The times….they are a flying!

BUGGSY

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I last blogged anything!Do I blame it on old age, apathy, lack of enthusiasm??? (But the latter is also known as apathy isn’t it.)

Well! the beginning would be when the “white gangster” came into my life:

Now known as Buggsy Malone,” Kai”, when we first met was a bundle of contradictions. I don’t know how long he had been living rough and how he survived in foster homes. He was absolutely shell shocked when he came to live with me: didn’t like being touched. All he wanted was food! To look at him was to invite an attack. Not to look at him would also invite an attack! First time in my life, I was scared of a cat, to the extent I used to wonder if he would attack me while I was sleeping. TRUE.

So, I decided that I had to let him realise in his own way that here with me, he was SAFE. My mantra became ” I will never hurt you. You are safe here”.

Slowly he settled and would head butt me, or wrap his tail around my legs . He would even softly purr……but the warning was “do not pick me up for a cuddle, woman”.

Then, I was hospitalised for few days for an emergency appendectomy. A friend came over to feed him and keep him company. When I came home, he thought he needed check on me, and curled alongside me on my bed.

Oh! The attacks from my sabre toothed Buggsy still occurred, but not as frequently.

WHY did I rename him Buggsy Malone?

Bugsy Malone is a 1976 musical, gangster, and comedy film, written and directed by Alan Parker. … The film tells the story of the rise of “Bugsy Malone” and the battle for power between “Fat Sam” and “Dandy Dan”. Set in New York City, it is a gangster movie spoof, substituting whipped cream for machine guns and bullets.

I just liked the name for my tough guy.

It’s nineteen months since I adopted Buggsy…… He still is very wary of men and terrified of thunder storms.

He is very vocal and is boss of the house… A good watch cat, he alerts me to visitors before they come through the front gate

But he has mellowed: he knows that he can leave food in his bowl and no one will steal it. No matter how many pieces of meat I cut for him, he always leaves one or two pieces for ‘ron. (later on)

It’s so good to see how an angry, aggressive animal can learn to relax and enjoy life with his toys: mini tennis balls and squeaky mice. Cotton reels and skeins of embroidery cotton also get a work over when I’m sitting stitching, and of course an occasional skitter through the house sliding on the tiled floor also occurs.

He loves snoozing in the back garden on the sugar can mulch, moving around as the sun changes shady spots to too sunny. Being a white cat, he does not blend in with shadows, and the local birds periodically harass him and he then decides that it’s time to repair to the serenity of indoors.

Kai…………