I thought of my garden and how I'd made those beds for my cats. I have a pet cemetery.
Fluffy, Snowy, Socks. And who can forget Pepper.
Pepper is buried outside the gate in the reserve. She was one crazy cat, and thinking about it, I wasn't sure if she was copying me exactly. Like how pets resemble their owners? She came to a bad end - got mauled by a dog. I was devastated. Pepper didn't just like to hide in boxes, she ATE them. I suppose she thought they were good sources of fibre.
Fluffy was the Queen of our house. She was...a proud Norwegian Forest Cat from Norwegia. I mean Norway. Originally. Yes, sometimes she did get stuck in doorways. She had furry boots made for walking. Officially, known as QueenFluffylotta. She did not seem to do much except preside over her palace and we, the humans, were her humble servants.
She was black with fur that turned brown in summer, tanning herself on the neighbours shed roof. She wore a red collar with a bell. She was incredibly vain.
Her bed is the one with kowhai, passionfruit, manuka and jasmine by the wooden courtyard enclosure and catwalk. Fluffy, by sheer force of personality, is immortalised in cartoonland, graven images and Ansett air commercials. Well the last one, technically wasn't her but...its the name that counts. All Fluffys are famous. You know how people like to swear using the f-word? Our popular F-word was F----! but if we didn't feel like swearing, we just called her Bubby, and she still answered. Think maybe she had too much fur in her ears to really hear us.
Snowy was Pepper's grandson. A rather complicated family tree, which I won't go into, and no he wasn't actually snowy white. He was tabby ginger and white, and liked to chase birds and mice. He was a bit of a tom cat. He liked to curl up in baskets.
His bed has the acer tree and a little stone plaque in memory.
Socks is one of those black and white bobby socks cats, who was very clever. He had a milk moustache. And he looked like he was wearing a tux. Very smart. His favourite songs were Bee Gees.
He has the other shady corner bed in the front yard that has feijoa, acer, a birdbath, ferns, clivia, azalea, spider plants, cyclamen and mondo grass. Bill Clinton's cat was a Socks as well.
Socks was the cat God gave me. Often he would climb the neighbours cabbage tree and chase bouncy wouncies (paspalum grass) and look at me like I was stupid and then smirk. Ah..socks. So sad he ran away before the vet could put him down. It's like he knew. Nevermind, we still planted that clivia in his memory. I used to tease him about liking flowers. After all, he's a boy.
I like to think I'm gardening for these cats who came to live here. Home is where the cat is, isn't it Mummy Cat?
Meow!
(she says yes).
