My friend Jo

CeeCi wrote lovingly about her dear friend, Bright Center. She got me thinking again about Jo, my dear black and white friend for the 15 years of her life. I got her the day I started college to be a vet tech. I had promised my parents I wouldn’t get a pet while I was at college but toward the end of the first day a second year student came in and said “We have some kitten to give away if anyone wants them. If you don’t want them we will put them to sleep later.” Now they had no intentions of putting the kittens to sleep but it worked. We all trooped back to look them over!

I saw a solid gray one that was soooooooo pretty! I really wanted it but I had promised my parent – no pets! And besides if I got it that would leave the little black and white one alone in the cage. Then another girl took the gray one and, well, I didn’t want to leave the black and white one alone. I scooped her up and headed to my apartment. I kept trying to think up good ways to tell my parents about the new addition. But I got as far as “Guys it wasn’t planned but I got a kitten and…” That was as far as I got when my dad said “We knew you would”.

Now you need to know Jo’s background. She was about 5 months old when I got her. She had been born in the school’s “cat house” and her only contacts with people were students practicing giving pills, injections, bandaging, and safely restraining. Let’s just say she was extremely skittish! In the two years at college not one of my 5 roommates could ever get close enough to touch her. Over the next 5 years very few people knew I had a cat. If someone came to the house she was hidden in the deepest closet! On rare occasions she might walk through the room if my parents were over and my dad was so proud to have touched her twice.

When we were alone she was always on my lap. Slept with me, talked with me and love me, only me, completely! But then one day something unusual happened. A new man came to take me on a date. We stood in the living room together for a few minutes and I looked over to see Jo standing in the room watching us. I was in total shock. A bigger shock was to come. We came home from the date I invited him in to talk for a while. To my utter amazement Jo jumped up on the couch, walked across me, WALKED ACROSS HIM, and sat on the arm of the sofa staring at him. Three guesses as to who this new man was. Jo knew from the moment she saw Nick that he was ours. I didn’t know for sure for a few months but she never had one doubt. The smartest cat I ever knew!