Halloween Cats

Black cats have a strange reputation.for being spooky, unlucky and sinister.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  If the beautiful miniature panthers attract any bad luck at all, it's to themselves.  Except for the glowing eyes, black cats are difficult for drivers to see on the road at night.

Spookiness is not confined to black cats.  All cats are spooky.  Feline psychic ability far surpasses that of any other creature I've encountered.  Cats make good watchdogs.  Unlike dogs, cats won't bark in your face and jump up and down.  Cats are more  subtle.  But if something or someone strange comes around, they know.  Before I do.  And they let me know.  They know way too much and what they know humbles this human. 

In my herd, two of the eeriest cats weren't black.  One is a calico, that actually earned the name Halloween, which got shortened to Hallie.  Sometimes she seems timid and sweet.  She'll bashfully brush against my hand or leg.  Other times, when the wind is blowing the wrong way, she'll take a swipe at me.  During the great wrangling round up, I spent an hour and a half coercing her into a carrier.  Later, when she was convalescing on the porch, I opened the door and she bolted into the house.  Once in, she panicked and raced around like something possessed.  After I finally got her back out onto the porch, I made sure it never happened again.  But the weirdest thing about Hallie is her eyes.  They are intense and unearthly.  One glare from her could give a cat-phobic person nightmares for a month. 

 The other really spooky cat was Ninja.  It's strange how he grew into his name.  Ninja developed a couple of very weird and annoying habits.  One trick was sneaking up behind me and springing onto my back.  When this happened, at least once or twice a day, it never failed to scare the crap out of me.  The other weird habit was jumping up on something high enough to make us almost eye level.  Then he would either desperately clutch at my sleeve with his claws or put his paws on my shoulders so he could frantically stare into my eyes.  He would be agitated when doing this, like he was screaming telepathically and very frustrated when the dumb human didn't understand.  Most of the time, we weren't on the same wavelength and the dumb human couldn't understand. 

Although from different litters, Ninja, and the black cat, Chigger, became best buddies.  The two of them followed me around the yard like a pair of dogs.  And of the two, the black cat was the more soothing companion.  He never once sprang onto my back.  Did I ever mention that I really didn't like that?  They're both gone now.  They vanished within six months of each other, and sometimes I still miss the fools.                  

If you are the superstitious type that fears black cats and want to get over it, try this.  Get a white cat  with blue eyes.  And when the wrong light hits those blue eyes the right way and those pretty blue eyes flash blood red....