A few months ago I was quite worried about her safety. One night I noticed that the alpha male cat was no longer at the taco stand across the street. He was there every single night. Then I noticed her sister (the evil twin) was also no longer around, There was a black cat that roamed the roof of the hacienda across the street and a Siamese cat that lived around the church. They were all gone! It was just like when all the cats in the vacant lot behind me disappeared. Kitty was now the only cat on the block.
Months have passed and what ever happened seems to have missed her. I did ask the guy who runs the taco stand and he seemed to indicate that someone came and picked him up by the neck and took him away. This is a guess on my part as he does not speaks one word of English, and his Spanish is so rapid it sounds more like machine gun fire than a language. I can't really see how that could happen. The City fired most of their police force because the last mayor emptied the treasury. Are they going to send out a "cat squad"? Not likely. I feel more confident now in her safety. There is no way to lock her up as she has roamed the streets all her life. But she is very picky about her food, preferring one kind over another and she won't touch any food left over for more that a few hours, so I can't see her gobbling up some poison food someone throws at her.
She is no longer exclusive to the balcony. She started just roaming the house and then picked certain spots she likes. While I am at the computer she likes to lie between my feet. When I get up she jumps in the chair and naps. She will go under the bed if I am lying down reading or napping (sometimes spending hours napping herself). One day I got off the bed and went into the kitchen for something. When I returned she was curled in the spot I had just left. I let her know that this was a "No No". I have also caught her curled up behind the pillows in the guest bedroom partially hidden by the mosquito netting. My neighbor told me she spend a lot of nights in her place. She removed the bottom glass on her sliding glass door to let air in at night. She said she likes cats and does not mind but as soon as kitty sees her she flees. She wanted to know her name and I said, "kitty" She said, "That is it?" I do not think is strange for the first thing I said to her when she dropped down on my balcony was "Hello kitty" Just because she later became friendly, I saw no reason to change her name to Mahitabel or something.
I am not sure cats pay attention to a name anyway. She comes to the sound of my voice and she can tell by the tone if she has been naughty or nice. She does get scolded at times. I will not let her attack any of my furniture (that is if I can catch her at it) One day she wandered into the bathroom and somehow closed the door on herself. This must have made her mad for she picked fight with the shower curtain. It lost (badly) It was in shreds so I tend to try to keep her out of there. I will praise her when she catches one of those huge green grasshoppers, but was not happy when I opened the door to find feathers every where. Sure enough there was a dead bird under the palm. It was not one of the awful black birds or a stupid pigeon, but a beautiful bird with a bright yellow breast.
She has also discovered the deck. I did not want her up there as there are too many planted pots she could turn into portapotties. At first I thought she went there for the cool tile under the plants, but no, she was there for the prey. There are all kinds of creatures up there for her to play with (i,e, torture and kill).. Mostly geckos and a few lizards, some times an iguana, and sometimes a squirrel will run across the wall. Of course lots of birds (her favorite prey) but mostly she catches insects. She will play with them until they die. She has nearly eliminated all the geckos. I rarely see one anymore (alive anyway). They used to be everywhere, on the floor, walls, and ceiling. They are cute little things, but they poop everywhere, so I am not that unhappy about it. Recently, the bats have returned. Their big mating season is in January or February when hundred fly around within a few feet of your face. She will sit on the wall watching them and hoping to catch one. She thinks they are birds and does not know they have teeth as well as claw.
She naps most of the time, but when she is awake she is always meowing. She can get to the deck on her own, but it is a long trek. She crawls along the balcony railing to my neighbor, rounds the corner and up her outside staircase. Then she has to jump over the low part of the wall (same place the thief came across). So when she wants to go up there she will run up to the landing and scream for me to open the door for her. She usually has a very soft plaintive mew (almost pathetic sounding) like she is about to expire. But when that does not evoke the reaction she wants from me, she lets out a blood curdling scream MEEOOW! She talks a lot. We have quality time after her breakfast while I am finishing my 6 cups of coffee. Then after her dinner she will join me on the deck while I have my cocktail. She likes lots of petting and sometimes will crawl up onto my chair (trying to push me aside). She does not purr (at least not audibly) I can feel her neck vibrate like she is purring inside, but no sound. So she talks to me. I always answer her but neither of us have any idea what the other is saying. After all she is a Mexican cat and very few cats are bilingual.
She has become a part of my life and she gives me great joy. She is so funny to watch as she has all kinds of moods. She makes my laugh, even when she is being naughty. Mainly she is after attention. Sometimes when she thinks I have ignored her too long, she will reach out and swat at me as I pass by. She never draws blood, she just wants me to know how displeased she is. It is amazing in such a short period of time that she went from a homeless street urchin to a pampered princess. Well, maybe I had something to do with that.
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