and yawn and curl my little pink tongue. Then I put on my halo and wings and get to work. You guessed it - I am an angel kitty, and I get to watch over little animals on earth to keep them safe.

Take Boomer, for instance. He’s an absolute scamp! He’s a scruffy little dog some nice people rescued. Every time his human mommy’s back is turned, he’s into something. For the most part, he’s pretty good, a little stinky after he comes in from outside, but okay for a dog. His people laugh at him all the time – even when he’s being slightly naughty. When they open the door he’ll come running in and zip down the main hall in a mad dash. If mom has just mopped the floor, look out! He’s going to go skidding into the back wall. And he knows this will happen every time! Personally, I think he likes the attention it gets him. But we’ll get back to Boomer soon enough. I want to tell you my story. [cartoon of Boomer skidding into wall – stars, etc]

I haven’t always been on duty on Cloud #764. I was once down there on earth with my very own human family. I was born in the summertime in a place called South Carolina. I had a bunch of brothers and sisters. My mom was great. She was warm and soft, and she had a purr that felt soooo good when I snuggled up to her.

We had a nice home a lady made for us on her sun porch. I learned to stretch and jump and chase dry leaves from the plants that sat on the shelves in the sun. We climbed in and out of the plants like they were our very own jungle. [cartoon of kittens in plants, chasing leaves] Sometimes it seemed a little crowded because we kept getting bigger each day, but we didn’t care. Our Mother told us that we would soon be big enough for homes of our own. She said we needed to show other people how delightful we were and how much love we had to give. I wasn’t sure I knew what she meant, but moms know best. [mother cat talking to Icy and others]

Soon after that, the mister-man in the house took us to work with him one evening. He was an auctioneer, whatever that meant. I could hear his big voice saying silly things really fast like, “Who’ll give me fifty? Who’ll give me fifty; there’s fifty, how bout fifty-five? Fifty-five on the floor, fifty-five, fifty-five, now going, now going, there’s sixty, sixty on the floor, who’ll give me sixty-five, sixty-five, sixty-five, going, going, going, gone. Sold to the man in the yellow hat!” Strange language, indeed.

Then he announced that they had a door prize for someone with ticket number 37. The man with ticket number 37 stood up and came to the platform and stood by mister-man. Mister-man’s big, warm hand reached down into our box, scooped me up and cuddled me against his chest. He looked at ticket number 37 and said, “Son, you can’t resist an adorable Calico like this one. She looks like a match made in heaven for you and your wife.” Everybody at the auction giggled and laughed. The young man stepped even closer, and his large hands with very long fingers took me ever so gently and held me up. He was a tall young man with red hair and a bushy red beard, but I could tell by the look in his eyes he loved animals. He held me close to him and talked to me so I wouldn’t be scared. I have to admit that I was a bit frightened – he was so tall, and it was a long way to the ground for a little kitten like me. I peered over his shoulder and said goodbye to my brothers and sisters. I mewed, “I hope you find a good home. Take care. I hope I will see you again, someday.” [young man with red beard and white sailor suit – auction scene with auctioneer handing over kitten – people laughing in background]

As we walked away from Mister Man, the young man rubbed me against his red beard and said, “I think I’ll call you Isis.” I thought to myself, “What kind of name is Isis? I look more like a Snuggles or a Sweetie-Pie or a Fluffy-Girl. Come on, give me a cute name that fits my cute little face.” But he picked Isis, so now I had a new name and was heading for a new adventure. He told me, “Little Isis, you are going home with us. How’s that sound? Home. You have a home.” I meowed to let him know that I thought that sounded nice. His wife held me in the car on the drive to my new home. The car ride was sort-of scary. In fact, the idea of a new home was sort-of scary. The thought that I wouldn’t be sleeping with my mother or my brothers or my sisters was sort-of scary. But he told me to be brave and said he was sure I would love my new home.

Home with them was different than my first home on the sun porch – I had the whole house to myself! The hallway looked like it was a mile long. I spent weeks exploring my big, new home. I jumped. I climbed. I turned flips in mid air while they laughed. It was great. [cat turning flips with string]

Early one morning, the young man with the red beard put on his white suit and kissed the lady goodbye. We didn’t see him for several months, and we really missed him. The lady always told me that he would be back soon. She would tell me how glad she was that I was there to keep her company. [I later found out that the young man with the red beard was a sailor in the United States Navy, and he was on a submarine underwater. Now, isn’t that just too cool?] [maybe picture of sub under water / maybe at his post with picture of wife with cat on his desk]

