In memory of the little guy

This was written a couple of years after I lost Tokie. It's actually a compilation of stories I wrote about our antics as they happened. A lot of people asked me to try and train another cat, but cats cannot be trained for mischief, they are born to it as I found out. The era of the Seeing Eye Cat is over, and I'm glad to have had him in my life. I'll not mourn his passing, but will rejoice in the time we had together. Fact is, Tokie was one of a kind. I've never seen an animal like him before or since. He was a man's cat; he was an officer and a gentleman with a kittytude. He was a high-stepper and he would walk along with me proudly as though he had a sense of purpose. There was an air about him that was special. Men that HATED cats would watch him and comment "Now THAT'S a neat cat. He had the saddest eyes, though. I disciplined him once for pooping on the floor, and the look he gave me was one that crushed me. It was a look of hurt, anger and the face of someone that has been cheated by his best friend. Ten minutes later, I found out why he had pooped on the floor. His litterbox was a mess. I was the one that had let him down. I apologized as best I could, and never let his box get so full again. I also never disciplined him again, either. I never had to. If he did anything to upset me, I'd look around and see that I had failed somehow. I learned a lot from that demanding little kitty. All 7-1/2 pounds of him. I'll never forget the look he gave a waterproofing salesman one day. Tokie sat down next to him and the salesman swept him off onto the floor. The look he gave the salesman was priceless, it said clearly 'You're in deep. deep shit." Then he looked at me as I was quietly getting up to my feet and smiled. He knew. I didn't throw that salesman through a closed door that day because Mrs Pic opened it before I could. (She later regretted it because she wanted a new door and it was a couple years before we got to replacing it.) Then the little guy jumped up on the window sill and watched the salesman chase all of his paperwork around, scattered by the wind. He seemed amused. He was extra affectionate after that. A pest, really. He ruled the Piccolo household, like a Field Marshal. I don't think he liked a whole lot of people. He didn't hate them, I think he just didn't have time for their shit or their stupidity. When the teenager at the mall actually got down on her knees to give the cat directions, (For you newbies, he was playing the role of a Seeing Eye Cat, I was playing the blind man.) the teenager was speaking to him in baby talk, like he was a little kid. Tokie's face was priceless. It read, I'm not stupid, you are! I think we're all going to have to face it. The era of the Seeing Eye Cat is over. When Tokie died, they broke the mold.