Echo Beach

            [I don't like stories with sad endings, so will start with the sad stuff first. Our friend Apie is gone. We lost her on Monday December 3rd. Apie was the cutest little tortoise shell colored cat that was my pleasure… our pleasure to have as our companion for the short eleven years of her life. The color on her face was so distinct. A line divided her nose perfectly, one side black and the other brown. She was small, only six and a half pounds, but for all her stature she was full of fight and energy. She had the notched ears and fiery green eyes to prove it. She had nothing but affection for us, affection that bordered on desperation. She was loved.]


           I first saw her out my kitchen window. Laying out in the seeding dandelions of my lawn, panting in the summer heat, was this large old dirty white pit bull terrier. His name was Rocky. He had this big squinty eyed smile and his tongue lolled out slightly to one side. To my amazement a very small kitten, she could only have been half grown, would stretch up on her hind legs and rub up against Rocky's jaw. Over and over I watched her bestow affection on this huge vicious looking dog, easily fifteen times her size with jaws that could chew her in half. Rocky sat there doing nothing more then soak up the attention of this little kitten.
           Mark and Laurie were my neighbors. The small road that separated our houses was only wide enough for a single car to get through, and both our houses were relatively close to the street. Mark told me a little about the kitten. She had been born under my house before I had moved in. Her mother carried her and her siblings across the street to a new home under Mark's house. As the kittens grew and were weaned the little tortoise shell kitten took it upon herself to drive her siblings away, earning her notched ears. The folks around the neighborhood took most of the other kittens in, but the little kitten refused to be domesticated. Mark and Laurie fed her and provided her a warm space. She would allow them to pet her occasionally, but as near as they could tell Rocky was her only source of constant companionship. She remained somewhat wild, often feeding herself on small creatures in the woods.
           About a year later Mark and Laurie put their house on the market and prepared to move across the country. They expressed concern about how their little wild thing would hold up to the move. I hesitantly offered her a home. I had only had Eddie, my big black and white male, for about a year and I wasn't sure I wanted a second cat. I helped Mark and Laurie pack up their moving van and in return they left me a few scraps of old furniture that wasn't worth their hauling away. I found a note on the furniture the next day.
           "Here are a few more things we thought you might be able to use. By the way, our cat got out of the box at the last minute. Her name is Apie."
           It took me a while to coax her back across the street to her old home. I started by setting a small pile of cat food by the access to the crawl space. She would cautiously slip out and eat the food. A couple days later I would sit by the street and set food on the walkway to her house. She would slowly come up to me, trilling as she came. She would dart away if I tried to touch her. After a while she would let me pet her as long as there was food to eat. As soon as the food was gone she would run.
           This was our game for two weeks. It wasn't until I had her eating beside me on my door step that I finally I got a little impatient and picked her up. She complained bitterly as I carried her into my kitchen and set her in front of Eddie's food dish. Then she was nothing but purrs. She had the loudest purr. I'm surprised she didn't shake herself to pieces. She only twitched as a rather affronted Edward came to inspect the interloper eating his food. As Eddie reached out a tentative paw she would only shift away with her nose still buried in kibble.
           That seemed to be the point of her transition into my home. She wandered the house a bit, found the litter box, and then her new favorite warm spot… behind the speaker where she could keep an eye on us both. She wasn't scared, just wary. Yet in her little mind she had decided she was home.
          She was still a little wild. Though she would ask to come inside in inclement weather, I often wouldn't see her for three days or so. I became worried that she would one day disappear, but decided that this was the life she had chosen for herself. If she disappeared one day then that was the way she wanted it. I would rather let her live her life then try to impose mine on her. As time passed she fed herself less on wild things and more on kibble, much to my relief. She couldn't hold her wild meals as well as kibble, and she could regurgitate with some impressive force.
          Eddie and Apie didn't get along. Apie still had her desire to be the only kitty. Unfortunately for her, Edward was three times her size and very much the traditional male cat and an immovable object. She would lunge and scream at him and earn only a glare. She would growl at him as he lay curled up in front of the fire. He would only twitch his tail. Yet Apie was a very clever cat.
          During the winter months things in my small house would get a little intense. Apie had a terrible scream and she and Eddie would often have at it. I would be sitting in the livingroom and a fight would erupt. Apie would come racing into the room screaming with Eddie thundering behind her. I would naturally admonish Eddie and dump him outside in the cold for an hour.