The weather turned cold as the weeks passed. The lady told me it was Christmas time and any day now the sailor would arrive. Sure enough, the day came when the doorbell rang, and his big, shiny patent leather shoes clicked on the kitchen tile. We spent the evening putting up a little tree that I thought was just for me. They put gifts underneath it and placed pretty things all over it. I got fussed at for batting at the ornaments and the shiny lights, but I did it anyway when they weren’t looking. I had no idea this tree was different from other trees. It was only for the Christmas season. Christmas is a wonderful time for humans, but I found out it would also be something for me to remember for the rest of my life. [cat playing with Christmas ornaments while they decorate]

The next afternoon the sailor and his wife packed me up and put me in the car for a ride. They were talking about going to visit family far away in Texas. They told me it was a long ride from South Carolina to Texas. Texas sounded funny to me. I didn’t think I would like it. I slept most of the way on that long, mysterious trip.

I woke up from my nice, long nap to discover that the car had stopped at the door of a large white house with a big front porch. I thought, “Thank goodness we’re finally there.” I needed to run and stretch. Besides, car rides generally meant that I ended up at the vet’s office, and I didn’t like those trips any more than I liked this one. [welcoming scene]

We were greeted at the door of the big white house by a lady the sailor called Granny. Granny hugged and kissed everybody. Granny took one look at me and said, “Oh, how cute. I think I have someone here for you to meet.” As Granny turned around, there she stood. A little girl with long brown hair, big hazel eyes with little bitty glasses perched on her little bitty nose. She was wearing a little red checked dress and she had little dots on her nose, kind of like some of my dots in my fur. She was adorable, and she asked if she could hold me. She was introduced to me as Tina. Her little, tiny hands took me. She snuggled her nose into my neck and I started purring just like my mom used to. “Wow!” I thought, “I’m purring! When did I learn to do that?” [image of Tina from photo when introduced]

Tina carried me all around the house that first day. She held me in her lap while we watched TV together that evening. And when it was time to go to bed that night, she snuck me into her room and let me curl up on a pillow. She stroked my fur until we both went to sleep. I started purring again. It was purrfect. I thought to myself as I drifted off, “I really like my sailor and his wife, but I feel something special for this little girl. I wish we could take her home with us and keep her.” [snuggled on a pillow beside sleeping child]

The next morning we woke up to a house full of people. Tina carried me everywhere so I wouldn’t get stepped on. There was another tree with lights and ornaments and presents in this house too. I thought it was absolutely great. There was a lot of laughter, music, singing and a whole lot of noise with everyone talking. You could tell they loved to be together. I didn’t think I could have had so much fun in that place called Texas. I didn’t want it to end.

But the day came when my sailor said we had to pack to go back to South Carolina. I looked at my sailor and thought, “Oh, please, can we pack the little girl? I would take good care of her. I promise.” About that time, another lady with red hair walked into the room to say goodbye to us. Her name was Cheryl. Cheryl was Tina’s mother and she was my sailor’s sister. That would explain the matching red hair, except she didn’t have a big red beard like my sailor had. They talked a while. I even heard my name mentioned. Then Granny came to say goodbye to us.

Granny said, “Oh, Cheryl, see how cute they are together. Surely you’re going to let her have a pet?” Cheryl said something about being a little worried making a change in someone’s home . . . going away from home, something about . . . WAIT A MINUTE! I just caught on! I was going to get to keep the little girl! They all seemed to agree and my sailor took me in his arms and asked me a question. “Isis, how do you feel about living with Tina?” I said to myself, “Oh, yes, oh, yes, oh, yes, oh, yes!” Then he said, “Do you mind staying behind to live in Texas with Tina?” I thought, “Oh dear, Texas? Away from you?” I had to think for a second, but then I looked into Tina’s big, beautiful eyes and mewed a very happy, “Yes.” [sailor talks to kitten] [Tina takes kitten and hugs her]

Tina was so happy she squealed. She took me in her arms and we were together from that moment on. I knew then why the Christmas tree was special. You can have all those presents under the tree with their fancy bows and colored paper. I got the best gift of all. A special person all my own to love. I got Tina.





Chapter Two: Life with Tina

Tina quickly taught me several new games. My favorite was called “I see Isis.” Tina would hide around a corner and call me and I would sneak up quietly to surprise her. The minute she spotted me she would say, “I see you. I see Isis.” Before long, the game changed to “I See I-cee” and so did my name. I became known as Icy Kitty. I rather liked that. Tina would say my name in a little sing-song voice and I thought it was really cute. But, then again, I thought I was rather cute.

