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As you know, a couple of weeks ago, Gemma posted the first part of her memoirs and promised further instalments. During the week leading up to her departure for the Rainbow Bridge, she purred many of her memories to me. Here, then, in Gemma's words, is the second part of her memoirs.
Over the past few days, I have spent a great deal of time reflecting on my 16 years with Meowmie and her DH, my Uncle Peter. In this, the second part of my memoirs, I would like to tell you how we came together.I was born in a two-bedroom flat in a place called Croydon. My mum and dad were half Oriental Spotted Tabbies and blood relations. They were brother and sister. My mother told me that the hoomin with whom they lived did not think that brothers and sisters would want to mate with each other and therefore was very surprised to find my mother expecting. When my mother gave birth to six kittens, her hoomin was shocked.
When we kittens were just six weeks old, my mum and dad's hoomin decided that she could no longer cope with the whole of our family running about so she advertised for good homes for we kittens. When she failed to find a home for me and my little ginger tabby brother who had a hernia, she asked Croydon Cats Protection to take us off her hands. As a result of her contacting them, we met the hoomin who subsequently became our Meowmie. When she came to take us to our new home, I did not want to go; I was very happy in the home I had and could see no good reason why I should leave it. I therefore decided to hide away from her and hope that she and my mum and dad's hoomin would forget all about me. Obviously, they didn't.
When my mum and dad's hoomin eventually found me - hiding under her bed - I tried very hard to avoid her attempts to capture me by running as fast as I could several times around her flat. I still think that had I not gone into her bathroom, she would never have caught me. But I did and when its door was slammed shut on me, I realised my mistake. My mum and dad's hoomin was able to quickly corner me behind her toilet and to carry me, squealing and hissing because of fear and wriggling to get free from her tight grip, back into the living room. There, she dumped me in a wicker carrying basket. To my great relief, I found my brother inside. He nuzzled me and told me everything would be alright.
During the short car journey to our new home we acquired the names Gemma and Sam. Our new Meowmie told us they suited us perfectly. We thought them just OK. When we got to our new home, we had to stay in our basket while being introduced to Uncle Peter. However, by this time, I was eager to escape its confines. Therefore, Uncle Peter saw me standing next to Sam, rather than hiding behind him as I had been doing during our car journey, with my face close to the basket's door. Uncle Peter smiled at me and enthused about my appearance: "What beautiful markings. What magnificent colouring. What gorgeous eyes".
Now, unlike Sam who loved attention, whenever I'm forced into the spotlight, I panic and have to run away and hide. Unfortunately, in a carrying basket, there are no places to run to and few places to hide. With my heart racing and my eyes wide open in fear, I therefore sought comfort in nuzzling Sam. But, finding none, I began to tremble. Fortunately, both Meowmie and Uncle Peter realised how stressed I was and kindly decided that Sam and I should be immediately taken to our quarters and left alone there for me to calm down and for us both to settle in.
And so Sam and I found ourselves in a room in which there was a bed, a scratching post, a litter tray, lots of toys, a bowl of water and a carpet covered with a plastic sheet covered in newspapers. It was nothing like the comfort we were used to.
As we huddled close together trying to come to terms with what had happened to us, Sam and I wondered whether or not there was any chance that we might get to like our new hoomins and be happy living in their home. In the next part of my memoirs, I will tell you about the tests we subjected our new hoomins and their home to in order to help us decide.
Gemma
Copyright © Sheenah Large
March 1, 2003
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