The King of My Heart (almost)

Tribute to my cat (not because he's dead, he's not; he's just a really good cat).

Once upon a time- uhm, no, no, let’s reserve that for princes and princesses; although this might as well be about a King… one that came from the unknown, went through the toughest times you could possibly imagine, until he found- oh, I’m sorry, I was about to tell you the end right there. Let’s focus here, shall we begin, then? 

On a day like any other, a beautiful female cat gave birth to the kitten that this story is dedicated for. Nobody knows where he came from or how, but he had to be born, of course. No one knows if he had brothers, or if he was born from a street or domestic cat. Though, by the looks of him, it is almost for certain it had to be a domestic cat, one that looked like a queen; as for the father, he must have been almost a lion! 

Around 5 years ago as I write this, that little tiny kitten, the most beautiful kitten anyone could ever have seen, arrived at a stranger’s house. There, a family of 4 lived, with a dog. Understandably, the dog got all excited about the kitten’s arrival. The humans hadn’t even noticed him yet, but the small Chihuahua dog could smell him. When the middle aged woman, the mother of the family, went to investigate, she saw the beautiful being. As an animal lover, she immediately fed him and gave him some water, even though he didn’t look hungry, all he was was playful. She was no fan of cats, but this one was impossible not to like. The woman, Nancy, told one of her sons, the owner of the little dog called Doggy, to go outside and take a look at the cat. The young man, Fredrick, immediately fell in love with the cat and started playing with him. But alas, the kitty ought to have a home, he seemed well fed, was of a beautiful pure breed called Turkish Van, and was decently clean. Nancy thought that if they left him there, he’d simply go back to where he came from. 

A few days passed and the kitten stuck around. Fredrick begged Nancy to please bring the little kitty inside, a request she could not refuse. Fredrick took notice of such beauty, he could not have been older than 3 months, he was white with golden all over his ears and the top and sides of his eyes, all through the back of his neck; his lower neck and body was all white; his upper body was all golden, with a white separation just below the neck; from behind, one leg was white and one was golden, making it look funny as he walked; he had the longest and fluffiest tail with all different shades of golden; his front paws were beautiful and fluffy, as the rest of him really, they were both white with just a hint of golden on the back; his chin also had just a hint of soft gold; he had two special marks, one on the start of his tail, where there was a patch of white, and another in the middle of his upper body, which also had patch of white. And of course, the perfect bright pink nose.

Doggy the dog got jealous as soon as Fredrick entered the kitty. You see, Doggy’s and Fredrick’s connection was beyond any love you could possible imagine, they both lived for each other and for each other only, so the dog was confused and angry about the cat. Fredrick even let the cat get on his bed to play with him, while Doggy suspiciously watched. 

A few days passed and the cat had to sleep on a high box to make sure he wouldn’t go anywhere. But they all knew they could not keep it. They already had a dog, who didn’t even like the kitty and would keep his distance from it. And the father of the family, Greg, he would simply not have it. Fredrick was devastated, because the kitty was so tiny, defenseless and they didn’t know what to do with him. In the meantime, they named him Tito. And so he became Tito the family cat, but not for long. 

The family had a land property far away where the father practiced agriculture with one of his brothers; they each had a small hut to put most of their tools and whatnot, and the brother’s hut had several cats. They were looked after only a few times a week, but they did not lack food and were fairly safe. So the family decided to take Tito the cat up to that land to be with all the other cats. Fredrick was heartbroken, but hopeful they would see each other again. Doggy in the other hand, was as happy as he could be when he realized the cat was gone and it was Fredrick and him alone against the world again. 

And that’s how the story goes, the cat stayed with other cats and grew up to have kittens himself. The end… I’m just kidding! This is only the start of Tito’s journey. He must have been 4 or 5 months old by the time he moved to the small hut. 

He had lots of fun there with the other cats, had lots of lands to explore and several other landowners to visit for food. But not everything was perfect. The cats there, well, they were not all friendly. Sometimes there were serious fights against big dogs. But Tito was always known to avoid trouble if it was within his reach. He wanted to be well fed and left alone to be safe. And he did. He grew up in the land, visiting people every day, being given food every other day of the week by the landowner, Martin, who was Greg’s brother. 