We also played ‘chase the string’ and boy, was I fast. She bought some busy balls with bells in them for me to roll around. After I chased them around during the middle of the night a few times the bells seem to disappear. I don’t know what was up with that.

Oh, but my life was so good. Every night I would get to curl up on the pillow next to Tina. I slept right beside her. The minute I knew she was about to wake up in the morning I would start purring. I learned to purr real loud, so if Tina tried to roll over and pretend she was still asleep, I would crank up the volume so she would have to get up and pet me. Sometimes she would roll over and mumble, “Icy, be quiet. I want to sleep five more minutes.” I was better than an alarm clock. Cheryl never had to call her twice. I would get closer and closer and breathe on her and purr as loud as a tractor. I did my job real well. She never got in trouble for sleeping late while I was on duty.

On a cold night in February, we had a guest show up on the porch of the big white house. He was a large, Orange Tabby cat with very long hair. He was very big, but very quiet. Cheryl said he was sick. He had pneumonia, which sounded very bad to a little cat like me. They took him in to the warm house and got him some medicine. I felt so sorry for him – he was so sick and didn’t look too happy about taking medicine, but he took it anyway. Cheryl kept telling him it would make him feel better. [the discovery of Puddin / giving him medicine]

It took him a while to get well, and by then he was another member of the family. They named him Puddin because he was the color of butterscotch pudding. He could barely meow after being so sick, but he seemed like a good guy. He and I soon became best friends.

Puddin and I had a lot of happy times. I was glad I had Puddin for my friend. If Puddin hadn't been there to keep me company I would have been very lonely during the day while Tina was in school. We would spend the day washing each other’s faces and curling up for naps together. We had games we played. Oh, it was the best two years you could have asked for…..that is…….until the dog arrived.

They told us they were getting a puppy. What they came home with looked like a fuzzy horse. She was an Alaskan Malamute named Shadow. Cheryl told us to be sweet to Shadow because she was a baby and was only two months old. TWO MONTHS OLD? She weighed 22 pounds and had feet bigger than my head! This was no baby dog. She even tripped over her own big feet as she came over to sniff me. I wanted her to know who was older and who was the boss, so I arched my back up high and gave her a real good hissing. Puddin and I laughed so hard when she turned her tail and ran yipping to Cheryl. We never did let her figure out that she was bigger than us. For years we ruled the roost. I was the boss, and that dog knew it. Even though she weighed over 100 pounds after she grew up, I remained queen of the house. [image of Shadow as pup compared to man’s work boots / then Icy hissing at puppy with puppy running away]

Time passed and the huge dog named Shadow had puppies. She had four boys and four girls. Every one of them was bigger than me, but I didn’t care. Since I was older than Shadow, I knew she might need help with that noisy brood. When they started to learn to eat on their own they made the biggest mess. They put their big feet in the bowls. They tipped the bowls over and walked in their food and smeared it all over their faces. Shadow would lick their faces clean and the puppies would have to wait in a playpen until everyone was clean and ready to go to the porch. They would whimper and cry after they were put in the playpen, so I gently crept into the playpen and snuggled with the puppies. I would purr softly, and they would get quiet. I was a good babysitter. I didn’t mind that they were dogs. All animals need to be cared for, especially when they are babies. [image of Icy in the play pen with the puppies]

The years flew by. Tina grew up to be a lovely young lady getting ready for college. She was going to study to be a ballet dancer. She would practice dancing all around the house. She would sail through the air in her pink ballet shoes like a fairy dancing on the wind. She would leap as far as I used to do when I was younger. I told Puddin that I was the one who taught her how to do that. I think he really believed me. [ballerina shot]





Chapter 3: Wretched Gretchen

Christmas after Christmas went by. Puddin and I started a tradition every year of moving the presents under the tree to make room for a place to hide. We would tap the ornaments on the lower branches of the tree until they dropped off. Then, we would gather them in our nests we’d made under the tree. Whoever gathered the most ornaments before Cheryl caught us was the winner. [two varmints caught in the act]

The years went by so fast. Before we knew it, all the puppies had grown up enough to go to homes of their own. Shadow was in heaven watching over us, and Tina was old enough to work at a grocery store in the evenings while she was going to college.

One year, we woke up on the day after Christmas just like we did every morning, yawning and stretching and playing with our new stuff we got for Christmas. It didn’t seem to be any different from any other day. While we thought that morning was no different than any other, evening came with what I considered to be a terrible, terrible thing. Nothing could have been more awful to an aging pair of cats like Puddin and myself than what happened that night. Nothing could have prepared me for this. Nothing you could do would have made me happy about Tina’s arrival after work at the grocery store on that night. She came home with another puppy!

