Cisco (aka The Cisco Kid after the outlaw he once was) had once been someone's cat. That was clear once we'd lured him into the garage with wet food, lowered him into a carrier and brought him to the vet for an exam, which revealed he had been neutered. But he had been in the woods for almost a year, having been lost or abandoned, a silent, frightened stray, hanging around in the neighborhood, eating whenever we left a bowl of food out for the various feral cats that hunted in our woods. He had somehow survived a brutal Connecticut winter. By Spring, he was a daily visitor, sitting in our garden and cautiously watching us. By then, worried about his chances of survival, we decided to try to find him a home. We called out to him from the yard and he began meowing plaintively as if to say "please help me". That was decision day. We had planned to take him to the no-kill shelter in the next town so he could be adopted. But he had decided he wanted a home - ours. The first time he came into the house, he bounded up onto Rob's chest and began "kneading" the way kittens do, then put his head on Rob's shoulder and fell asleep. Rob, who can't sleep on his back, nevertheless didn't move. Now, that's the nightly routine. Rob calls, Cisco comes running, and they bond, Cisco kneading and purring contentedly. Cisco also follows Rob everwhere, and like many Maine Coons, is a one man cat, and a true joy every day of our lives.

Joanna Baymiller
Guilford, CT