But at some point, Martin started noticing an odd pattern, some cats had gone missing! Specially the baby ones. Not Tito, oh nothing like that shall ever happen to that precious soul! Here’s the heartbreaking part… There are several dogs from all other nearby lands that went specifically to that spot to kill the baby kittens that all other cats were having. They even got to some of the big cats. Tito himself was not in good shape. He was still there and avoided as much trouble as he could, as he was never the fighting type, but some fights he could not avoid. 

Martin made an attempt to close out the area and avoid having the dogs enter the land, but that did not work very well, as there were many dogs coming from all over. But here is a piece of good news for you, Greg had bought another, bigger and better, piece of land that was not that far from the other; for a person, it was insanely far, for the dedication Tito the cat had to survive, it was nothing. The Land even had a house where Nancy and Greg lived on the weekends and even some week days too. Nancy was so surprised one day when she saw Tito the cat arrive to their new land. They immediately recognized each other. She noticed some fighting scars he had and felt so sorry for him.

But, more bad news, folks. They also had plenty of dogs on the new land, and none of them were a fan of Tito the cat. Nancy kept on rescuing dogs and keeping them; there was one in special, called Kika, who arrived almost dead to the bones, but Nancy fed her good and got her to health. That particular dog was quite peaceful and minded no business with the cat. But there were others that could not see Tito even nearby without wanting to straight up kill him. Nancy feared every day for the life of that very valued cat. Why he’s so valued and special you ask me? I’ll tell you later, that’s a whole other story. 

So, poor Tito had come from one very hard life to endure yet another one. At least, he’d have a feast most days. Turns out Greg made several ponds on the land, where he grew fish to sell. And believe it or not, Tito the cat was so brave and resourceful that he went fishing for his lunch! Now, this was not the kitty we talked about at the beginning, this is the same cat, but this one is all grown up, and let me tell you… he has one hell of a size. If you picked him up, he’d be half a regular adult human’s size, no kidding! And with the life he had gotten, years passed him and that tenacious cat acquired more and more knowledge and skills. 

From time to time, Tito would have a visit from Fredrick and Doggy. He was thrilled to see him every time; he would not leave his side even with Doggy there. Fredrick was amazed at how big Tito had gotten. And no matter how hard life was for the cat, he was his same playful self as he was when he was a kitten whenever he saw Fredrick. Now, remember how special and valued Tito the cat is? This is why, the connection he had with Fredrick. You see, Doggy was getting old, and unknowingly to anyone at the time, he had gotten liver cancer. So, if Fredrick lived for Doggy and Doggy lived for Fredrick, what do you think would happen in a few years or months? But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. 

Fredrick was a special type of person, his mind worked more like a robot than a human in many aspects. By that time, he was 22, Doggy was 12 and Tito must have been around 2. No one knew this while it happened, but now that there’s knowledge of it, I’ll share it with you. Fredrick was a very broken boy. There was a cognitive part of him that never developed, and that was how to love and how to interact, how society worked. He was a 22-year-old independent man who had no social skills, nor emotions, nor feelings, because that part of him never developed. He had a few emotions here and there that were learnt, watching how other people behaved, he copied them in order to appear “normal”, but love was one thing he never got near. Yet somehow, Doggy came like a little fairy to fix that. Fredrick somehow loved him. Average people love lots of things, they have regular emotions and feelings towards different things. But not Fredrick, he only had them for Doggy, his soulmate. But… if this story is about Tito the cat, why is this relevant? Glad you asked. 

Well, Tito tried to fix Fredrick up. Sadly, he didn’t, but there was definitely improvement. And this is all still on the background guys, none of these people and animals knew what was happening at that time. Fredrick didn’t have the human capacity to love, not his mother, not his father, not himself, no one. He could like and enjoy things, of course, but love? He only knew that with Doggy, for 12 years he had somehow loved that dog, who didn’t exactly have a lot of months left. Tito didn’t really “fix” Fredrick, but he opened a little space in his heart and mind where he could fit, and that was enough for Fredrick to actually feel something towards Tito the cat. Fredrick, of course, couldn’t understand what he was feeling, but at least he was feeling it.  

