Blurred Line

Felix's story starts at a place called the Pet'n'Brew. Yup, that's right. The guy sold pets, pet supples and home brewing equipment. Now, either he had some funky ideas about what one should put in one's wine, or he got drunk on his own supply one night and decided to expand his business on an ill-advised whim. I was just shy of my ninth birthday back then (if I remember correctly - I'm not exactly sure what month it was) and had been without a cat since we'd moved across the country to Alberta the year before. As you can imagine (and what kid isn't when they're getting a new pet), I was excited. Initially, we had Felix's sister pegged as our selection, but when the day came to go pick her up, she was gone (hopefully to a cat-lover, and not an experimental drink maker, I can only hope). So, there was Felix. He was a scrawny thing, definitely the runt of the litter. But, all alone in his cage he mewled so sadly that it melted the then-innocent hearts of my brother and I. In the end, we took him home. All for the low, low price of $24.95 (seriously, I still remember that price stuck on his cage).

In his younger days Felix was a real scrapper. Unfortunately for him, I'm not sure that he was aware of his size (he remained the runt of the litter - I'm pretty confident that he never hit the ten pound mark in his life). So, he'd come home with various cuts and bruises from the claws of other cats and, for the first five or so years of life, spent a considerable amount of time with a cone of some sort attached to his neck. He was definitely an outdoor cat and even disappeared into a park close to our house for five days one year, in the middle of a pretty cold stretch. I remember our last-ditch walk through the park, after we'd pretty much given up all hope. I called his name and there he was, looking none the worse for wear.

After that first part of his life came the Strider period. Strider was cat number two and, suddenly, Felix's territory was being infringed upon. Of course, Strider was largely harmless, thanks to the fact that he didn't have much of a brain rolling around in his head (he used to stand in the middle of the street and, when cars came rushing at him, he'd simply stand his ground and meow at them until they slowed and went around). Felix spent most of that last year in Alberta hissing.

Then came the move to Ontario and the departure of Strider (after the move, he developed a fondness for taking dumps in various parts of the house, which got him quickly evicted from the house) and Felix became king of the castle. Older now, Felix settled into a more quiet groove and didn't tangle with any of the other neighbourhood cats. He did, however, like to race around the house and top speed in the middle of the night, skidding into walls and such. Oh, and the meowing. There was the midnight meowing that drove all of us crazy. Those two things he never grew out of.

After a couple years in Ottawa, I moved out to New Brunswick for my first year of university and, unfortunately, was separated from my runty kitten. The following year, though, I returned and eventually moved into my first apartment. Felix, who everyone admitted had always been "my" cat, came with me to my sixth floor bachelor apartment. It was a big adjustment for him, having always been an outdoor cat, so the prospect of living in a little space didn't do much for him. Still, he carved out his routine - racing around the apartment and meowing at night, sleeping while I was at work, and sitting on top of my monitor when I was on the computer or cuddling up with me while I read a book.

Finally, I can't forget the shedding. For such a tiny cat, he could really produce a massive amount of hair. My furniture is still coated in it. Funny, but right about now I'm not too sure I want to clean it up.

Bye, Felix. You'll be missed.


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Friday, June 02, 2006 - Felix: 1993-2006 Felix's story starts at a place called the Pet'n'Brew. Yup, that's right. The guy sold pets, pet supples and home brewing equipment. Now, either he had some funky ideas about what one should put in one's wine, or he got drunk on his own supply one night and decided to expand his business on an ill-advised whim. I was just shy of my ninth birthday back then (if I remember correctly - I'm not exactly sure what month it was) and had been without a cat since we'd moved across the country to Alberta the year before. As you can imagine (and what kid isn't when they're getting a new pet), I was excited. Initially, we had Felix's sister pegged as our selection, but when the day came to go pick her up, she was gone (hopefully to a cat-lover, and not an experimental drink maker, I can only hope). So, there was Felix. He was a scrawny thing, definitely the runt of the litter. But, all alone in his cage he mewled so sadly that it melted the then-innocent hearts of my brother and I. In the end, we took him home. All for the low, low price of $24.95 (seriously, I still remember that price stuck on his cage). In his younger days Felix was a real scrapper. Unfortunately for him, I'm not sure that he was aware of his size (he remained the runt of the litter - I'm pretty confident that he never hit the ten pound mark in his life). So, he'd come home with various cuts and bruises from the claws of other cats and, for the first five or so years of life, spent a considerable amount of time with a cone of some sort attached to his neck. He was definitely an outdoor cat and even disappeared into a park close to our house for five days one year, in the middle of a pretty cold stretch. I remember our last-ditch walk through the park, after we'd pretty much given up all hope. I called his name and there he was, looking none the worse for wear. After that first part of his life came the Strider period. Strider was cat number two and, suddenly, Felix's territory was being infringed upon. Of course, Strider was largely harmless, thanks to the fact that he didn't have much of a brain rolling around in his head (he used to stand in the middle of the street and, when cars came rushing at him, he'd simply stand his ground and meow at them until they slowed and went around). Felix spent most of that last year in Alberta hissing. Then came the move to Ontario and the departure of Strider (after the move, he developed a fondness for taking dumps in various parts of the house, which got him quickly evicted from the house) and Felix became king of the castle. Older now, Felix settled into a more quiet groove and didn't tangle with any of the other neighbourhood cats. He did, however, like to race around the house and top speed in the middle of the night, skidding into walls and such. Oh, and the meowing. There was the midnight meowing that drove all of us crazy. Those two things he never grew out of. After a couple years in Ottawa, I moved out to New Brunswick for my first year of university and, unfortunately, was separated from my runty kitten. The following year, though, I returned and eventually moved into my first apartment. Felix, who everyone admitted had always been "my" cat, came with me to my sixth floor bachelor apartment. It was a big adjustment for him, having always been an outdoor cat, so the prospect of living in a little space didn't do much for him. Still, he carved out his routine - racing around the apartment and meowing at night, sleeping while I was at work, and sitting on top of my monitor when I was on the computer or cuddling up with me while I read a book. Finally, I can't forget the shedding. For such a tiny cat, he could really produce a massive amount of hair. My furniture is still coated in it. Funny, but right about now I'm not too sure I want to clean it up. Bye, Felix. You'll be missed. Cavan blogged at 10:41 PM \| 4 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart