He smiles when he feels like crying...on and on...on and on...on and on.

 Sweet, feisty Imp is gone.  Little man in his little pants who strutted up and down the hallway with his tail held high.  I miss him so.  I have dreamt of him and several times thought I saw him in the window when I woke up.  (((((sigh)))))

Life goes on.  And the others have changed their behaviors.  I have to wonder why.  Were they being respectful of him and his needs?  Or are they merely relieved?  Personally, I think it was respect.

Nevertheless, behaviors have changed.  Missy Tee is much more "around" and in my face, and at my feet and she is TALKING!!!  Most of the night, she is stationed on the floor next to my bed.  By day, she is schmoozing and speaking...like never before.  She was very "talkative" when we first came upon her, but then not so much.  Well, she has found her voice once again.  

Scruffy is also more animated and following me around more than ever.  After their "breakfast" he comes to the living room and rolls around on the hassock for me to pet him.  He, also, is "speaking" more, in his pathetic little high pitched squeak.  Other times, he will follow me to the bedroom so I will play with him as I make the bed.

 

And then there is Percy....big, fat Percy.  He decided, quite quickly and suddenly, that he no longer wanted to spend the night in his cage.  So, my guess is he was comforting Imp.  At any rate, he now wants out.  Sometimes he spends a lot of the time on our bed.  Other times....I have no idea.  Last night....I don't know what happened...I was asleep and I thought a brick had fallen from the ceiling.  NO...it was Percy, taking a run across the bed, exactly where my head was and leaving me with two nice scratches just by my hairline.  One was bleeding like a son of a bitch....they are both much better now.  I don't know, after months of gall bladder misery, then surgery, then pneumonia and finally Covid, do I really need a cat running across my fucking forehead?  And part of an ancient tooth fell off yesterday evening, too.  I've had enough.

Oh, but back to Percy.  He sleeps a lot now in the daytime.  He used to be in my lap and wandering around and complaining and wanting snacks.  Now...he's sleepy.  

At any rate, the behaviors of some of these guys have changed.  Notte comes on the bed in the morning now and snuggles on top of me for a bit.  That's new.  Calzini pretends he wants to be in my lap....but he isn't quite ready, really.  

And Lupo?  Well, Lupo remains Lupo.  Always sweet, always affectionate and just a little bit strange. He is the only one who hasn't really changed in any way since we lost Imp. What does it mean?  I have no idea.

None of them sleep in the back room anymore.  At some point, I would like to get rid of a cage or two.  My babies are growing up.

We'll sing in the sunshine, we'll laugh everyday

 I first saw him (and Missy Tee and Calzini) when they were about two months old.  Imp stuck his head up from the grasses down the passaggiata...then Zini, then Tee.  Three adorable kittens.

Not long after that, they began coming to our door for food.  Their mother taught them where to go to find sustenance.  Imp was a loudmouth.  As soon as I stepped outside he started wailing and tried to climb up my legs!  Calm down, little fella!!!  The food is coming!

Imp, who was known as "Demon" at that time, refused to be handled.  He was wild and he intended to stay that way.  All was fine for the summer and fall.  Winter, however, posed challenges.

Besides the bad weather, there was also a very large male roaming around terrorizing various enclaves of feral to semi-feral cats.

One January night, cold and rainy, that miserable male was out there and so were the nicer cats.  I urged them to come into the cortile for some food, and Imp followed.  When they were done, they left one by one, but Imp stayed.  He was huddled in a corner, as if he didn't want to be noticed and he certainly didn't want to go back out in the freezing rain. 

We brought him in.  He was tiny for his age, nearly half the size of his siblings.  I honestly didn't think he would live through the night.  But there he was in the morning, and he allowed us to pet him, handle him, take him to the vet, feed and medicate him.

With time, he got immensely better and began strutting around.  We called him "Imp" instead of "Demon."  Little Imp had severe asthma and likely other problems, too.  He worked very hard to breathe.  Yet, he was happy.  He played a little, but knew enough to stop and rest.  He slept, usually, sitting up to facilitate his breathing.  He was affectionate and feisty.  He grew and gained weight and became a handsome little devil.

I often thought that his conditions (he also had recurrent UTIs) would shorten his lifespan, but he was doing so well and was clearly so happy.  He spent time in my lap.  He played with his sibs.  He hung out in the windows enjoying the birds and sunshine.  He looked so good and was so happy, I thought he had years ahead of him.

Impy died yesterday.  It came on, or seemed to come on, suddenly.  But I know he was very ill from day one.  He started to "hang out" in the hallway, rather than on the couch in the living room.  The next day he retreated to our bedroom.  He had great difficulty breathing and stopped eating.  Yes, we tried to medicate him.  Yes, we used the inhaler.  We did everything but take him to the vet because he was so suddenly weak and also because the vet was sick, possibly with Covid.  We did everything we could to make him...better....to make him comfortable and let him know he was loved.

Just shy of his third birthday, we lost him.  My sweet, courageous little Imp.  He could have had a lung collapse.  I know his heart was working far too hard...and that is how it ended.  He was on our bed, resting and we were with him.  He cried out, LOUD.  And he was gone.  

Even though I knew every day was a gift, nevertheless, this is hard and it hurts. We loved you, Imp.  I think he knew that.  I'm sure he did.