I am going to tell you a wonderful story. The story of my entrance into Humanity and Civilization. As opposed to the Wild. It is not the usual “I was born in a log cabin” story. This story is great! It is almost unbelievable, but it is a true story. Read on. Don’t miss this one.

I am a feral cat. I was born in the Wild. The wilderness of Louisiana. The boonies. The deep forest. I had to hunt for my food. And, fight for survival. I am a Cajun Cat.

One day, as I was wandering around, I spotted something different. I surmised, after some observance, that it was a Human. One of those beings who inhabits the earth with us. This Human would come out of a HUGE box and sit in the yard for hours.

I peered out from behind a bush. I peeked from behind trees. I hid under a branch and crawled on my belly a few feet at a time. She may have seen the branch moving with my whiskers protruding from beneath the leaves. I watched...pondered...concluded. I hoped The Human never saw me.

Then, I decided to show myself. I just pranced right out in the open. Sauntered over to the fence and peered out at her. When I did, magically there appeared food. GOOD food. In a clean dish. Every morning and every evening. I lurked on a top shelf of the tool shed of this Human and watched as she brought our food. I surmised she was a “she” because of the nurturing habit. She was obviously a ‘mama’.

So. My brother, mother and I moved up in the world. We didn’t have to hunt so much because we had this Human Mama to feed us each day and give us fresh water. It was great!

I began to nap in the afternoon. Relax a bit. A full tummy felt SO good!

Well. HERE is where this story gets interesting! I looked at my surroundings. And, then? I looked at the Human Mama’s surroundings. And, all by myself, I decided that perhaps I should leave my home. Leave my mother and brother. Leave my way of life and go to her forever.

This is unheard of! Feral cats do not go willingly to Humans! Unheard of. But, I am, as you well know, not a ‘normal cat’. How many cats do YOU know who write a column!

And so, the day came. There was a HUGE fence surrounding the Human Mama. A chain-link fence. I was little. Only about 4 months old. But, I had made up my mind. I was going to change my entire life! I was determined to go to this Human Mama. I knew, somehow, that this was the right thing to do.

I spoke to my Cat Mother and my Cat Brother and explained to them I was leaving. They thought I had gone mad. I asked my brother to come with me. He declined.

And so, I began my ascent of the fence. I was embarrassed because it took me a long, long time to scale that fence! I fell a few times. Once on my head! I was in a very un-lady-like position with my butt hanging down and wiggling from right to left to give me leverage. Embarrassing! But, I persevered. The Human was watching me in awe. Cat mother and brother watched...also in awe.

Finally, I made it to the top and fell the entire height of the fence to the other side. Right on said butt. I rolled over and tried to regain some dignity. It was irreversible now. I was ‘on the other side’ and there was no way back. I had committed. I was terrified. But, I began to waddle toward her. We stared at each other as I approached her.

Meantime, halfway to her, I turned and looked at my sibling and mother...who were mourning my impending demise. I said a quiet, sad, 'goodbye'. They thought I was a goner. So did I, frankly.

I reached her. We looked at each other. I began to circle her...time and time again. She made ‘cooing’ sounds that were very comforting. I circled for a long, long time.

Then? I decided. I was going to kiss her. I was going to bond. I was going to let it all hang out and go for it...100%. It was all or nothing now.

I jumped into her lap. She fondled me. My FIRST Human touch! It felt like Heaven! She held my face between her hands and caressed it. I also cooed. I purred. I cuddled. And, I began to lick her beautiful face. She put her lips to my head and began to kiss me. Oh! What joy! What a FEELING! I knew this was love. Love.

The moral of this story?

Take life by the shoulders and shake it. Rush right in. Challenge yourself. Open new doors. Be daring. Be bold. Live! Don’t be a coward. There are no fences you cannot climb if you are determined to do it.

P.S. Remember in the first issue I said I would tell you how I got my email address? Well? I LEFT Louisiana 3 weeks before Katrina hit! And, when I realized how close I came to getting killed I made up my email. It is LA NO MORE. Which translates to lanomore at yahoo.com. Write me if you are so inclined. I LOVE fan mail.

*Note from Webmaster: To email Callie the Cat replace the word "at" in the email address with the symbol @ This is done to protect Callie's email address from Internet spam bots that harvest plain text email addresses.