Mad Max

Those of you who know her know that Max the Cat is pure evil. Max is Jeremiah's cat. Jeni brought her home for him when Max was such a tiny kitten she had to be fed with a dropper. Max is easily the most beautiful cat I've ever known. A giant ball of fluff with cute Lorax feet (you know, those big tufts of fur that poof out between the toes) and big, round green eyes, you can't help but want to pet her. In her especially evil youth she would look at new-comers beguilingly, maybe even rub up against an innocent visitor and purr. It was all a ruse to get you to put yourself in harm's way. Back when she had claws, touching Max often meant you would pull back a bloody arm. One unsuspecting visitor to Jeremiah's abode left with a bloodied lip. Evil. A few years ago I learned that it wasn't necessarily so that a cat could be too old to be declawed. Calls were placed...and Max's front WMD were neutralized.

To my surprise, she immediately became a much happier kitty. She will let us pick her up and carry her around, she will even let some people go near her. But not Joy. She hates Joy, we have no idea why. And she hates most strangers. She is evidently aware that she can't do much damage so now instead of trying to lure people in she just growls threateningly when someone new approaches. And she might bite you. Hard.

But here's the point of all this. Max loves Kate. Kate pokes her, pulls on her tail, rubs her belly, lays on top of her and screeches with delight in her ears. From day one, Max has had nothing but somewhat indifferent tolerance for Kate. For Max, that amounts to unconditional love. It brings a tear to my eye, I tell you. Each day when she gets home from daycare Kate runs over to the kitchen table (we feed Max up there so Lola won't eat all her food. Don't worry, we don't do any food prep on it anymore) and says "I want to go up there!" Up she goes while one of us hovers near-by, waiting for Kate to tumble to the floor and burst her skull wide open, spilling brains all over the tile. There she torments Max in ways no other sentient being would dare. And Max just hangs out. Purrs, even, sometimes. I guess wonders really never will cease.