The shoe box was lying outside our garden gate. Immediately I knew it was one of mine because of the familiar product name on the lid. ‘Strange,’ I thought. ‘How on earth did my shoe box get into the lane?’ Of course, I immediately blamed the dogs! It had to be one of them messing about! Little rascals, they must have pushed it through the railings. After all, it did look a bit crushed. Obviously, a new lesson in the ‘wickedness of stealing’ was required before rescuing the offending package and retrieving my shoes which I prayed would still be intact.
But that thought was quickly put aside as my heart sank when I opened the lid and saw the tiny white bundle of fur with his little mouth opening and closing, his eyes tightly shut. Anger at such cruelty quickly followed. How long had this helpless kitten been outside my gate? A few hours? All night? Who on earth had decided to put it in my shoe box and dump it outside my gate without ringing the bell? Who had done such a cruel thing? So many questions, but no answers. At least this little chap was alive, unlike so many who are thrust into plastic bags and callously thrown into rubbish bins; drowned in a pail of water, or used as bait amongst fighting dogs.
For the two short years Uncle Jack was with us were, to say the least, years of enormous pleasure and enchantment. My joy of replacing his mother by teaching him to suckle on a bottle; the moment of excitement as his eyes began opening and to be able to watch closely as he took his first steps on very wobbly legs.
As he grew, Uncle Jack proved to be a quick and eager student, thoroughly enjoying his daily lessons under the tutorship of our other cats; playing ‘cat tails’, digging for worms, catching moths, and occasionally proudly presenting us with tiny voles.
Hide and seek was always a great game, especially when he found our legs to be good targets. He broke all house rules, loving the idea of scratching at table legs, jumping on every item of furniture or hiding in cupboards whenever he found a door carelessly left open. On the rare occasions when we did admonish him, he never took any notice but just continued doing his own thing. He was just a very normal kitten, equally loved by dogs, cats and humans.
One time, the keyboard of my computer became his favourite place for a snooze. Sending emails quickly became a thing of the past unless I was extremely quick to arrive at my desk before Uncle Jack did! Fortunately, like all kittens, he soon got bored with the keyboard, obviously deciding one of the wash basins in the bathroom would be more comfortable. But, that too, came to an end pretty abruptly on the day he curled himself up in the basin and managed to turn on a tap before dropping off to sleep. It was hours later when we discovered two inches of water all over the bathroom floor with Uncle Jack still fast asleep and soaking wet! Naturally we always forgave him, he was such a bundle of fun and completely irresistible. Even that time when we caught him climbing to the top of our brand, new living room curtains before leaping to the floor leaving a gaping hole in the material!
Then, one bright moonlit night Uncle Jack disappeared. He was just two years old. For days we searched the countryside calling and calling, but he never did return and a big hole was left in our hearts. Because Uncle Jack had a beautiful white coat, our vet thinks he was probably taken by a falcon. Sadly we shall never k
