Esau the Cat -- A Memoir (Part One)

We got a call from our friend in California that he had to move from his house and he was going to travel for a while before settling in to another home. He was anxious though because he wasn't able to find a home for a cat that had been living with him for several years. Well, long story short, even though we lived in MA, we offered to take the cat, if our friend could figure out how to get him out to us.

Now, we'd already heard tales of this mighty, golden orange feline from other friends who had travelled to CA and visited with our friend. They'd assured us that this was, "Some CAT!"  Remember in "Charlotte's Web" when Charlotte weaves into her web about Wilbur - "Some PIG!"? ...it was something like that!  Esau, the cat, didn't come with "papers," as some fine pedigreed animals do, but he came with some pretty amazing tales and adventures in his life! He was Some CAT!

Apparently, Esau actually lived alone on Muir Beach for a long while, patrolling the dunes and shore for food and finding someplace to sleep every night. Our friend saw him regularly and left food out for him every night. It took almost two years before Esau decided to show up at our friend's in the day time and several more visits before he let our friend pet him. Well, after some time, Esau, while still patrolling Muir Beach in the daytime, started sleeping at our friend's house every night. Now, after about 4-5 years of beautiful California sunshine, on a chilly New England spring day, our friend was shipping Esau to us via the luggage cargo bay of an airplane. We weren't sure what was in store for us, or this bold, 15 pound California kitty.

Well, it didn't take long to find out! He howled, low growling cat howls, from inside the animal cage the entire car ride home from Logan Airport. Our friend had been thoughtful enough to send along some items that would be familiar to Esau, including packing a couple of his shirts for "the boy" (one of his many nicknames), in the travelling container so he would have a comfortable, familiar scent the whole trip.

We arrived at the big old farmhouse where we lived at the time and brought the container inside. Now, I mentioned that the sun wasn't out and this was a raw and chilly spring day. It wasn't even warm enough yet for leaves to pop out like you look forward to to help you feel warmer after a long, cold winter. I should also add that the big old farmhouse was cold and drafty that time of year and that big, California kitty was having nothing to do with being coaxed out of that warm container! Even after we'd started a fire in the fireplace and closed the room off so it would warm up, Esau didn't budge. He seemed to know that he was no longer close to our friend and his beloved Muir Beach and that certainly he was no longer in sunny California anymore! Remember in "The Wizard of Oz,"  after the house landed on the Wicked Witch, Dorothy nervously looks around and says to her dog, "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."  I think that it was kind of like that for Esau.

For the next two days Esau never came out of the container, but he cautiously watched us out of the corner of his eye. He'd stopped the growling...actually, by now, he made no sounds at all. Esau didn't eat a thing and neither did he use the litter box. We laid on the floor outside his container talking softly with him, trying to coax him to come out. We even put on some Grateful Dead music that our friend always played hoping that that might help him feel more comfortable. The fire kept the room warmer than the rest of the house, but Esau just stayed tight in that container and certainly didn't seem happy or ready to come out and explore his new surroundings.

Well, soon enough, things were about to change for all of us!

******

to be continued!

Comments

[elizabeth cobblah]

I'm certainly glad that part two is ready for reading.....
I am also reminded of the feral cats i encountered on a breakwater in Casco Maine, dependant on entrails and fish heads.....but a feral cat from Muir Beach would have other tales to tell!

[Rich]

Thanks for the great story (Parts 1& 2) I really enjoyed reading about Esau. I only met Esau towards the last couple of years of his life. I think by then his wild adventures days were behind him.

I bet if he could have talked or wrote he would have left us with a ton of remarkable stories.