Well, back to Tito and fast-forward 2 more months (I know, I know, I could have been more careful with the timeline, but I’m sure you can keep up). Tito was not doing so well, in fact, Nancy thought he was in his last days! He had a fight with Ponky, the biggest and most aggressive dog in the land. How he got out alive will always remain a mystery, but he had a hole on one of his shoulders where you could see live flesh, his eyes were all blurred (though he could still see), he had several slashes all through his slim body, his white fur was covered in dirt, he was even missing small chunks of his ears and the skin all over above his nose was scratched and dirty. Nancy knew she had to take him out of there right that moment. The next time they were in town, they had Tito with them, but his condition was the same. 

By that time, Fredrick lived on his own, he was forced to move alone without his baby, Doggy, because he could not find an apartment he could afford and have the dog with him at the same time. However, the landowner of his new apartment allowed the cat to live there. Just before he could get Tito, though, he actually escaped! No one could believe that Tito the cat had gone through all of that, to be rescued only to flee. Nancy and Fredrick were so worried! But Nancy had a brilliant idea. She knew Tito absolutely went crazy for fish, so she left a fish bowl outside, and soon enough Tito was on the neighbor’s house and, with some difficulty, he crossed home again. After that, they made sure Tito had no access to the stairs that led to the roof, where he fled the first time. 

Finally, Fredrick took the poor kitty in a large box to the veterinarian and told them to please do whatever was necessary and to put all vaccines cats ever needed, as he had never been vaccinated before. He even stayed at the vet overnight for a spa day. The next day, Tito was unrecognizable; he had a bandana on his neck and was all cleaned up and just as good looking as when they first met. But he was still really thin and probably lacking lots of nutrients. 

Fredrick bought him a few frozen fish, the best cat food and cat litter and took him to his small apartment. At first, he was not used to the place, he was exploring it, but it didn’t take a lot of time for him to get used to it. Though he felt alone and meowed all day when Fredrick had to work. In no time, though, the cat regained his weight and even started eating only the good kind of cat food or gourmet food, no raw fish for him anymore! 

After only a few weeks, Fredrick found the perfect apartment where he could keep both Tito (Sr. Tito now) and Doggy. It was slow at first, for the two of them to live together, but they were both very mature and gave each other space. And when there was time to play, they did so as well. But Tito started noticing something that made him sad, he was always second place. Fredrick treated Doggy as his own son of true blood, and while he appreciated Tito a ton, it was just not the same. It was okay though, because Tito knew what Doggy represented in Fredrick’s life, and he would just have to find his space with time. 

There was no time, though. There were only a few months between the time Fredrick, Doggy and Tito all moved together, and the time Doggy started getting convulsions because cancer took over his little liver. That day, Tito could do nothing, he just watched as tears went down his new human’s face; after a few hours, Fredrick went outside with Doggy covered as a burrito in a towel. He came back at night, with empty arms and Nancy. 

Sr. Tito the cat knew there was nothing he could do to make his human feel better, those were really hard weeks that went by. He even had to be moved again to Nancy’s because his human did not have any will to keep living without his first born son. 

But what made this cat truly special, was what happened the following weeks. When Fredrick was well enough to live on his own again, Tito could tell his moods, and he was there any time he needed him. Tito would jump onto Fredrick’s bed, lie on his human’s chest and purr the pain away. Fredrick got used to having Tito lying on his chest while he stroked the hair on his cheeks and head, which made him purr loudly. 

All of this, my precious readers, was only two years ago. From then, Fredrick and Sr. Tito’s bond has grown much stronger. And he even has a new brother now, called Orcus, a Chihuahua and Yorkie mix that Fredrick rescued a year ago. And Tito and Orcus absolutely love each other. But that’s for another story. Fredrick still has not gained the ability to love anyone other than Doggy, but he’s trying.

As for this story… that’s how Sr. Tito the cat came from nowhere, went through the toughest times one could think of and is now the King of Fredrick’s heart… or of his house, at least; he sleeps wherever he pleases he breaks couches and mattresses, well, he does whatever he pleases and no one can get mad at him because, well… as of how Sr. Tito looks now, just like a king! Except with a few extra pounds, maybe.