melaniesuzanne | The Army of Darkness is halved

In May 1995, my sister's friend's cat had a litter of Himilayan-ish kittens. My sister picked out a smoke grey cat (named Brown), my Mom picked out a Siamese-looking cat (named Kit), and I picked out the runt of the litter who was a ball of fluff with huge yellow eyes. That palm-sized furball turned into my lanky Basil.

Baby Basil, ca 1995

In his fifteen years of life, Basil lived in twelve homes with thirteen other humans, twelve other cats, and four rats. He traveled with me from Memphis to Falls Church by riding atop my pile of belongings in the backseat of my Topaz. He was afraid of

zipmeister's bird and "protected" me from

thisoldgrouse's cats during that trip. He loved tormenting

courtney_d_h's Smoosh and Lady and was the junior kitty to

dmn4nr's Merlin and Apprentice. At least until he became the Big Bad Outdoor Kitty and then he didn't take guff off of anybody. He did not like Pestoratfink.

Basil in the window

He was my camel-kitty and loooooved drinking from the sink and tub faucets. He also loved drinking from my glass if it held water. He'd sniff anybody's glass to see if it contained water. He loved catnip and was a very funny stoner who got the munchies. He loved having his chin and cheeks scritched. He disliked being brushed, but would patiently put up with my torturous brushing up to a point. He loved open windows and sleeping in my closet. He wasn't a snuggly cat and wanted to be near his humans but just out of arm's reach.