When I left England and began travelling, there was of course no room in my life for such luxuries as having
pets. But after about 8 years, I finally settled down and made a home in Copenhagen. It had been many years
since I had been owned by a cat, but for me they have always been an essential part of any home. One of my
friends had seen some grey kittens in his back yard and offered to catch one of them. He did and she became
Mini, a tiny, confused little bundle of fur who developed into the most wonderfully sleek and loving house cat.
Apparently there had been a mother with 5 kittens living in a shed in their back yard, all entering and leaving
through a tiny hole in the door. As soon as he saw them all out together, he rushed out and grabbed the
slowest mite, who got squeezed out by the others in the rush. She was in actual fact probably way too young,
perhaps 5-6 weeks old.
Mini grew up, and when she came in heat she became completely impossible, screaming and howling day and
night, and constantly sticking her rump into our faces or anything else that moved. We decided to let her have
kittens before we got her sterilized. My brother in law at the time had a big orange "Tom" cat that he offered to
“lend” us. So the male cat was brought round to see if he could ease the “itch”. He certainly could, there was
instant understanding of the problem, and he got straight down to work. I would like to believe that the kittens
were conceived while Mini was lying across my slippers! She had a habit of sitting on my feet while I sat and ate
breakfast, but on this day old orange boy decided that there was no time like the present! What a commotion
and caterwauling there was that morning!
We followed the pregnancy closely, and arranged a nest for her in the bottom drawer of a chest of drawers.
She gave birth to 3 kittens, unfortunately one still-born. The remaining two were as different as chalk and
cheese.
The female, Josephine, was a scatter-brained little tortie, always curious, always getting into scrapes. Batman,
her brother, was quite a different kettle of fish. Black as the night, staid and ultra careful, he almost seemed a
bit dim sometimes, but he grew up to be a very beautiful and intelligent cat.
It was summertime, and the windows to the yard were normally open most of the time. For the first week or so,
Batman just sat in the windows surveying the scene. No attempt to go out, just sitting apparently daydreaming
but, we realized later, actually checking out the opposition. One evening, Batman decided that the time had
come. He suddenly disappeared out of the window like a streak of lightning, instantly followed by the most
amazing screaming and howling I have ever heard from cats fighting. A few minutes later, Batman hopped back
in, and calmly took up his old position at the window, and licking his paws continued his vigil. It seems that he
had used his time to check out who was “top dog” out there, and when the time came, went and sorted him out
once and for all! We never saw the faintest sign of a strange cat in that yard ever again (almost)!
Poor old Batman was often getting into scrapes, always through absolutely no fault of his own. We still
occasionally had problems with one of the wild cats in the beginning. He would wait until Batman wasn’t
around, hop up into our window and mark out his territory. This REALLY annoyed me. So one day I decided to
teach the intruder a proper lesson. I thought that I had seen him in the yard (he was also big and black), and
when I saw a black shape hop into our window, he got a whole bucketful of water right in the face. Unfortunately
I wasn’t aware that Batman was out too, so it was he who received my little present. Poor fellow, he just
COULDN’T understand what had happened and wandered around for a quite while in a daze. On another
occasion we had a visit by a girl with a little baby. The baby was lying on the bed getting his nappy changed
when Batman decided to check him out. At that very moment the baby let out a huge stream of diarrhoea which
hit Batman right on the head. He stayed well away from babies from then on!
Another time I was awakened early in the morning by one of our neighbors. “Your cat's out here on the stairs”
she says. “Thank you very much” I said, and sleepily let the big black cat in. He wandered straight into the
kitchen and began eating. I return to the bedroom, and who wanders out but Batman! I luckily managed to get
the intruder out before Batman saw him, otherwise I’m sure the fur would have been flying! Some cats do have
a lot of nerve.
After my divorce, I got the cat(!), and Batman was a wonderful companion through troubled times.
Unfortunately he developed a kidney ailment and had to be put down when he was about 12 years old. I
decided then that I would not have cats again, since nothing could compare with my darling Batman.
But eventually I would. But that is a different story.
| Batman, the "Not-so-caped" Crusader by Jonza (used by permission) |
| Batman |
| Josephine |
| Mini |
| The Batman |
[I received the above story from a reader who resides in Copenhagen, Denmark. Except for minor editing on
my part, it appears as I received it in its entirety. "Jonza" (now deceased) was a professional graphics
designer -- thus the photograph of Batman on the electronic equipment. -- D.T.]
my part, it appears as I received it in its entirety. "Jonza" (now deceased) was a professional graphics
designer -- thus the photograph of Batman on the electronic equipment. -- D.T.]