Barney = Rafiki
I went to the animal shelter today to view Barney. Upon my request, the attendant I was speaking to asked if I was the one who called on Saturday morning asking about him. She was more than happy to let me hold the cat.
I bent over and watched her as she unlocked the cage and stirred him from his sleep. He opened his eyes, yawned lazily and looked about. We made eye contact and just stared at each other. He actually reached out through the bars with his paw.
She scooped him up and gave me to hold. We stared at each other again. He then did something which not only shocked the workers but sent a chill down my spine. He rested his head on my left shoulder suckled on my left ear. Something Rafiki used to do.
The people were surprised. They all claimed that in the 20 years the shelter has been open, none of the cats had ever acted in such a way. Even the more affectionate ones. One woman even broke down in tears. Another took a picture. As soon as she emails it to me, I'll post it.
When one of them noticed I was also getting misty eyed, I explained why. Needless to say there wasn't a dry eye in the office. This was definitely my cat Rafiki reincarnated. I remember reading sometime ago that certain S. Korean Buddhists believe that animals go through a cycle of reincarnation. I believe that this was one of those times.
It felt good having a cat in my arms again being all lovey-dovey. Mind you, I love Simon with all of my heart but he's not exactly a lap cat and is schmoopy when he wants food but Barney... Barney was all love. If I didn't know better, I swear this cat was hugging me at the moment.
I really hope everything goes well and I'm able to adopt him. I can certainly afford it. I can ask for the 100 bucks from my job and pay it back in 20 weeks and the references will go swimmingly (Tom is a cat lover like myself and Sam loved Rafiki).
My main concern is the vet history concerning Simon and Pedro.
Oh God. Please cut me some slack. I'm not asking for much. Just a chance to have my cat returned to me.
