Boyle McCauley News

Since 1979 • April-May 2024 • Circulation 5000

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Lillevan, Our Family Cat

When I was growing up, our family had a very special cat whose name was Lilleven. Lilleven had been through just about everything a poor little pet could and despite it, stayed a loving cat. My dad told me that Lilleven was Danish for “little friend.” This was a fitting name, but he was also like a “little bus.” He never showed favouritism to any family member, and just like a bus, he would visit each of us throughout the day and give us little bits of his love. He would stop at my chair while I watched TV and I would pet him and he would purr and drool. His drooling meant he was comfortable and content. Then he would often go and fit himself into the small gap beside my Dad in his easy chair for a while. My brother would feed him to cap off the night, but first Lillevan would go and see my mom who went to bed early each night. We would often go to talk with my mom then and play with our dear cat. Last of all, he would sleep all night next to my sister in her room.

My dad would often tell stories about Lilleven that I was too young to remember. He was a real tease to our dog. He would go in the back yard and sit at the edge of Candy’s (our border collie) leash limit and wait for the dog to come yelping and barking and stop abruptly just before getting to our intelligent cat. He also told me that when he was a kitten, Lilleven would sit on his foot under the dinner table and my dad would rock him like a baby.

My brother and I believed Lilleven could even talk. He would sit at the door and say, “oww” as though he were trying to say “out.” There were so many legends about our little black and grey striped dynamo. My mom told us that when he was younger, his “bus route” went all over the neighbourhood, one stop getting him some tuna and another getting him some milk.

I wasn’t too old when our beloved cat passed away, but I didn’t feel bad about it. He was getting old and he died peacefully with his family around him. We were sad of course, but we knew that he had given us a very special gift of spending his life with us and in return we gave him love and a happy home from almost birth to his very last breath.

Leif is a writer in McCauley.

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