          One night I happen to catch site of Apie cautiously stalking up on Eddie. The big black cat had curled himself up into a ball under the dinningroom table, one of his favorite places to snooze. Apie slowly slipped up to him and smacked him in the butt. She quickly spun and raced screaming into the livingroom with Eddie lumbering after her. She had learned that if she got Eddie to chase her I would put him outside.
          They eventually figured out their pecking order. Eddie was number one cat only because he didn't really care what the little one did as long as he got kibble and sleep. Apie was number two cat in that, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get Eddie to move. And as to my affections, I had two sides. As long as neither cat could see each other they were content to sit beside me. That was our sleeping arrangement as well, though there would occasionally be some negotiating for who got to sleep in front of me.
           Some years later my house went through a major emergency remodel. During that event I had to remove my fireplace and I was without heat for about three weeks. I eventually replaced it with a small programmable oil stove, one that I could leave on for twenty-four hours. That first day that I came home I found both Eddie and Apie stretched out about an inch from each other, forepaws pointing towards the stove, looking very much as if they were in supplication to the new heat god.
          They learned that they could set aside their differences and be a small pride. Usually though, Apie would wait for Eddie to settle before she would take her place. The only exception would be when it came to food. I would come home from work, they would have been outside all day, and they would both be nose to the door. I would open the door and Apie would race ahead to the food dish. No matter how much Eddie would prod at her Apie would only growl and keep her nose buried in kibble. Eddie would have to wait until she was through.
          Apie was rarely good with guests. She would usually vanish. Yet after Juli and I got engaged she took to Juli right away. Juli and Apie would lavish attention on each other. At night She would take Juli's side of the bed while Eddie would take mine. Though that might have more to do with Eddie taking what ever side he wanted and of course Apie would have to settle. Now though, she could settle with Juli, and that pleased her to no end. We could tell by her thunderous purr.
          When Juli and I moved into our new home Apie was introduced to Juli's cat, Saavik. Saavik is a black female with a siamese attitude. She didn't like anyone except Juli. Other cats were out of the question. Eddie handled Saavik the same way he handled Apie, he ignored her. Apie and Saavik had their differences. For the longest time Saavik hid upstairs, occasionally lunging out at whomever passed by. Apie dominated Juli's cat simply by lunging back. This lasted for about six months.
          One afternoon, in a simple moment, things changed. Apparently little Apie was taking her time exploring an empty box. Saavik also likes to explore empty boxes. As Saavik sniffed around the outside Apie held perfectly still, not wanting to be discovered. Saavik eventually jumped up and into the box, the flaps settling in over the two cats. The erupting battle lasted longer then any squabble we had yet heard them get into. Neither cat would pull back long enough to escape the confined space. When it became apparent that the fight was not abating Juli and I scrambled upstairs and separated the combatants. Both cats scrambled away and hid leaving a box full of black and brown fur. After that fight Saavik was much braver about exploring the house and poor little Apie became the low cat in the pecking order.
          Despite her new status, Apie still claimed the bed with us at night. That was her space, and neither cat would challenge her for it.
Juli loved to play with Apie's pink pads. She would tap her paws and jerk her hand out of the way as Apie swiped at her. Apie had a way of looking horribly offended. What with her notched ears and wide green eyes, she looked very like an owl. She would stare at you if she felt you were teasing her. We were, of course, but only in fun. If she really didn't like it she would have walked away. Sometimes Apie would score a hit. She has always had incredibly sharp claws, so we never did push the game too far.
          Yet all of her trials and tribulations with other cats and with moving late in her life, Apie was a happy kitty. She decided that, in this new home she would be an 'indoor only' kitty. She insisted on that, despite our attempts to reintroduce her to the new outdoors. In fact if we forced her to step outside she would run back for the door.
     For all of her domestic choices she still maintained some of her wild nature. She always insisted that she give affection rather then receive it. She did not like to be held or petted. She loved to rub on us, much like she loved to rub on the big white pit bull named Rocky. That was who she was.
          I can't finish this without a brief mention of cheese. She loved cheese. If we move towards the fridge she would yowl. We had to be very careful when we held out a tidbit to her. She would snap it up so fast her jaws would click. She would often take a piece of finger with it.
       It saddens us to have lost her so soon. She graced us with her delicate presence. We are always richer for what our pets give us. Apie was a gem.

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           [I never found out what "Apie" meant. I'm not even sure that was what Mark and Laurie called her. Laurie's hand writing was rather poor. It was my best guess. We had other names for her; Apiella Aphid, Owl Cat, Princess Prissy Paws, Little Miss, Pink Toes. I guess most people have pet names for their pets.]