 A Cinderella Story
by Terry and Susan Quinlan
once
upon a time there was a cat named Cindy, which was
short for Cinderella. She lived on the streets most,
if not all, of her life. No one knew her age, but
she was old. Her ear was clipped, which indicated
that she was a captured stray and was neutered. Her
long unkempt fur was a diluted tortoiseshell color
of mostly gray and white with a touch of orange.
The fur would ball up into painful tangles all over
her body and Cindy’s backbone was fusing together
due to jumping from very high places for much of
her life. The backbone eventually became completely
fused together. As a result, she staggered when she
walked and had to drag herself up onto things, since
she was not able the jump any more. She no longer
ran anywhere. She just walked in a slow, purposeful
manner.
in the
year 2000 she wound up at an animal shelter. One
day an older couple came to the shelter to replace
their three cats that had died the previous year.
They saw this frightened, mangy, scrawny cat looking
up through the bars of her cage with this pitiful,
forlorn look in her eyes that said, “Please, please
take me home with you.” It was Cindy. She was pleading
to be saved in hopes of any life, even if it wasn’t
a better life. That look, her heartbreaking appearance,
and the fact that the couple always had a soft spot
for older cats that others generally did not want,
convinced the couple to give this truly “poor soul”
a new home.
when
Cindy first arrived at her new home, she was always
trying to hide. Her first few hiding places were
pretty easy to find, but finally she disappeared
for two days. She eventually was found hiding on
a ledge up in the fireplace, which was sealed up
shortly afterwards. She continued to hide for weeks
thereafter, but with a lot of prodding by her new
family, she took to the older couple’s bed as her
permanent home 24/7. Unable to jump, she had to drag
herself up onto the bed whenever she chose not to
use her step stool, which was a box at the foot of
the bed.
It was years before she stopped growling,
biting and clawing your fingers when you tried to
pet, comb or brush her. She never lost her John Wayne
stagger when she walked but somehow managed to get
around quite well. With the exception of trips to
the food and water dishes, potty breaks, and visits
to her two owner’s respective home offices for lap
and snooze time, she seemed perfectly content on
her queen size bed. She never showed fear in spite
of her diminutive size. She was never intimidated
by her holy terror of a sister, Tigger, who hissed
at anything within two feet of her. Cindy just ignored
her with great disdain and never wavered from her
path past her. Her two sister cats never invaded
her space on the bed as they peered down at her from
their own cat castles. At times Cindy would sit on
the windowsill at the head of the bed to enjoy nature
outside and to bask in the blanket of heat from the
sun between the glass and drapes.
over
the years her tangled fur got so painful that she
would no longer tolerate combing or brushing, so
her chest, underbody and bottom would get shaved
regularly while the bad lumps would be cut off by
hand. Her fur coat never reached the beautiful shiny
look one would hope for their cat. And always being
a dainty eater, she never did put on much weight.
But once she settled in, as in all
happy endings to fairy tales, she found her Prince
Charming. She would join the woman of the house in
her office during the day and sleep for most of her
visit on her pillow in the window, but as soon as
the man of the house would sit down on the bed to
watch television, she would be in his lap. She absolutely
adored him, and he could do no wrong. In spite of
appearing to be walking in pain all the time, she
would follow him back and forth from the bedroom
to the kitchen as if he might never come back. At
the end of a busy day of sunning, napping, watching
television, dining and bathing the parts of her body
that her fused backbone allowed, she would crawl
under the blankets between the older couple for a
well deserved night’s sleep.
as in
the Fairy tale of Cinderella, Cindy went through
quite a transformation from living in poverty on
the streets to the comfort of the lap of her Prince
Charming for the rest of her life. Her inner beauty
became obvious to all through her disheveled, scrawny
outer appearance. She had become a very loving, courageous,
determined, proud and loyal member of the family.
In 2009 she passed away in the arms of her Prince
Charming in the quiet of their woodsy backyard amongst
the towering eucalyptus, while they relived their
fairy tale life together.
 they
say character leads to courage and courage to heroics,
but few are given the opportunity to display those
traits. Yet others are born into a life of hardships
and handicaps. As they say, “Life’s about playing
poor hands well.” For nine years, Cindy showed
her character and courage every day of her life
and became a real hero to one older couple. I suppose
we are all looking for the meaning of life, and
in Cindy’s case, it was to convince others not
to give up too soon on our loved ones – there is
always hope with enough love and patience. It just
takes longer for some to reap the benefits of that
combination. Cindy would think it incredible that
from her inner beauty and problems she endured
in her lifetime, she would be the inspiration for
art works that will create more beauty in the world
for so many to appreciate.
~ Remembering Cinderella ~ |
