Simon started life as a farm cat in Wylie, Texas.
He spent his early life catching mice, feuding with dogs and beating up other cats.
He probably sired a few kittens during this time as well, but Simon was a
gentleman and he never told.
Then he discovered that the meals were steady and there was always a comfortable
place to sleep indoors if he adopted a human.
So Simon switched from pure farm cat to civilized country cat.
Simon and his human were happy for a while, but then his human got married
and moved to Garland, Texas, and the new spouse was very allergic to cats.
So Simon came to live with
Merlin,
Obie and me in Plano, Texas.
Simon gave up prowling the open fields for the decadent life of a city cat.
Instead of chasing birds, he watched them from the air-conditioned comfort of
a window seat.
There was a backyard to play in (supervised, of course).
Every Christmas there were piles of wrapping paper liberally sprinkled with home-grown
catnip.
And with the arrival of Nikki one Christmas, and Murphy the Destructo Dog
several years later, Simon had his own personal doggie slaves to command
and punish when they misbehaved ... and Simon was very good at punishment.
If he heard me say "Bad dog!" Simon would come running, skid to a stop in front
of the offending canine, and reach up to swat the dog's nose with claws fully extended.
Nikki and Murphy came to recognize that paw, and would automatically cower whenever
Simon raised it.
That same paw could reach out delicately and tap a human on the nose with just
enough pressure to feel the tip of the claw, but never draw blood.
Yes, life was good.
But Simon was still a lonely cat ... there was something missing from his life. And then one day while out on a walk, Nikki found a kitten in the woods. And that kitten came home with us and became Simon's best friend, Callie. Simon taught Callie all about being a cat, and Callie taught Simon how to play. It was not unusual to see the two of them rolling through the house disguised as a yowling ball of claws, fur and teeth. And just when it seemed they were going to draw blood, the fur-ball would split into two cats who sat and patiently groomed each other. Callie misses Simon very much.
Simon loved the outdoors.
He had a morning ritual: out the backdoor, down to the pond for a drink, once around
the yard, over the east fence (always at the 3rd fence post), around the house
to the front door, where he waited (not very patiently)
for the door to open so he could stalk back into the house.
If no one was there to open the door, Simon would go walkabout.
He never went very far, and he would come when called ... well, mostly he would
come when called.
He liked to hide in the bushes and watch humans run around calling his
name until they were ready to give up.
Then he would walk past them to the door as if nothing out of the ordinary had
happened.
Simon could spend hours sitting by the pond, watching the birds and fish, or
hiding in the undergrowth, waiting for unwary field mice to scuttle past.
Fish were OK, birds were fun to watch, but mice ... mice were not allowed in
Simon's domain.
I never saw him play with a mouse that he had caught.
He always gave them a quick, clean, death and never displayed the trophies.
For Simon, mice were vermin and killing them was his job, not a game.
Simon was a very people-oriented cat. He always greeted visitors with a meow and a shin rub. He even liked small children. I wish that I had a picture of him with the son of one of my friends. The boy, who was about 3 or 4 at the time, was hugging Simon, trying to pick him up, and Simon just twitched his tail and squeaked every time the boy tried to lift him (I think the squeaks were a result of being squeezed). Although Simon loved everyone, he prefered the company of men. I think it must have been a male-bonding thing ... Simon was definately full of machismo and he seemed to naturally gravitate to testosterone.
Every cat has his 15 minutes of fame, and Simon was no exception.
Simon was
The Cat Who Wears Chainmail.
The chain helm, which is actually part of the costume of a teddy bear
dressed in chainmail, fit Simon perfectly, and he was content
to wear it long enough for me to take several pictures.
Simon always will be the official logo-cat of
The Renaissance Faire Junkie.
He also appears in the official
Renaissance Faire Junkie Favor
and even had a special A.F.R. favor created just for him.
Simon died on September 10, 1999, after a long illness. He never stopped fighting. His last day was spent doing the things he liked best ... watching the fish in the pond, sleeping by the birdbath and patroling the yard. Then he came inside, checked out the house, and went to sleep in his favorite room, the one with the window seat. He died during the night, in his sleep, with Callie by his side. Simon will be with us always.
Copyright © 1999 by Liz Gensheimer.