Maramony - The Greatest Cat I've Ever Known   Teresa P. Thompson     © Copyright 2002 by Teresa P. Thompson

     The rain beat down against the window sill as Maramony waited patiently for the familiar blue car to pull into the driveway.  She knew that her master, Anna, would be coming home from work any minute, and that she would be bringing her usual chocolate milkshake.

     A domestic long hair cat with a light gray coat that seemed to be painted with pure dark gray stripes, Maramony had stolen Anna’s heart from the day she was born.  Anna was only 10 years old when Maramony had been born from the last litter of kittens that her mama cat, Tiger, would ever give birth to.

     Anna had known that Tiger was getting old, and she had vowed that she would keep one of her kittens even before they were born.  But on that May afternoon when the tiny creatures arrived, Anna fell in love with the “runt” of the litter.  Her tiny little paws were so small they resembled the head of a match stem.  Her little head was no bigger than the top of a small salt shaker.

     “That’s the one that I am keeping,” Anna thought, as she leaned over the box to peer in at the four precious little beings that Tiger seemed to protect so closely.

     Anna decided on the name “Maramony” because it just sounded perfect for the little kitten.  She had heard the name on a television show once and it just sounded like a cat’s name instead of a name for an Indian maiden.

     The days that passed during the next several weeks seemed to make Maramony stronger.  Her body began to fill out and take shape and soon she was the most beautiful cat of the litter.  Her deep green eyes seemed like clouds of angel hair.

     At six weeks old, after all the other kittens were given to good homes, Maramony began to strike up a close bond with Anna.  Before long, Maramony stopped spending time with Tiger and began to hang closer and closer to Anna.  It was as though the small kitten could sense that her mother would not be there very much longer.

     As Maramony approached her third month of life, Tiger began to sleep for hours on end with out even getting up to eat her food.  It came as no surprise to Anna when she awoke one morning to have her father tell her that he had found Tiger dead in her cat bed.

     As the days turned to months and the months turned to years, Anna became more and more attached to Maramony; and it was obvious that the feeling was mutual.  The beautiful gray cat would jump up onto Anna’s lap to have her long hair brushed each evening before going to sleep curled up at her feet.

     Each morning Maramony would brush up against Anna’s legs as she got ready for school as if to be saying good-bye for the day.  She had gotten used to her master’s schedule during the years.  She was used to Anna leaving each morning for school and returning every afternoon at three o’clock.

     Now that Anna was sixteen years old, she decided that she wanted a part-time job after school in the afternoons.  However to Maramony who had gotten so used to that daily routine, things seemed to change in a huge way.

     She waited at the window each day to see her master get off the big yellow school bus for six years; now that routine seemed to have been disturbed when one afternoon the school bus just passed the house instead of stopping.

     Anyone would have thought that Maramony was human by the way she meowed and cried in her lonely voice as she sat with her nosed pressed against the window.  She surely felt that she had been abandoned.

     “Have you missed me, Sweetheart?”  Anna asked that first evening after coming home from the restaurant where she had taken a job as a waitress.

     “Maramony could smell the scent of food on Anna’s  clothing as she walked towards the kitchen to feed her.  Suddenly Anna thought about giving Maramony a drink of the shake that she was drinking.  After pouring her food into a bowl and watching Maramony wolf it down gracefully like cats do, Anna reached and poured the remaining milk shake into her bowl.

     It was as though Maramony instantly forgave Anna for leaving her alone that afternoon; and so the ritual of bringing a chocolate shake home each evening for the cat began.

     Soon Maramony seemed not to mind that her master was late getting home each day as long as she got her milk shake.

     “You like that, don’t you?”  Anna would ask, rubbing Maramony’s head, as she poured her shake into the bowl.

     The bond between Anna and Maramony seemed to strengthen through every change that they endured.  Although a few years later Anna got married and left home, Maramony found that their new home was as great as their old one as long as they were together.

     The years seemed to slip by with Anna watching as her once favorite kitten began to turn into an old house cat.  Although Anna lost Maramony to old age, she never forgot her.

     Buried in the back yard of her father’s house, Maramony would always be apart of Anna’s thoughts and memories.  With each visit to the house where she grew up and where Maramony had came into the world, Anna never fails to go to the small grave where Maramony sleeps quietly.

     Although Anna, a cat lover in general, has owned many cats and kittens over the past three decades, she has never forgotten the strong bond that she shared with Maramony, the greatest cat she had ever known.  And each time she sips a chocolate milk shake, a tear comes to her eyes and at the same time a smile to her face as she remembers her “little chocolate lover.”

I have been reading some of the cat stories on the Preservation Foundation website and I am really impressed with them.  I have been a cat lover all my life and I enjoy reading anything about cats.  I am submitting a story about my favorite cat.  Although she has been dead for sometime I still hold her dear in my heart and my thoughts.

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