The last post saw Daddy heading off to downtown San Pedro to follow a lead given him by a Squirrel.
Yes, yes, I know, but stay with me here, it will all make perfect sense in the end, I promise. ;-D
San Pedro is a very hilly town located along the Pacific Coast, west of Los Angeles Harbor, & Long Beach.
Ethnically diverse, with a history going back to before the Civil War, with ties to the Fishing Industry, the US Navy, and Merchant Marines, and home to the oldest bookstore in LA, and maybe Ca., Williams' Book Store on 6th street, opened in 1909.
This independent store reminded Daddy of his 17 years working for a similar store in the Inland Empire east of Los Angeles County.
It was nearby that Daddy found who he was looking for, outside the Los Angeles Maritime Museum, and next to the American Merchant Marine Veterans Memorial Wall of Honor.
Daddy said he would never have known the old Cat was there if he hadn't hear some loud purring as he walked close to cannon. ;-D
Anyway, this tale will be interspersed with the pics Daddy took while walking along the trail I mentioned earlier.
4pm: As told to Daddy Kiril by "The Admiral"....
"Well, I've lived here all my 10 years, and seen lots of Torties, on the street, and off, but one hears stories, most Pure Bullshit, of one in particular.
The only thing about any of them, that I believe, is this much...
There were these two tough old street Cats who lived in a part of town I've never seen a need to visit.
They grew up together from Kittens, they say, and lived over 15 years.
No-one can agree on what breeds they were, but everyone knew their names.
One was called Randy, on account of, well, um, he was quite the Lady's Man, a legend in these parts, if you get my drift...
He may have lost his tail, but he didn't lose the fight...or so the story goes. Seems every Old Timer you talk to says he, or she, was there, but ain't none of them can agree on the details of what took place. Anyway, about that Tortie Kitten...IT WAS A GIRL, that much is also certain. The Queen of Peck and Leland Park, and the wildlands between, for many years, was a Tortie. Quite the beauty she was said to be, too! Her last litter met a tragic fate, the details of which she never talked about, and she disappeared, forever, soon after they all died...except that, unknown to her, one very determined Kitten didn't die after all. Cats around here get this awestruck, reverent, yet sad, tone in their voices, whatever version of the tale they tell. His pal was a very smart, playfully mischievious, rascal everyone called "Flats" on account of his losing his tail in an Epic Fight with a rabid Rottweiler.
Randy, and Flats, supposedly discovered her somewhere in the wild territory between the parks and, knowing where the Animal Shelter was, guided her to the area near the Harbor Freeway, and Channel St., nearby.
For an unknown number of days they watched over her, but carefully lest they be seen, themselves, by anyone who they would allow to rescue the little one.
Then one day Randy, and Flats, returned to the parks, but without the Kitten.
They wouldn't talk about the circumstances of her being taken off their hands but, while randy was his usual self, Flats was often sad, and moody.
Two months later they disappeared without a word to anyone...just up, and went...to where, no-one knows.
They are no doubt dead by now, where ever they went.
Was Flats a Tortie, too? Was he the Father of the last of the Queens Litters...or at least the Father of the one that survived...or thought he was?
Did they know the fate of the Queen, herself, and just didn't care to discuss it because it was just too painful, and tragic? Did they think the Kitten would be saved by the Humans who found her, and live? I don't think that we will ever find out the answers to those, and other questions, but it sure does make for a good story, now don't it?" ;-D Daddy said he stood there, entranced, as the old Cat told his tale, not interrupting once, and didn't even ask any questions because there just didn't seem to be a need to, not even to ask the Cat, laying inside the darkened cannon, what breed, size, or coloring, HE was himself. It only occurred to Daddy, later, to wonder if The Admiral was a smallish Cat, himself, because that certainly wasn't a very big space he was hanging out in. ;-D Did they know more about the circumstances of the birth, and deaths of the little ones, in the Litter, who did not make it?
NEXT READ: In Search of KC's Roots: A Feline News Network Investigation - Epilogue
It makes a great story.
I wish I could remember.
When I try to fink about that part of my life, I feel sad.
So I don't.
But I love this post.
Fanks so much.
Posted by: KC | October 02, 2010 at 03:31 AM