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Dear Reader,
People look at me a bit strange sometimes when I tell them I have five cats. So it was sheer delight and so refreshing (to know I'm not the only one), when I read today's guest column written by author Lydia Reeder.
Lydia says: "I never intended to live with cats. They just ended up hanging around to brighten my days and provide long-lasting friendship. A few years ago, I even created a video on how to make raw cat food. Five cats currently share my household, and most took turns sitting in my lap while I wrote Dust Bowl Girls, my first book.
Lydia would love to hear from you. She replies to her mail, and she has two copies of her book Dust Bowl Girls to give away to book club readers. Enjoy today's guest column and then please do email and say hello. Email: lydia.ellenreeder@gmail.com
Welcome to the book club, Lydia Reeder...
Searching for Deja vu
By Lydia Reeder
During Fall 2010, my husband and I cared for five kittens and a mother cat we discovered living in a window well. We already had two cats, but we decided to add one more by keeping the mother and finding homes for the kittens.
They were furry cotton-balls of energy. Four boys and one girl, a little runt who wrestled with her brothers to get hold of a teat. She was grey and white, with long, silky fur. An asymmetrical grey-white pattern divided her face. The white side's eye always looked pink and sunburned. A grey mustache dotted her nose, and she looked like a Cubist painting. When she was adopted by a friend of a friend, my heart broke.
A year later, I was nursing my second glass of wine at a holiday party when my friend revealed that, several months ago, her friend had given away the kitten. The little rough and tumble girl was on her own. At first, the news put me in a state of shock. Then, adrenaline-sparked anxiety raced through me like the lit fuse at the opening of a Mission Impossible movie. I had to find her.
I spent the next two weeks searching online databases and contacting animal rescue sites. These futile attempts heightened my fears. She could be starving. She could be dead. Finally, I girded my loins and emailed the person who had first adopted the kitten. To my great surprise and relief, she responded: dropped off at the Dumb Friends League (DFL). I contacted the animal rescue organization, and they searched their files.
"No record," came the response. After hanging up, I sat in tears.
The next day, I decided to click through the DFL adoption website one last time. Each picture of an unwanted cat added to my feeling of loss. It was my fault--I should have never let her go. And then, I saw it--the asymmetrical grey and white face. Her sunburned eye, and mustached nose. Finding her picture felt like a wondrous dream.
I soon discovered that her first caretaker had neglected to spay her, and she had gotten pregnant at seven months old. After giving birth at the DFL, she was adopted and then returned six months later, just in time for me to find her.
The evening of December 17th, 2011, our little crazy-faced girl came home and settled in like she had never left. Because she was so familiar--found, lost, and found again--my husband and I agreed that her name should be Deja vu.
--Lydia Reeder
Email: lydia.ellenreeder@gmail.com Two copies of Dust Bowl Girls are ready to send to readers. Enter the drawing and say hello.
To see photos of Deja vu, visit our Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=dearreader.com&em=1
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
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* This month's Penguin Classics book is TOMORROW IS NOW, by Eleanor Roosevelt. Click the link below to start reading, and be sure to enter the drawing for your chance to win a Penguin tote bag: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqB1AFE3FA4999&c=CLASSICS
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