She told us somebody left the puppy outside the grocery store. It was cold outside and the puppy was crying. Tina said she just couldn’t leave the puppy there all alone, so she brought it home. Cheryl said it looked like a German Shepherd puppy. I thought it just looked like trouble. They named it Gretchen. It cried most of the night. Then it woke up at two o’clock in the morning and thought we should all play. I told Gretchen to go back to bed and leave us old folks alone. She would not give up. She was a pest from day one. [Tina with puppy]

Gretchen spent the better part of her days chasing us. I think she even liked it when we hissed at her. She had a game she invented called ‘bump the cats’ which we certainly did not approve of. She would come running at us, lower her head and bump us hard enough to roll us over. Not at all our idea of fun. If Cheryl caught her doing this, she would shout, “Don’t bump the cats.” Gretchen would just wait until Cheryl wasn’t looking and – boomp – there we’d go again. Puddin and I gave the dog the nickname of ‘Wretched’ Gretchen.

If Puddin and I wanted to play Chase the String, Wretched Gretchen thought she had to be in on the game. Her big feet would come pouncing down on the string, and she would snatch it up in her big teeth and take off with it. She nosed in on every game we had. She didn’t respect nap time, either, and I think I’ve told you how important nap time was to a couple of old cats. We would just get comfortable on the sofa and guess what? She would jump up on the sofa with us and mess all the cushions up! And she was always sniffing us with that cold, wet nose of hers. She pestered us as bad as the neighbor boy used to pester Tina when he pulled her hair all the time.

It felt like it took Gretchen forever to grow up. Even after she got older, Gretchen was still bugging us. But there was hope she would turn out to be a well-behaved dog some day. Maybe. Maybe not. [bump the cats image]






Chapter Four: The Calico with Cancer

By the time I reached the age of 83 in ‘people years,’ Tina was no longer a little girl. She was now a beautiful woman. One evening near Thanksgiving time, Tina came out of her room modeling a long, white gown. It was a bridal gown, and the beads twinkled when she twirled around. I had never seen anything so lovely as Tina that day. Oh, I was so proud of her. She was going to be a bride. We were going to have a wedding! Everything was so exciting with everyone rushing around, going to parties and taking pictures. We were so busy getting ready for the wedding I didn’t have time to notice how tired I was. [bridal photo with cat looking on]

I used to jump all the way up on to the back of the lounge chair – that’s about four feet high. But, lately, I just couldn’t seem to be able to jump that high to get to my favorite perch. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t very hungry, and I was too tired to play with Puddin. I preferred to sleep all day long. My stomach hurt. My head hurt. I just didn’t feel good anymore.

Cheryl and Tina got worried about me. They told me I was going to go to the Veterinary Clinic. I thought, “Oh, no, not the Vet. I hate the Vet. I hate going to the doctor’s office. Please don’t take me.” But they made me go to the doctor. They said it was because they loved me and wanted me to feel good again.

I don’t know why I was afraid of the Vet’s office. All the ladies were sweet and talked to me. Everyone would pet me and tell me how pretty I was. Sometimes I even got a treat, but I was always scared when the Vet first came in wearing that spooky coat. Then he would speak softly and sweetly and touch me gently to calm me down. He seemed to be a very nice man, but I was still afraid because I didn't know what was wrong and why I was there. He and Cheryl talked for a long time in very quiet tones. I was tired and didn’t feel well. I just wanted to go home. I kept hearing the word cancer. That sounded terrible to me. What was cancer? Was that why I was there? I looked at Cheryl and Tina and meowed, “Take me home. Please.”

The vet looked at me and said the word ‘surgery.’ Everyone seemed upset by this word. One of the sweet ladies that worked for the vet picked me up and carried me to the back of the clinic. I could see Tina’s face as we left the room – she looked so sad. As we turned the corner I realized I couldn’t see Cheryl anymore. I couldn’t see Tina anymore. Was I going away for good? Oh, dear, what was I going to do? Even though the people at the clinic kept telling me not to be afraid, I was very frightened.

