Zeus Antonio D'Andrea   © Copyright 2025 by Antonio D'Andrea

Photo courtesy of Anne Helgren at Wikimedia Commons.

Fortunately, for Zeus, we are not superstitious. Who is Zeus you ask? That’s who our story is all about.

While out trick or treating , one Halloween night, a few years back, my granddaughter Theresa came across a little black kitten hiding under a neighbor’s shrub. Obviously, it was lost. It had only a flea collar and no other identification. Theresa rang the neighbors bell and asked if it was their kitten. “No. Not ours. No we don’t want a cat” was their response. Well, she had no choice but to bring it home.

“Just what we need, another animal “ my daughter in law said. Not meaning it of course, however, the cat was welcomed by us all. My wife and I are retired and we live with our Son, his wife and two daughters. At the time, we had a dog, they had a dog and another cat, so we had enough pets, but the kitten was welcomed just the same.

Theresa named the kitten Zeus. At the time, I thought it too grand a name for such a little cat, but it soon proved to become worthy of the Greek God of antiquity.

We didn’t know what kind of a cat it was, but as it grew it was a longhair of some sort, and after searching the internet, we found it was called a Chantilly-Tiffany, a rare breed. It was originated in the 1960’s. It had a beautiful black longhair coat and round golden eyes. This breed was devoted, affectionate, had a sweet temperament and loved to be around people.

He took to Theresa immediately and followed her around like a well behaved dog.

He had extraordinary intelligence and seemed to understand anything said to him. When Theresa said let’s go to bed, he got up and followed her up to the bedroom.

Although he had an aristocratic name, he was very democratic. He was jealous if too much attention was given to the other animals, but then he was very kind and affectionate to another little kitten we had for awhile. He tried to show his love for us humans by bringing us gifts of lizards and bugs he brought in from the backyard and presented his gift at our feet.

As time went by, he matured into a fine looking pet loved by all. Then the incident occurred.

The power company announced that it would be cutting off electricity in our area for several hours to do some repairs and installations. Their announcement was an invitation to thieves and burglars to take advantage of the situation. At ten PM, the house went dark. The street lights went out as well and the neighborhood was pitched into darkness. If you stepped outside it was quite eerie and surreal.

At my age, I’ve become a very light sleeper and I wake up about every two hours. Around midnight, I was just drifting off when I felt the bed move. It was Zeus. He had jumped upon the bed. He did that often, when Theresa was out or not in her room. He’s a “people cat”, he doesn’t like to be alone, so I paid no attention to my new bed partner. He generally curl’s up next to me and goes to sleep. He is not a cat that meows either, if he wants something he just sits in front of you and stares. He doesn’t even blink he just stares.

Tonight, it was different. Instead of his usual settling down and going to sleep, he was pacing back and forth all over the bed and meowing. Like an expecting father, awaiting his first born child. Something was wrong. “What Zeus, What! “ I yelled. Just then, I heard a crash. Sounded like glass, a lamp perhaps. Someone, was in the house. The house was pitch black. I sat up. Where did I put my flashlight? Tonight of all nights I should have had it nearby. My phone, thank God, I almost forgot my phone has a flashlight feature. I quickly turned on my phone, found the flashlight feature and my fathers old cane that I keep by my bedside. Now I could clearly hear footsteps scurrying around downstairs.

I can’t just sit up here and hide. I shook my wife awake. She looked at me bewildered.

“Call 911” I said, “Someone’s in the house” As she started searching for her phone, I bit the bullet and swung open our bedroom door. Stepping out into the upstairs landing, I yelled “who’s there. I’ve got a gun” I lied. 

As luck would have it, at that precise moment, all the lights went on. The whole house lit up like a tree lighting on Christmas Eve. The two intruders turned out to be two young boys about 14 years old, wearing hoodies on their heads, and a dumbfounded look on their faces.

They immediately ran out the front door. My bravery restored I pretended to go after them. I knew I couldn’t catch them, but I wanted to put on a good front for my wife.

No matter how old you get, you still want to be her hero.

The police showed up. Nothing was taken only a broken lamp that I never liked anyway.

A few days later, a salesman came to the door selling alarms. They must monitor police reports and hit on home invasion victims. Good idea. I let him do his spiel.

“No thank you “ I said

“Why” he asked.

“I have my own alarm system” I said

“Oh! What is it.?”

“ Zeus!” I called 

And our beautiful, intelligent cat came running to my feet.

“This is our alarm.”