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FRANKIE WEISS AND HER MAGIC by Daniel M Weiss
Chapter Nine continued A moment or two later, Johnnie’s attention suddenly peaked; birds were flying past the picture window and settling on my lawn. All at once a flock of perhaps eighty to a hundred birds flew past the window and Frankie noticing their flight left me and jumped to the windowsill. I got up and looked out on my lawn, the birds were busy pecking at the grass or seeds or whatever drew them to that spot. The inborn instincts of both cats were at work. Had they been able to get at the birds, I’m sure Johnnie with her sharp teeth could have caused havoc. I doubt that Frankie could have done too much harm; she forgot she was toothless as well as clawless, but she never forgot the hunting instinct she was born with. Cats take an interest in any animal that encroaches upon their territory. Even though house cats, hardly ever let outside, the green lawn was part of their territory and theirs to protect. All at once, in unison, as if some unspoken word to leave was uttered, the birds flew away. Frankie and Johnnie went back to their business of once more being contented house cats and doing what cats like to do, catnap on the living room rug. I left the room and went to my bedroom computer to finish the newsletter I had started the day before for my sister’s charity. It was part of my giving back and helping others less fortunate than us. After about two hours of working on the newsletter, I realized Frankie had not been fed since early that morning. I went into the kitchen and opened a can of chicken with tuna. While chicken was her favourite canned food, she did not shy away from the variety I kept on hand. I have often wondered which was stronger – her sense of smell or her hearing. However, upon hearing me plop open the lid of the can, Frankie suddenly appeared; ready to do justice to the meal I spread out on her dish. Putting it down on the paper towelling, I was rewarded with a “thank you” meow. In return, I ran my hand over the beautiful coloured fur she was blessed with; Frankie was already using her lips to pick up the food I had placed on her dish. A little while later, I went back into the bedroom to the computer when Johnnie made her appearance and jumped onto the bed and went to sleep on the cushion of my departed wife’s side of the bed. Johnnie was catnapping most of the morning, except for the episode with the birds, now more sleep was on her agenda. Somewhere, I remember reading the big cats (lions, cheetahs, jaguars, tigers, etc,) sleep about eighteen hours a day. Why should I be surprised that a domestic cat would follow that trait? We lovers of the feline animal all know a cat…is a cat…is a cat! It was late afternoon I was completing the newsletter, I felt a tapping on my right arm as I was hitting the keys on the keyboard, and it was Frankie. Standing on her back legs, she had raised herself to get my attention with her front left paw. On my swivel computer chair I turned around, there was the feline love of my life preparing to jump to my lap as she had done so many times in the past. Frankie had to prep herself to make the leap to my lap, an injury to her right hind quarter a few years earlier affected her jumping ability although it did not affect her normal walking gait. Frankie made the leap to my lap without undue trouble. Usually she’d turn around and seat herself with her front paws and chin resting on my arm. However this time Frankie put her front paws on my chest and started kneading as her big, black eyes, rimmed yellow-green, looked into mine. Even after the many hundreds of times that Frankie sat on my lap, this time it was amazingly different. She was talking to me with her eyes, with the tilt of her face, with the way she was kneading and sitting. We all know a cat cannot talk, even though they may be able to create almost a hundred of varied vocal cat sounds. My eyes were drawn to hers, as the look on her beautiful feline face was talking from deep within her cat’s heart. She did not have to vocalize with the human sound; her eyes and expression spoke volumes. We rarely live with another human or animal for a number of years without picking up any signs of affection or signals of dislike. This animal, a magnificent example of a Tortoiseshell Calico and in my loving eyes, a world beauty, was relating to me in the fashion she knew best. Sitting on my lap, in the comfort of a safe world, to Frankie, it meant years of unrestricted and unabashed human love, and never going hungry. Knowing the touch of her keeper whenever she felt the need of his hand running over her soft, ermine like fur, Frankie was in an element she could relate to. She had me, who hurt when she hurt just as a mother would care for and love a child she had birthed. Frankie and her female companion Johnnie, while adopted felines, to me were “children” in the sense although not human; they were family members to whom I had given my surname. If you read any of my stories or this book “Frankie Weiss and Her Magic” you will know Frankie and Johnnie are treated as the children my departed wife, Evelyn, and I never had. Their likenesses, stories, and book, have travelled far and wide to other continents, to other cat lovers who are no different than this Mr. Mom in the love of their felines. Perhaps, the only difference being I took pictures, wrote stories, and wrote a book about the adoption, as well as the trials and tribulations and the happiness of a merged human and feline family. In closing, I can honestly say, “In our togetherness as human and animal, we benefited from a love and a need that played a tremendous part in our well-being and comfort during all these years of our sharing of the Weiss home.”
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