The Best Friend who Followed me Home, Chapter 3 - The Bud

Spending time with my new furry friend was a fun way to wind down the summer.  While sitting with him on the porch it was almost impossible to keep him off me.  When he was not on my lap, he was sitting on my shoulder like a parrot would do for a Pirate.  Even if I picked him off my lap, as soon as he was on the floor he would hop right back up.  It was so fucking cute that I did not bother trying to fight it.  The "not allowed in the house while the add is in the paper" rule lasted for about 24 hours.  As the phone lines stayed silent and more time went by, the more my Dad realized the whole family was growing more and more attached, and even though he did not admit it at the time, I'm positive my Dad grew attached too.  After only one day on the porch, he finally caved and let the kitten in to explore his potential new home.

At first, he was a little bit of a pain in the ass.  Kittens need to fucking realize that their cuteness can only get them so far in the world.  Jumping up and down on my lap and shoulders was one thing, but when your jumping up on the counter trying to fuck with my dinner... we've got problems.  He learned the word "NO!" really quick.  It also did not take long for him to realize that there was another Cat in the house that was not pumped about sharing her turf.  She did not exactly have the agility and spry that the young kitten had, but if he pushed her buttons to hard, she would push back even harder.  It did not take long for him to fall in line.  While our other cat Cassie made him very skittish to go along with his already free spirited personality, he realized that he was in his new home and was a lonnng way away from the street we found him on.    

The only thing left to do was name him. My family never really got together for any kind of pow wow when the time had come.  During those few days my brother and I had been calling him our "Buddy" or "Bud."  The more we called him that, the more he reacted to it.  While it was not the most creative and original name in the world, it fit him like a glove.  Its like when you know someone for a long time and you can't picture them having any other name than the one they have.  If anyone else had found him and named him something else... they would have been wrong.  

He was very much a Buddy to both my brother and I.  Each day began with him greeting us in our room with a few "good morning" meows.  In his early years my brother and I had bunk beds, but that would not stop Bud from climbing the fucking ladder to keep my brother company while he was fighting another migraine that kept him up at night.  As he grew older he would spend the warm summer nights on the porch perched on the top step.  In his mind, he was guarding the house and making any neighborhood cat think twice about stepping on his turf.

Back the fuck off..

He even got on Cassie's good side in her later years.  She no longer had to worry about letting use know that the food bowls were empty with Bud running around the house squawking at us until we gave in.  During the 13 years the two of them shared the house it was clear they eventually formed some kind of bond.  When she passed away he spent several days looking for her and any time we fed him, he would wait a few minutes before eating just to make sure she would not show up out of nowhere and knock him out of the way.  It soon became clear to him that he was alone and the house was now his.  He was no spring chicken though, 13 years is a long time for a cat and even though he was still relatively spry, it was hard not to wonder how much longer he would be in our life.