Then they came with needles to stick me. They put me through all kinds of tests with machines that looked like monsters. They even shaved off my lovely fur. I looked awful and was afraid everyone would think I was ugly. I was afraid Tina wouldn’t love me anymore if I wasn’t pretty like I used to be. I wanted to cry, “Let me out of here.” But they didn’t. They put me in a place to sleep and turned the lights out. It was dark and lonely. I could hear other animals crying about being left there, too. Oh, if only I could help those other little animals like I used to comfort Shadow’s puppies when I would purr for them. I went to sleep that night purring as loud as I could. Maybe the other animals would hear me and know that they were not alone in this dark, cold hospital. That night I had a dream about the big dog named Shadow. I dreamed she was telling me everything would be okay. She said I would be just fine and I would probably be able to do all the things I used to do. I was going to be alright, and she said Tina was waiting for me to come home. Shadow said she would be watching over me. Just dreaming about my old friend watching over me helped me drift off into a deep sleep.

I don’t remember my surgery, but I do remember the morning Tina and Cheryl came to pick me up at the animal hospital. I was so glad to see them. They were so happy to see me, too. Tina cradled me in her arms and told me how much she had missed me and how much she loved me! Even though I was sore and my stitches itched and bugged me, I was glad I was going home. The vet told them that he had removed seven tumors from my tummy. He told me I was very lucky that they did the surgery. I was a very sick little cat, and the surgery was the only chance I had to feel better again. I still had to take yucky medicine and go back to the vet for check-ups, but I soon started to feel better every day. [need some sort of image]

As I got well I discovered that I was able to jump up on my favorite lounge chair again. Puddin and I played games and chased the string all over the house just like old times. I didn’t even mind the fact that I was getting very old. We would curl up and take naps together – and you know old cats take a lot of naps. As a matter of fact, young cats take a lot of naps. Let’s just face it, cats like to nap – that’s why they call it a cat nap when humans take a little rest during the day.

At nap time I would dream about all the happy things I could remember. I would remember when I took care of Shadow’s puppies. That made me feel good. I even thought about all those sad little animals in the animal hospital. I dreamed it would be nice if there was something I could do to help them feel better. I dreamed about taking care of kitties and puppies that needed to be loved. I thought it would be wonderful to help them feel cared for the way Cheryl and Tina cared for me.

During one of my naps I dreamed Shadow came to visit me. She looked just the way she did when she was younger! She said, “Hello there, old friend. How would you like to come with me to a marvelous place where you will feel young forever and can do anything you would like to do?” I told her about how I would like to take care of other animals and asked her if there was a job like that for a little old lady cat like me.

She said, “Why, yes. We need someone with a good and loving heart who can help watch over animals, just the way I watched over you when you had cancer.” I said, “Really? That was really you? I thought it was just a dream. I was so afraid, but somehow I knew that everything was going to be alright. Do you mean to tell me that I can do that for other animals?”

Shadow said, “Most certainly. We even have little animals that need to be guided while they are growing up. I’ve got this one little guy named Boomer - he kind of acts like Gretchen did when she was a puppy. He needs someone with a lot of patience. I nearly gave up on Gretchen, but she finally learned to be a lady dog. Boomer will be good too, with someone like you to watch over him.”

I thought about it for a long time. I knew I had a good life with Tina and her mother, Cheryl. I watched Tina grow up and get married. I gave her love and comfort when she needed me. She did the same for me, and I learned about being loved, even when you’re sick with something like cancer. I thought to myself, “I do have a big heart. And I’m cute and funny and I have lots of love to give. I’m also patient. See how well I did with Shadow’s puppies? I can do that for lots of little animals.”

So I asked Shadow, “If I go with you, does this mean I will never see Tina and Cheryl again?” “Oh no,” said Shadow, “You will always be able to see them. And you will always have them in your heart, just like they will always have you in their hearts.”

“Will they be able to see me?” I asked. Shadow looked a little sad and said, “Not exactly. But they will know you are there, and their memories of you will be with them always. They will understand because they know about the place I am taking you to. It’s called Heaven. They plan on going there someday, and we will all be together sooner than you think.”

I decided I was ready for a new job, and I told Shadow I would like to see this place she was talking about. Before I knew it, we were flying high up into the clouds. Up Up Up we went and, for once, I wasn’t afraid of anything. Everything was as beautiful as Shadow said it was in animal heaven.

So now you know my story. Here I am with my new wings and my new job sitting on cloud #764 looking out for……Oh My Gosh! I completely forgot about Boomer! “Boomer, no, no, no. Not the trash. Please don’t pull the trash can over again! Oh, now look what a mess you’ve made. Just look. And you’re smearing creamed corn all over the floor. Oh, you are really trying my patience this time.”

Well, I guess it is back to work for me . . . . . just remember, when something seems like it might be bad -- be patient. Things will turn out alright, especially if I’m watching over you.

I just wish I could say the same for Boomer. [image of Boomer with trash strung out]