Sara's Writings

 A Short Story

by Sara Gardner Blow

Richard The Survivor

From this injured kitten                    To this lovely cat

One night while relaxing, we kept hearing a cat crying very loud.  We knew it was not one of ours they were relaxing with us.  It finally became so persistent and heartbreaking my husband went in search of the call.  He came back  with a kitten and placed in my hands.

  It was badly injured.  I sat and held it for a couple of hours and it fell asleep.  Before we retired for the night, we made it as comfortable as possible and placed it in a box.  The next day when I examined it, I discovered it a terrible injury.  It was as if something caught it by the leg and about tore it off, the skin was all gone, and you could see to the bone.  I had little hope for this creature and we could not afford another vet bill after taking our own five pets in recently. 

Over the next few days, I tried several healing methods and tried to get rid of infection. It was so bad the smell was unbearable. We had moved it to a shed outside the house where it was protected from any threats.  It never cried when I treated it and never cried again once we took it in.  He would just look at me and seem to understand that I was trying to help him.   It looked very doubtful but I could not give up.  My husband had fixed our side shed up for a private apartment for him, living quarters, soft bed, food and water, and toys!!  It was several weeks before we knew if he would live. 

We realized the treatments had worked and it was going to be just fine!  My husband decided he needed a name and he came up with “Richard.”  At the time, we did not know the sex of the kitten but decided it was a suitable name taken from the first “Survivor” show on TV.  And, indeed, Richard was a survivor.

            We had three labs at the time and they took Richard into their world.  He was their favorite toy each morning.  They mauled him, pinched him, tossed him around and he kept coming back for more.  He was a live stuffed animal to them.  He just loved them and the attention they gave, even if it hurt sometimes.  He has his own apartment where no one can invade with his own food and water bowls and toys.  So he could escape anytime he wanted because they could not get into the apartment. The dogs were scolded many times for treating him so rough, but it was Richard's fault, he would just ask for it.  Our other two cats would have nothing to do with him but it did not bother him one bit.  Sometimes he would hide behind something and attack them when they walked up.  Of course, he got a real scolding from them when he did, but not to worry it never bothered him at all. 

        He just goes off and finds something else to play with.  He hides in the flowerbeds and rocks, and then jumps out to attack anything that comes along.  One favorite thing was to climb up to the birdfeeder.

"Where did those birds go, they were here a few minutes ago!!"

        We have no idea where this kitten came from and how it got in our front hedgerow but it not only found a home but an entire kingdom to call its own. By the way, Richard was a female but the name stuck with her, she was just happy when anyone called out “Richard!”  As she grew and learned 'indoor' manners she joined the other two cats and was a part of our animal kingdom world.

     My son lived with us and two of the dogs were his, it did get rather crowded at times but everyone got fed and had a place to sleep.  The young labs had their own outside apartment to stay at night.  Richard found her own spaces.

        Richard lived with us almost two years and had become a part of the family.  The winter of 2006 she started not eating and became very sick.  She would sleep by my husband's desk and stayed close by him most of the time.  He left her there one night and next morning she was dead.  It is always sad when a pet dies and we mourned her death for some time.  Now we have these happy memories to share and wish you to not be sad either.  Richard had a fun life, if only a short one - she was given her ninth life here with us for she had lived up her eight before she found us.  So celebrate the life of Richard, she was magical.

We do!!

The End