In Memorium: Elvis Thai-Cat Has Left The Building…

A fixture of the Pat and Sam institution is no more, Gentle Reader, a very sad thing indeed - as well as an opportunity to fondly reflect upon the one called Thai-Cat.

Please be patient as I find a way to express just exactly what she was and what she meant to us.

I’ll start with attitude. If you’re my age, you might remember the lyrics “we are Siamese if you please, we are Siamese if you don’t please,” from Lady and the Tramp.

 

But even Peggy Lee’s cutting “Si” and “Am” vocals don’t quite cut it here.

To really get the idea, these lyrics must be sung in the jangly, impudent style of The Stray Cats ala The Stray Cat Strut.

Polite? Usually. Affectionate? Always.

However, there was absolutely no mistaking when she wanted your full attention.

In this respect, Thai-Cat reminds a lot of a much larger kitten which adopted me, when my electronics store provided a good many wireless microphones to the Out of Africa wildlife park in Arizona about a decade or so ago.

Once or twice a month, I’d deliver about half a dozen microphones to replace those which had been dropped by the showpeople and hence more or less eaten by the attractions.

After about 5 visits, one of the tiger kits latched-on to me. He would yowl, rub against the fence, and just generally be a pain until I reached through and scratched his ears, nose, or shoulder. This horrified the management but made the trainers and caretakers chuckle, and I was even [secretly] allowed in the pen a few times.

Cat Politics

Pat and Sam enjoyed a pair of Siamese, with Thai-Cat being the first of the lot, and Fritz being the younger.

I didn’t know them way back when Fritz was a mere kitten, but I have come to understand that diva Thai was a little territorial at first.

And I have seen the video from one of those early meetings. It is wonderful. You have the WTF did you bring home!? look, one of the best kitty-cat “evil eyes” I’ve ever seen and a credible impression of a Gorgon.

The politics continued throughout the years, with Fritz being the slightly more rambunctious, and Thai-Cat being the more cunning, patient, least-when-you-expect-it of the two.

I first met Thai-Cat about 5 years back, when I spent a week with Pat and Sam in their home. My lover Mad Man Mike had just passed away, and I was checking out their hometown as a possible place to move to.

After I spent a few nights on their comfy futon (which I now own) Thai-Cat started looking at me much the way Helen, one of our cats, looked at a silly metal doo-dah we brought home from the flea market one Sunday.

“You’re not staying long, are you? I sometimes like that spot.”

I did move close by, and I visit a few times a week, and Thai-Cat became a friend. Always one to say “hello” in her suprisingly deep voice, she would patiently wait for me to sit down so she could plop down in my lap.

Thai-Cat was always there to “help” with work, too.

Whether it be helping Sam edit videos, or helping Pat pack up shipments to DVD customers.

All in all, a stellar little beast. Not bad at all for a carnivore living in our midst.

~ pagemonkey