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| Name: |
Jackie Paper
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Age: |
Sixteen months old
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| Gender: |
Female
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Kind: |
Domestic Shorthair
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| Home: |
Alexandria, Virginia, USA
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Five
years ago I lost my cat, Willa, after a long and healthy life.
While I was mourning for her, I spent some time sitting in a coffee
house where they played old 1960s songs, including "Puff the Magic
Dragon," the children's song about the dragon Puff and his little
friend, Jackie Paper. I resolved that if I ever had another cat, I would
name it "Jackie Paper." It sounded like a perfect name for the right
cat--a playful name, even though the song is a little bit sad because at
the end, Jackie Paper "came no more."
In March 2009, some friends of friends in Knoxville, Tennessee were
walking in a deserted cul-de-sac when they came across a cardboard box.
Inside, they discovered a young-looking gray cat giving birth to
kittens. Someone had abandoned the poor cat on a deserted road just when
she was getting ready to deliver. These kind people took the box home,
and soon afterward, the gray cat gave birth to three healthy kittens.
Unable to care for the kittens themselves, they gave all four cats to
some friends. But because these people had several cats of their own,
they, too, could not keep the cats permanently. They found a farmhouse
that was willing to take all three kittens once they were weaned, but
not the mother, even though she was still only about seven months old
when she gave birth.
That's when the mother gray cat with a white underbelly, Jackie Paper,
came to live with me and my wife here in Virginia.
In spite of her difficult history and mysterious entry into our lives,
Jackie Paper is perfect for her name. She is completely housetrained,
affectionate, and happy to meet new people. She doesn't care too much
about food. All she ever wants to do is play. And so, whenever we can,
my wife and I run her though the house with her favorite toy, a piece of
cardboard on a wire. And of course, occasionally she brings us strings
and sealing wax, and other fancy stuff - well, maybe not the sealing
wax, but you get the idea.
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