Squishy
by Mae Ondracek
That is
a funny name, but that is what the children wanted to call her because she
couldn’t hold her head up very good; it was always flopping to one side or the
other. We thought she was slightly
mental because her tongue stuck out a little and she drooled almost constantly.
But we
kept her because she was so loveable and fairly easy to train; lapping water
from a glass, sitting on her hind legs, eating meat from a fork, and hiding
under a daughter’s long skirt whenever the children said, “I’m going to get
you, Squishy.”
Squishy
would jump upon our lap when we were sitting by the table and lay her head just
on the edge and look at us with a sad expression in her eyes, as if asking for
help to get better. We never had the
heart to chase her down from the table like we did the other animals.
Squishy
was great company, as she talked to me a lot while the children were at
school; so I was never lonely.
The
children and I cried a long time when Squishy died at 18 months of age. We were never able to replace her in our
hearts, even though we had many other cats.
Yes, Squishy was our much-loved kitten that brought us so much joy, even
though she had many health problems.