Goodbye Bebe

Bebe (my family's black cat -- formally named Isis, though never called it) passed away a couple days ago. After her most recent bout of illness she was too weak to carry on any longer. She was getting too sick and had to be put to sleep. My dad was the only person at the vet but his account of her last moments is too touching to recount here. After hearing the news Heather and I bawled for a bit and then began to recount some of Bebe's most interesting and unique behaviors. They are presented here in no particular order.

One memory I will always smile about was the times that she would hurl her body against the bathroom door. Whenever someone was in the bathroom she would tuck one of her front legs and somersault into the door with an amazing amount of force. The sound would be reminiscent of someone in heavy work boots giving the door a good kick. Her crashing against the door indicated that it was time for one of her favorite pastimes: attacking things under the door. At this point whoever was using the bathroom was required to find something to slide back and forth under the door so that Bebe could attack it. This game was always a source of enjoyment for both participants.

Another funny behavior was Bebe's desire to placed in the highest spots in the house. She would look up somewhere and cry letting you know that she needed to be up there, and post-haste. I would usually be the one that she would get to do this. So I would pick her up and place her on all sorts of things. One of her favorite spots, strangely enough, was to be placed on top of the sliding shower doors in the bathroom. She would walk along them and lay down periodically. She then would look for other high places in the bathroom she could jump to. She also liked being placed on the really high mantle above the large window in the living room. From there should could see everything and everyone in the room.

When Bebe was a tiny kitten (we got her after some little girls found her in a park and were going around the neighborhood asking if someone would take her) we were going to dinner at La Beau's and we took her with us. She was really tiny and spent all her time in a shoebox that we lined with towels. Upon smelling the greasy food she crawled out of the box on her own for the first time in the three days or so that we had owned her. My mom gave her a bit of her burger, which Bebe immediately scarfed down while making an extremely cute growling noise, as if to be saying "stay back, this meat is mine!"

Bebe spent much of her early life living above Smiling Moon Toys with Aramie and her boyfriend at the time. When Aramie would come down for work she would bring Bebe with her. Bebe loved to explore the store and find new hiding spots. One time Aramie had her on the counter while she was stamping bags. Bebe walked through the ink pad with two paws and then continued walking on the counter-top leaving a perfect set of purple paw prints.

One of the most unusual things about Bebe was her watering habits. Drinking for her was always a spectacle accompanied by grand traditions and perfect timing. She liked running water the most. At some point she got someone to put their hand under the water so that she could drink off of it. She then trained everyone in the house to do this for her whenever she wanted a drink from the tap. My father, who initially expressed disdain at this level of servitude, would later be found watering Bebe in the very same way.

As Bebe grew older she continued to develop curious behaviors. One that was always funny and sad at the same time was when she would chase Boush (his real name is Ambush, but this spelling gets across the pronunciation better) out of warm sleeping spots. He would be in a spot for a while and then when Bebe decided it was warm enough she would shoo him away and settle in to sleep. Boush never seemed to understand this and would just go lay a couple feet away without any fight. Another odd behavior was that she liked to be spun on the kitchen floor. She would flop down in front of me on her side in the middle of the kitchen floor and I would whirl her around. She would eventually tire and stand up awkwardly and stumble to a place to rest, usually coming back for more within a few minutes.

Another Bebe idiosyncrasy was that she would hide in places where you were only able to feel her but not see her. Sometimes we would be sure that Bebe had gotten out of the house because we couldn't find her anywhere. Eventually we would start feeling behind quilts in closets or looking behind boxes under beds. A couple of her favorite spots we were never able to find. The only proof she had been there is that she would slink out of the downstairs apartment with a smattering of dust stuck on her fur.

Bebe's brushes with death came early and often. One early encounter happened when she was no more than a few weeks old. She would sometimes get cold and so we would wrap her in a towel or small blanket and place her on the couch. One day a not so aware friend (Beth for those of you from Logan) sat on Bebe as I yelled "Look out!" She immediately jumped up and looked underneath her. Bebe was now lodged between the cushions but no worse off than prior to the crushing.

One funny trait of Bebe's was that she liked to be held in crazy positions. She would like to be slung over my shoulder. I wouldn't even have to use my hands to hold her up as she would just sit completely weightless. Another funny position was when I would hold her like a shot gun complete with firing her at random family members. She would have Heather hold her with her head as far out as her left hand could reach and her right hand close to her body. Bebe would lay on her side weightless in this position until Heather's arms got tired. My father would also hold Bebe in unique position where she would be able to tuck her head underneath is arm and rest (sadly it was this position that was most comfortable for Bebe, and the position she took when the time came to be put to sleep).

One thing that will always be special about Bebe is that she had unique relationships with all the different people in her life. I had never seen such specific behaviors out of one cat. She would interact with each family member in a different way and everyone has different memories of the things about Bebe that made her so special to them. It is hard to believe that she is gone. She had a great life and brought immense joy to everyone who interacted with her. She will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.

Goodbye Bebe