Amazing Kitties (II)

Middy, short for Midshipman, is an amazing seafaring cat.* And the story of this stubborn but self-reliant feline goes like this:

The crew of a small schooner, "Eyvor," was ashore one day. On their way to town, they spared a defenseless cat from the sticks and stones of a group of abusive boys. When the yachtsmen were back at their dinghy to return to their yacht, they found a small grey and white cat they saved already aboard the tender. It appeared this furry creature decided to return the favor by joining his two-legged saviors to sea. After many pushes and shovels with hisses and outreached claws, the yachtsmen gave in and decided to have this persistent pussy with them on the cruise.

Once on board the yacht, a meeting was called to decide what this new recruit's duty would be on board the ship. While no one knew what exactly a midshipman was, they appointed their newest crew member Midshipman, and named him Middy.

After the initial induction had been said and done, Middy started to flex his paws with a vengeance.

First, he made friends with two most important persons on board: the captain cum professor, and the ship cook. Middy followed the skipper around during the day and bedded with the boss in the night. However, to show his impartiality, each night before hunkered down next to his beloved benefactor, Middy would run over to all the berths in the cabin to ensure that each and every one of his loved mates was tucked in and was ready for bed.

Obviously, Middy’s trust in the captain was insurmountable. When he invited himself to accompany his best friend target shooting one day, Middy was not at all fazed by the loud shots flying all over him. To show his unwavering faith in the shooter, Middy, as cool as a cucumber, took his beauty nap right in the shadow of a boulder from which the marksman fired his shots.

I think Middy was a seaman in his previous life. He never got sick from the ups and downs of a tumbling sea. In one instance in a rough sea, thanks to his seafarer’s instinct, this taciturn kitty  had single-pawed rescued himself from being part of a ship wreck.

His know-how on staying afloat on the sea got him to where he wanted to be. I bet Middy would never tell a lie. But he must have an extra long nose. His keen olfactory ability might be his GPS that led him to his rescuers’ dinghy on the very day they met by a woodpile. He also knew who were the most important persons on the ship. Last but not lest, acting on his own reconnaissance he jumped into the cold sea water and fast paddled to a nearby yacht where two adorable kittens resided.

When the summer cruise ended, Middy was boarded with a lady artist in the Boston area. But he disappeared after a few months from the pleasant studio. Sadly no one had ever heard of him since. But John Coleman Adams, one of Middy’s mates on "Iyvor", believed his furry friend ran away to look for his old mates and the little schooner. Since he could find neither of them, being a born sailor, Middy once again stowed himself away onto a tall ship in yet another voyage on the open sea. - Ayee

*"Midshipman, the Cat," John Coleman Adams (1849 -1922),The Best Loved Cat Stories, The Reader’s Digest, 1997.