Chowder
A touching story by Penny's human mommy

About two years ago, I heard loud meows and scratching from the door. I thought it was Penny, wanting to come in from the cold mornings of February. I was the only one up so, I decided to open the door. To my surprise, Penny was right behind me. (It was about 5 or 6 in the morning, so I was sleepy.) Okay, so I open the door and on the porch stood a big, ring tailed, orangey- white cat with a pink and red nose. Oh wow, I thought! A stray! This could be my chance to save a life, or something. Man, this cat is pretty fat so it probably isn't really hungry, I thought. Well, I was sorta scared, at first, to pet the cat. I was afraid it would bite me or scratch me, or run away. But, I collected my courage and petted him. I invited him in. Boy, Penny wasn't very happy with that! She hissed at the poor thing. And I felt sorry for him. I kept telling Penny to HUSH! Well, I fed the stray some of Penny's cat food and he eagerly ate it. I fed him some more...and some more. After a while, I let him go because I knew my dad wouldn't be happy if he saw the stray. So, out he went.

Well, the day after that, he came back again. I fed him in a little Chinese bowl that we never use and he ate all the food! My brother and the stray met and we decided to call him Chowder. (no good reason, really. It came from Cheddar.) We kept the Chinese food bowl outside because he wasn't used coming inside our house. Besides, Penny didn't welcome him very much.

After a couple of weeks, Chowder became a little used to me and my brother. He was still a little shy. But at that time, I could pet him with ease and not worry if he'd scratched me or not. He was a big softie. He looks like a tought feline but, he's really not. He had a heart of gold and our relationship kept growing. I also realized that I wasn't his first owner. Somebody must have had him before. How did I know? He was declawed. Somebody must have declawed him...logically enough.

We had a little, tiny kitten named Zoe, then, and when Penny hissed at Chowder, Zoe would hiss at Chowder, too. Then, Chowder would run away. Oh! I thought that was the cutest thing! Little Zoe was so adorable. She was so tiny, you could hold her in one hand.

One time, Chowder even slept on my daddy's head. He snuck into my parents' bedroom and plopped himself on daddy's head. It was so funny! I wish I had a camera!

Chowder kept coming to our house almost everyday. Sometimes, I would even wait for him to come. Me and my brother would mix canned food, along with dry food for Chowder. We found that he liked water in his food. So, we would mix water into the canned food and dry food. It was mushy but, we could tell he liked it.

Well, one day, Chowder never came back. I wasn't very worried, though. I thought he was probably out hunting for mice or chasing birds. Chowder still didn't come back after the next couple of days. Did he run away? Did he die? What happened? Why isn't he coming back? Where was he? All these questions swarmed my mind. I was mortified! My poor Chowder! Where is he!?! To this day, I still don't know where he is. Maybe he is living with somebody else, maybe he was...dead? No, no. He couldn't be...could he? Maybe he ran away because he never liked me. Maybe maybe maybe. Oh, my Chowder.

I never saw him again. I do miss him. But, I have dedicated this page just for him. I love you Chowder! I don't know where you are...have you crossed the Rainbow Bridge?