Chevy

OK - here's Chevy's story (at least one of them - this cat is a real clown):

Chevy (short for Chevalier) is a huge, medium hair, gray & white mackerel tabby. He tips the scales at 16lbs or so. He's also polydactal, with 6 toes on 3 feet.

Chevy is a very friendly, vocal, in-your-face cat. He loves people, especially new people. His fondest habit is to get up on a high surface & lean towards the visitor to rub on them.

One day, my friend came over to visit. Chevy climbed up on the window sill to greet her. Meowing his greeting, he leaned toward her. Unfortunately, he misjudged the distance to her & tumbled off the ledge, straight into the recycle bin, filled with bottles & cans.

With what little footing he had, he couldn't get his feet under him properly to jump out of the box. Rattle, clank, bang -- bottles & cans go rolling around the box, with a startled, 16 lbs cat trying desperately to get away from all that noise.

Meanwhile, my friend is in hysterics. I warned her not to laugh at him. I told her he'd never forgive her. Meanwhile, I'm trying real hard not to laugh. She can't stop laughing -- Chevy finally manages to hit the bottom of the box & out he jumps.

He is now one huge puff-ball of outrage & humiliation. The fact that my friend is now practically rolling on the floor doesn't help either. He draws himself up in a huff, glares straight at her, mutters a meow (like "shut up") & stalks off.

Every time she came over after that, he would ignore her. No amount of coaxing could get him to allow her even a scratch behind the ears.

Copyright © Sandy Heglund
June 22, 1998