More Tigger

I am going to post two chapters today as the first one is rather dry.....

Chapter 2 - The Set-up

So, I am going to borrow a leaf from the wonderful writer James Michener who authored such novels as ‘Hawaii’. Mr. Michener often used the first chapter of his book to ‘set up’ the stage for the words to come. I shall endeavor to do the same for you now.

The area:

My abode was in the Westville section of New Haven.

Westville is rather an oxymoron….. Whalley Avenue, where I lived, is a dividing line of sorts. To one side, the projects and the dorms of the local college….This section was rife with all the things one might expect of projects and college housing. Sex, drugs, rock and roll….. etc. The other side of Whalley Ave is lined with homes and a few that could be called ‘estates’. Quiet streets, well-off families, even some ‘Executive Housing’ – apartments generally built to rent to traveling businessmen for terms of weeks, days, or months.

The building I was in was bordered by Whalley Ave on the front, and a very quiet little side street on which stood the local phone company office, a church, a fire house, and a library.

The parking lot for our building was off this quiet side street and fairly well lit. The back door led to a long hall – the hall had its own baseboard heat complete with a thermostat. My apartment was at the end of this hall on the left.

The abode:

The building I lived in had 3 floors. The first floor, the second floor and the ‘garden apartments’ – one of which I lived in. “Garden” as a nice way of saying ‘basement’. My windows were the kind that were put into houses built in the late 50’s and early 60s – screen on the outside, four panes – two on the top and two on the bottom. It was a fairly quiet building with all the occupants being generally quiet and reasonably friendly.

I should mention that this was an ‘early 60’s’ design apartment – intended to be a ‘luxury’ affair. This meant that it was ‘total electric’ and had such amenities as a dishwasher and an air conditioner.

 When one entered my apartment, one was in a short hall with two closets. The one on the left held the hot water heater. The one on the right was a coat closet. Directly past the hot water heater closet was the entry to the kitchen. It was a small but cozy affair – brown appliances (a very popular color during the 60’s. The kitchen and hall both opened into the living room. To the left of the living room – a hallway with a bath on the left and my bedroom directly in front. The bedroom had a huge walk-in closet which could have easily been another bedroom.

The bathroom was a delight – for an apartment. I had a full vanity sink with a long medicine chest with sliding doors and a mirror above. The vanity held many, many things…. Deodorant, the usual plethora of feminine fripperies and perfumes, make up of every shade and brand, facial cleansers, moisturizers etc., and, of course, the ash tray. Yes – at this time, I must claim that filthy habit  -UGH!

On top of the toilet tank stood a wooden shelf unit which contained soaps, Kleenex and various other sundries. The bottom shelf contained a large box of q-tips. (Yes….there really is a point to this.). The tub had the usual shampoo and cream rinse assortment, sponges, loofas, razors, etc all strewn around the tub ledge.

The hamper was in the bathroom. This was Cuddles perch – upon which many games of ‘Beaver Slap’ were played.

The walk-in closet I usually kept closed off. It was a vast storage area for many things OTHER than simply shoes and clothing.

The Car:

Yes, the car DID play a part. It was the only car I have ever bought brand new. The department of motor vehicles and I strongly disagreed on the color of this car. They insisted that it was ‘brn’. “BRN” – are you serious? ‘BRN’ implies brown…. Dull… unimaginative… boring… and my car was NOT boring! The color was CINNAMON! Yes – the color of the stuff you put on TOAST! YUM! It was a 1984 Buick Skyhawk. These were called ‘J’ cars – which refers to the body style somehow. (didn’t look like a J to me – but maybe it just meant that it came before the ‘K’ cars? (Reliant K etc)?) In any event, the car was a 2.0litre 4 cylinder with a standard shift (4speed). The interior was a RICH chocolate (nope – that was NOT ‘BRN” either!). The bucket seats were cloth covered with headrests that were, of course, much too high for this very short woman. And no – I was not bright enough to purchase this car with air conditioning… sigh…

So – there you have it…. Where I and my fur-children resided. Needless to say, with Whalley Ave ( Ct Rt 63) outside my front door, my fur-children were NOT allowed to explore the outside….

Chapter  3

So, my fur babies grew and grew. And of course, soon it was time to consider neutering them. Cuddles – being the older – was first. Uneventful…. Other than it was totally traumatic for him. And me.

If you recall, I mentioned that there was a thermostat and heat in the hallway.. Frequently during the winter, those of use in the ‘garden’ apartments  would open the doors to our apartments, close the doors at either end of the hall, and utilize that heat instead of turning up the heat in the individual apartments – as the individual heat was difficult to regulate and often ended up being uncomfortably hot.

Across the hall from me lived a nice young man with two female cats. I with my two boys and he with his two girls – often let our ‘children’ play together in the hall.

Just before I could neuter Tigger, this young man went to visit his family for about a week. and asked that I ‘babysit’ his two girls – which I readily agreed to. His two girls were in the same condition as my two boys – one spayed, one not.

 Okie was part Sphinx I think. No fur. And in heat. Tigger was old enough to ………. Well… you know. But he didn’t. As a matter of fact, he was completely clueless. So, Okie thought that  she could SHOW him…

She called and called and called…. And over came TIgger. She laid on her tummy putting her tail as far up in the air as she could… pushing her backside up. She wiggled. She squirmed. She wiggled underneath him. He nibbled her neck. And she yowled harder…. And then – he went to play with his ball….

So she called again…. And called and called and called. And over came TIgger. She laid on her tummy putting her tail as far up in the air as she could… pushing her backside up. She wiggled. She squirmed. She wiggled underneath him. He nibbled her neck. And she yowled harder…. And then – he went to have some crunchies…..

So she called once more…. And called and called and called. And over came TIgger. She laid on her tummy putting her tail as far up in the air as she could… pushing her backside up. She wiggled. She squirmed. She wiggled underneath him. He nibbled her neck. And she yowled harder…. And then – he went to take a nap…..

And so the weekend went….

Somewhere in here, I realized that neutering Tigger would probably be a kindness….