Ace of Diamonds

[picture will be uploaded later]

I’ve been using the aces of the deck to write about the four unique feline personalities that live with us.  Today, that honor falls to the youngest and most unique of all of them.  Truth be told, we wouldn’t have Eileen if we had listened to Bob Barker (and/or Drew Carey).  Weevil came into our house already fixed, but Logan and Mac didn’t.  They weren’t far apart in age, and they both felt the need to breed at about the same time.  Kate had been there and done that while living on a farm, but living on the not-even-close-to mean streets of Veblen with a step-father who was allergic to cats meant my experience with kittens was limited.  After several months, Mac gave birth to a litter of six kittens, which was shocking considering she weighted no more than seven pounds when she became pregnant.  There was one kitten that was bigger than the rest, and one scraggly runt of the litter that barely made it (but did).  As the kittens were starting to become mobile, I started giving them nicknames.  Kate advised me not to name them, because then I’d want to keep them.  She was half right about that.

One night when the kittens were slowly starting to get the hang of walking, there was a white kitten with crossed, light blue eyes that started to walk towards us.  The kitten was strong on her right side, but her left side almost caved in as she walked.  I watched her make about three perfect circles before she fell and started mewing.  Before Kate could say anything, I pointed at the kitten jokingly and said “I’m gonna call you Eileen.”  Kate laughed instantly, and unknown to me at the time my joke name would not only stick, but it would help Kate fall in love with a certain cross-eyed, circle walking kitten.

As the kittens grew older, we started finding good homes for them, except one.  Kate was willing to let her go, or so she said.  As the kittens were adopted, Eileen kept dodging the eyes of all those who took kittens home.  Finally, she was the last kitten standing, and we were out of people who wanted a kitten.  I wasn’t sure we could afford to have four cats, but Eileen was slowly winning me over.  She was unlike any cat I had ever seen.  Her body white, but her tail was gray.  One ear was black and gray, the other was orange and gray.  She had a bit of black and orange fur around one eye, and her white fur was slowly gaining other colors in spots, giving her a more off-white appearance.  Her crossed blue eyes were slowly uncrossing, but they suited her better when crossed.  Eileen had inherited her mom’s size, but she had unfortunately inherited her dad’s penchant for less-than-average cat intelligence.

When Mac started to push Eileen away, Eileen took to Kate like Kate was her mom.  Whenever Kate was sitting on the couch and Eileen walked in, she would jump up and rest on her shoulder or her “shelf” as Kate calls it.  Every time Kate would purse her lips at Eileen, the kitten would come up and start licking her face.  One night Kate and I were horsing around on the couch, and Kate made a shrill shriek while I was tickling her.  Eileen came running and started glaring at me.  Kate made another high pitched squeal, and Eileen jumped up to the couch and started to bat at me.  After that, Eileen was always easy to find.  All Kate had to do was raise her voice to it’s highest pitch and Eileen would come running from wherever she might be, ready to defend her new mom.

Logan and Mac don’t have a strong allegiance to either one of us more than the other, but now Kate has an Eileen to my Weevil.  Weevil is our trump card ace of spades, but Eileen is our little ace of diamonds.  She’s unique, precious…and at times pointy on all sides (when the call comes in).  I questioned whether or not we could afford to have four cats, but I know now our lives are forever richer for letting Eileen join our family.