By Claudia Jacobson

Usually you get what you need. Sometimes what you get needs you. We put the word out we needed a cat. It was really me who needed it. My hubby, John, had been adored by Sassy, our 4.9 pound elderly feline, who took charge of him after my illness set in. John is living with music, comforted now by her memory and working in the real world.

Nevertheless, he wholly agreed.  But we didn’t get in the car. There are times when I just know what I yearn for will come to me. Fortunately a friend of my friend let it be known she needed a first-class home for her beloved cat. Archie was accustomed to loving touch and frequent attention. He arrived with everything a little guy needed.

Sometimes shy with others, he demonstrates his adolescent athleticism in the evening for our feigned displeasure. Regular as a clock, twice each day, he claims a small portion of canned cat food as if those portions were fresh lobster. John finds him, a buff yellow tiger, a long stretch of cat with an equally lengthy tail curled alongside him on the counter. Archie knows where he is not allowed and leaves quickly.

It’s a ritual. John’s still surprised (or a good actor) and Archie still jumps up to sneak a long look, with large attentive amber eyes. His best quality, though, is his loving attention to me.  A lap cat, he is not allowed to be because of my exterior plumbing.  He learned quickly in one day and without error that his place is on the lower bed. People sometimes err, but not this big gentle cat. Sometimes you get what you need. ~