The Cat Who Loved Old People

November 28, 2010—I just got an email from the son of Amelia, the elderly woman who Smokey the cat “adopted.” He has been living in her backyard greenhouse for three or four years now.

A few days ago temperatures dropped well below freezing. We went to Amelia’s and brought Smokey back to our place to have him indoors. We returned him to her when the weather warmed on up Thanksgiving (and brought along a pie). After we unboxed Smokey in the living room, Amelia and her son (who now lives with her) decided to let him stay inside the house for the day. That night, they put him in the laundry room so she wouldn’t trip over him in the dark. As is so often the case with this sort of thing, once the cat was inside, it was impossible to put him back out in the greenhouse.

“He has already found a couple of favorite places to sleep, and has shown absolutely no interest in setting foot outdoors,” the son wrote. “Wish we had brought him inside years ago.”

I have been tracking and worrying over this unusual cat as he moved from elderly person to elderly person in our neighborhood for the past 10 years. Now that this woman’s son is involved, and the cat is indoors, I think Smokey has finally found a permanent home. I won’t be needing any other Christmas presents this year.