An Interview With
Prince Charming

by Jessie

When I learned that we get to interview someone that we greatly admire, I rushed to interview my Prince Charming, my wed wink of almost 10 years, the dashing Day-Late. There were a million questions running around in my mind, most of the answers I already knew, but I thought you might like to learn a little about the most handsome tom that I am wed winked to.

Day-Late

"I hear that you had a lot of snow this winter, since I am a southern belle and have never seen snow, can you tell us a little about it?" I asked. Day-Late smiled and said " I live in what is officially a "far north" suburb of Chicago, but we are actually closer to Wisconsin (10 miles). And we are just 3 miles west of Lake Michigan, so we get what is called "lake effect" snow too. We have had over a foot of snow 3 times this winter, and even with over a week of warm weather, the snow piles in the parking lot at the grocery store are still over 8' high." A chill went through me just thinking about all that snow.

"How do you stand all that snow? Are you an an inside cat or an outside cat?" I asked this handsome tall, slender cat. "I am primarily an indoor cat. I have a secret way in and out of the house (Meowmie has been trying to figure it out for almost 2 years), but it has been so cold this year, I have been staying inside." "Well I can't say as I blame you there," I replied.

"Ok, enough of the cold for me, lets get to one of my favorite things, food. What is your favorite food (not including the outside birds)" I asked Day-Late. "I really like roasted chicken, which the human brings home from the grocery store deli a couple times a month. Meowmie usually shares with me, but she doesn't always do it fast enough. Then I try to grab off her plate, which usually ends up with a game of Airborne Ranger for me. Rib eye steaks are good too, grilled medium rare with no seasonings or sauce. I like human tuna also, but from the can, not the pouch." What other kind of food do you like?" I asked my handsome wink. "When it comes to cat food, I like Friskie's Senior Salmon, Prime filets of turkey and beef, and Whitefish & Tuna." Thinking about all the different foods you have told us about," I replied "you seem to have very good taste in cat food. If I remember right, you introduced Fat Boy (my sibling, Left) to Senior Salmon, which is now his favorite food. It took Mom a while to find it in the store down here, but eventually did, now Fat Boy is happy."

Wondering how I was going to work our wed wink into the interview, I decided to just go for it and asked. "Do you have a wink? (hehehehehe) After Day-Late stopped laughing, he replied, "I am happily wed winked to you Jessie (formerly Jessie the Orphan Kitty), and come December 30 of this year, it will be 10 years. That is longer than a lot of humans we know." Then he started to laugh and told us this story, "When I first joined CLAW and met Jessie, I decided to show her that she wasn't an orphan kitty any more by throwing a surprise birthday party for her. It was my first real foray into HTML, she wound up watching the party appear one graphic at a time while I uploaded them! Oh, well, I tried hard." Still laughing, I said "and you know Day-Late, that is still my favorite party of all time, all the balloons and all the fun, I knew then that you were someone very special."

"Tell me about your housemate, she is your real furmom isn't she?" I asked, knowing there aren't a lot of cats that can say that. "Yes, my house mate Angel is my fur mom. She is kind of a midget, due to being abandoned at a very young age, so when Auntie Lil'Bit helped her get out side when she finally came into heat that first time, Meowmie decided to let her have a litter of kittens (hoping her hormones would kick in and she'd grow some more). Meowmie figured since she was tiny and it was a first litter, she could find homes for 2 or 3 kittens.

Well, Angel had 8 kittens, and there were two runts. I was one, and my brofur Dollar Short was the other one (Get it, Day-Late and Dollar Short). He went to live with my human uncle, and I stayed here to give us even numbers (4 kitties, 2 males and 2 females)." Not being able to remember my fur mom, I really envy Day-Late for being able to live with his mom."Day-Late, when you aren't outside rolling in your catnip patch or chasing birds, what is your favorite activity" I asked. "I am pretty much a cuddle kitty," he said, "so I enjoy sitting in Meowmie's lap and cuddling with her at nap time. That is how I pay my rent."

Knowing that each of us here at home have a special toy, I asked Day-Late if he had any favorite toys? "Well," replied Day-Late "I like furry mice and my catnip sausages. My favorite things are birds, but Meowmie gets upset when I bring them inside to play with. Humans are strange.

"How did you find your forever home, well actually I guess I should ask how your fur mom found your forever home." and Day-Late replied "Well, I was born in the living room, so I just sorta stayed here. Angel was rescued from a storm sewer under the street, after Auntie Linda's d*g, Brandy, tracked her for two days. Meowmie had a home all lined up for her, but the lady couldn't come pick her up until Saturday. Meowmie told Watson & Lil'Bit (my siblings that have since gone to the Rainbow Bridge) to just tolerate her for a few days, but when Meowmie came home from work on Thursday, Watson was curled up on the couch giving Angel a bath. He had adopted her, so meowmie called her friend and said it was too late, and Angel officially joined the family. 'Mama Wats' took it upon himself to teach her everything a little kit needed to know." "I love that story," I said.

"You used to have a larger family, but who all lives with you now? "Well, right now it is just Angel and me. I get to swap scent with Dollar Short a few times a year." said Day-Late. I thought about that answer for a bit, then asked, "I also heard that after Watson and Lil'Bit went to the bridge you tried to adopt a stray cat, can you tell us about that?"

Day-Late was quiet for a minute, then said " Last year we had a stray who spent a few cold nights in our basement window well. Meowmie took some crunchies out to him, but I felt so bad for him. So I showed him the secret entrance, and he came inside to eat wet food and the good crunchies several times a week for almost a year. We called him Buddy, but he wouldn't let Meowmie touch him, he was shy. When it was real cold, Buddy would slip upstairs to our play room and sleep in the corner. Meowmie said she had seen him around the neighborhood for a couple years, but we don't know if his human had died or got foreclosed on. We do know he had a couple other houses where he was eating, and at the beginning of the winter we think one of them locked him inside, because we haven't seen him since.

I was really hoping he would stay here so I could have a "cuddle buddy" because Angel won't let me curl up with her. Then there was a little girl kitty that Meowmie fed for about a week this year, but I think she just slipped outside one day. Meowmie saw her sitting on a window sill on the street behind our house. Some day...."

This is such an interesting cat, and he has the greatest stories to tell, so I asked Day-Late if he belonged to any groups. With a smile, Day-Late said "Well, I was very active in Social in the 'old CLAW', and I took over Purring Paws for a couple years after Lil'Bit crossed the Bridge. But now I am content to just write a few articles for the Zine, nap, and eat my chicken." and with that said, he wandered off, curled himself into a ball, wrapped his long beautiful tail across his eyes and took a little nap.

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