My Cats(continued)
Onyx's
other names derive from a variety of other sources. "Marie"
was the name of the little female kitten in Disney's "The Aristocats."
The one who was always falling out of or falling into something that
she wasn't supposed to. This is the epitome of Onyx's behavior, as it
is with most cats. So, I began calling her Onyx-Marie.
Another fondness of felines is getting into things like boxes and bags
or anything that can be construed as a hiding place. Onyx loves this.
Before a road trip, the maps that are around my domicile are always
strewn around the floors, beds, and any other area that contains free
space. Any little hike in the paper, however, becomes an instant entrance
into a new and wonderful world that Onyx has not yet explored. Because
of this, I often find myself shaking a kitten out of my maps before
I use them. Hence, her third and fourth names: Rand McNally. Ummm..."Oaxaca."
Well, for the life of me, I can't remember why this name got stuck in
the string, but it's one of her own. It's the name of an ancient Aztec
city, and is pronounced, "WA-HA-KA."
Abby came to my home on September 4th, 1997. On my way home when I lived
in Brookline, my bus went by the Allston Pet Shop. One day, I saw a
whole slew of kittens in the window. I got off at the next stop and
walked back to look at them. There were four different ones there, including
one that looked like a tiny version of Onyx herself. That night I went
home and begged my ex-fiancee to meet me there after work the next day
so that he could look at them, too.