In Fall of 2000, I began teaching in the Kent State U. School of Library & Information Science, which rented space on OSU’s West Campus near Kenny & Lane. I “commuted” from my home in Cincinnati to a small apartment in Columbus. My wife had encouraged me to take one of the family cats up with me to keep me company, but I didn’t want the extra rent and deposit a pet would cost.

Then, on March 29, 2001, my wife and our foster son found a cat carrier sitting in a bascart in a Cincinnati Kroger parking lot, in the rain. My wife said, “TELL me there isn’t an animal in that carrier!” When my son got out to check, he found a little black and white ball of fluff, wet and cold, along with a terse note, “Need a good home. Have all shots.” They brought it home and called me, but it wasn’t my weekend to come home. By the time I arrived the next weekend, the 4-month old kitten was everybody’s darling. I warned my wife, “You know I’ve always wanted to name a pet cat ‘CQ’; If I take her back with me that’s going to be her name.” Well, I did and it is! As soon as I found out Universal had these Cats pages, I got a kitten pic up right away.

I trained her to a leash, and we confounded the folks in my apartment complex when we’d go out in search of her favorite tufts of grass. Of course, she didn’t always want to go where I wanted her to—that’s why I joke that “sometimes taking CQ out for a walk is a drag.”

CQ learned to love riding in my car and on trips between house and apartment would perch on my duffel bag in the back of the ‘wagon so she could peer out at the road, like a dog. She kept me company all the way through to my retirement, then moved home to Cincinnati permanently with me. This grande dame, diva, and fluff ball is now over 18 years old, and although she has her share of medical concerns, with help she still has a pretty good quality of life. And my heart swells every time I catch sight of her.

Ted Morris, NC8V (WB8VNV when I got her).

See CatBio 348.