Lily

She first came to me in dreams that sent me driving around looking for a white kitty beside a curb.  In my dream I saw the kitty just sitting there as cars rushed by and I could see pavement.  I remember being fearful that someone would run over the kitty.  As I would drive around town I kept my eyes peeled for a kitty and I asked my family to do so.  They were used to me doing this so they didn’t think my request was that odd.  Almost always I’ve dreamed about the kitties that have joined our family before it happened, and crazy cat lady that I am, instead of dreaming about the baby I’d give birth to during my pregnancies, I dreamt about having a kitten.  The dream about the white kitty persisted over weeks that led to months.  There were days I would drive around with Hannah and we’d look carefully beside the roadways.  I was certain I would find this kitty but as the months passed I gave up and stopped being as watchful. Then, coming back from picking up Hannah at a friend’s house about ten miles from ours, I noticed something in the road ahead that didn’t move as the cars flew by about 35 or 40 mph.  Sure we’d see a dead animal in the road, I stared at the spot as we, too, sped past. “Stop!  Go back!”  I yelled, “It’s the white kitty!” We turned around and went back as cars continued to race past.  I jumped from the car and approached the kitty who lay with its back toward me about a foot into the roadway that gave off from a slight dirt embankment that had only a rounded corner curb at the edge of the property.  As I approached I spoke to the cat who made no movement whatsoever.  Thinking it may be dead, I reached down with both hands and when I touched it, huge blue eyes looked up at me.  I tightened my grip, scooped up the cat and headed to the car with it.  “It’s deaf,” I said, sitting the unusually calm cat on my lap.  I clapped and the ears didn’t twitch.  I shook my keys and nothing.  “This kitty is definitely deaf.  Who in the world would let a deaf kitty outside near the street?”  She looked up at me and seemed to say, “No matter.  I’m yours.” We brought her home to join our menagerie and as the days passed we learned some things about her.  Not only was she deaf but she had never learned how to bathe herself.  She didn’t understand purring, either, but she did make a screechy meow sound when she was irritated.  We named her Lily. The other cats were fascinated by her and tried every intimidating growl and hiss they had in their bag of tricks to no avail.  She supremely and sublimely ignored them.  When the vacuum cleaner came on and they all ran, Lily stayed put.  When any heavy equipment such as the table saw was used, Lily slept through it.  And the blow dryer that sent all cats running for cover held no fear over her to their confusion; they’d peep from under the bed to see her laying, placid and serene on the counter.  Thus, Lily established herself as a force to be reckoned with and a separate entity from the kitty cliques that live with us.   No one takes her food, no one takes her napping spot, no one messes with her because if they do she screeches a sound that sends shivers up even their backs.  They’ve learned to leave her be. So Lily lives in her own silent world, in peace and harmony with her surroundings.  She bothers no one and no one bothers her.  She is the most serene of cats and the mattiest since she doesn’t bathe and hates to be brushed.  Her favorite thing is to drink running water and when thus occupied I’m able to snip a mat here and there but if she catches on to it, woe to my hands as her lightning paw streaks back and scratches me.  She detests the scissors. Into our household cats and kittens come and go, some make friends and others try to bully.  Lily, however, ignores it all and goes about her business with quiet, silent grace.  She is, indeed, my dream kitty.