Straczynski's Cat, Buddy
by Esther Schindler
On Friday, our cat Dymaxion (Max) died in my arms. Max (the gold mostly-Maine-Coon in the back of this photo, which is about 5 years old) was nearly 19 years old, and we'd had him since kittenhood -- all fluff and buzzes, as Heinlein would say. He had a full life, with no regrets (not that cats regret anything -- everything they do is intentional, just ask them). Max was sweet, loyal, affectionate - and as dumb as a box of rocks.
So we're grieving, but for ourselves, not for him. And I've gotten really tired of being sad, so I want to share this with you, instead. It's a story about how Buddy adopted jms (the guy behind Babylon 5, if you happen to be a fan of the TV show), and I think you'll enjoy it even if you aren't a B5 or a cat person.
I got back to the house around 6:00 p.m. or so, went back...no sound. I leaned into the long tube, and...well, mewed. Over and over. I'd just about given up, and was ready to assume he had indeed gotten out safely, when I mewed one last time...and from deep underground, he mewed back.He was still in there. I think he must have gone to sleep or been too scared to respond earlier. Now he was calling back in a big way. And the sound was coming from between that tube and the one nearby which was a sheer drop to a second maze of tubes beneath.
