She would reach up with a paw and touch my mustache in wonder. When I lounged at the end of a busy day, she would arrange herself around my neck like a fur collar, finally biting my ear with discretion.
21.
more cool kokoisms
Every dog has his day. A cat has 365.
Opportunity knocks only once; grab that pork chop while no one’s looking.
Why sing for your supper? It’s easier just to stare at your empty plate.
Man works from sun till sun, but a cat gets by without lifting a paw.
To every problem there is a solution: try staring at the handle of the refrigerator.
Never complain, never explain; just throw up that wet fur ball.
Art is long; life is short; leave some scratches on the piano.
She had lived a sheltered life before joining our household and was slow to emerge from kittenhood until we spent that summer in a log cabin at the beach. Its interior must have looked strange and wonderful, especially the ceiling open to the roof twenty feet overhead, crisscrossed with log beams and rafters. It sparked a primitive urge, and she would never be the same.
Neither would I! I remember it now as my Early Yum Yum Period, which I perpetuated in verse.
I’ll always remember Yum Yum
And the way she flew through the air
Without any wings—just muscles like springs—
And a will to get where she was going
Without knowing quite where!
One minute she’d be on the mantel,
The next on the rafter up high.
Then down she would swoop, just missing the soup
Or chili or strawberry pie.
But . . . no matter how bad her behavior,
We forgave her.
She’d prowl around ten feet overhead
And pounce on my stomach as I lay in bed.
At dinnertime she’d slip off a beam
And land with her feet in a dish of ice cream.
She’d knock over a chair in the middle of the night,
Break some glasses, give us a fright.
All the while crowing with voice loud and clear
That would frazzle the nerves and shatter the ear.
Yes, I’ll always remember Yum Yum—
All devil, all angel, all brat.
And not much chin but reckless as sin!
All furry, all purry, all cat!
Postscript:
Yum Yum is now a poised, grown-up lady cat, but there are times—usually at the full moon—when there is a certain glint in her violet-tinged blue eyes. Is she getting that old feeling?
Contents
1. enter: kao k’o kung, howling
2. enter: yum yum, shrieking
3. confessions of a cat-illiterate
4. the cat who had 60 whiskers
5. yum yum the paw
6. koko and the siamese rope trick
7. yum yum and the interior designer
8. koko and the rum tum tugger syndrome
9. cats! who can understand them?
10. the matter of the silver thimble
11. cool koko’s almanac
12. why do cats do what they do?
13. do cats have a sense of humor?
14. the day yum yum got out
15. limericks: fun in the boondocks
16. cool koko also says
17. the fine art of naming cats
18. yum yum and the queen-size bed
19. koko’s unique social graces
20. kidnapped!
21. more cool kokoisms
22. yum yum discovers her wings