ONCE HE WAS A LITTLE BITTY KITTEN . . .

Hugo was born on a red velvet sofa. That sounds as if he would have been a little prince. In reality he was more of a beggar cat. Hugo's Mama cat was a stray. She must once have had a home, because she loved people. But now she had no one, and when she got kittens she had to fend for herself and for them.

Mama cat found that red velvet sofa in a cold garage belonging to the empty vicarage. A cat could get in there through broken wallboards. It was not bad. It had roof and walls. The sofa was meant for a garage sale. It never made it.

Hugo and his two sisters were born on the 1st of September 1989.

The church caretaker Kjell came and said:"That cat has got kittens. Am I to do away with them?" I was the boss. So it was for me to say. I went and looked at them. They were very tiny and couldn't see yet. Mama cat purred proudly and trusting.

I couldn´t say:"Kill them." I would have felt like king Herod. I said:"I'm sure we can find homes for them". And so Kjell built them a nest in an upturned big garden basket with old quilts and they grew up on the porch of the vicarage.

I fed the kittens. Even on holydays I went there three times a day to give them food and milk. Hugo always ate faster than the girls. Then he came and leaned against my right shoe and together we watched them finish their meal. He was smaller than my shoe.

The day came when we began to talk about finding new homes for the kittens. "Yes, yes!" squeeled the girls. "Find us good homes with children who will play with us and soft cat beds and a lot of good food!" Hugo just looked at them. "What are you talking about? I have already got my human." And he leaned against my shoe.

Hugo and I just couldn't part. That is how it was. His sister Fina got a new home with a family and went away. Caretaker Kjell wanted to keep Lisa for himself. When she was six months old some people from Malmö wanted her so much that Kjell let them take her. Around that time the Mama cat seemed to be not so well. She disappeared and we can only suppose she went away and died. She was ten years old and had lived a hard life.

So now Hugo was the only churchyard cat. And that is the way he likes it. He still spends the nights at home with me (if he doesn't feel lika having a night out) and I drive him to his job every day.

That is how I came to have a cat. It was never planned. But I can't do without my Hugo now.

Pet us!

KITTENGAMES When the kittens were small, they had three favourite games, that they had invented themselves. KITTEN MERRY GO-ROUND They were only let into the house once in a while. Then they liked to chase each others under my office chair, hurdlejumping over the chair's feet. Round and round, and then suddenly they all turned and ran the other way round. DEFEND THE CAGE This game was simple. One of the kittens "owned" the carrier cage and defended it against the other two, who tried to get in. If one of them succeeded, then that kitten was the new defender, of course. DOOR-PAWS This game I think was really clever. Hugo and Lisa in- vented it after Fina was gone to her new home. The kittens crouched on each side of an open door. They took turns to put their paws under the door, and the kitten on the other side tried to catch the paw before it was withdrawn again. They could play these games for ever, it seemed.

(Story will continue and other kittenstuff will be added too)

Churchyard Cat

Vikings

Library.
Felines, Females and Crime

the Black Cat Club /Svarta Katters Klubb

The Black Cat Collection(Coming)