Alley Cat

My wife told me I should try to sell the image rights to Vera Bradley.

Alley Cat is my cat, I’ve had her for years now. As her name suggests, that’s exactly where we found her. She was a blue-eyed kitten, barely 2 weeks old when found, abandoned in that alley. The alley was at the back of a theater where my daughter was cast in a show. Ironically enough, it was the San Antonio local stage production of “Cats.”

If you know anything about the musical Cats, it’s that each of the cats has a very whimsical name. There’s Jellilorum, Rum Tum Tugger, Grizzabella, Skimbelshanks, Mr. Mistoffeles, and so many more! How an orphaned kitten discovered at the back stage door by a bunch of theater kids running the production of Cats managed to name this one “Alley Cat,” is statistically impossible, I would think.

But that’s her name, and it fits, for she is like no other cat in Cats. We nursed her back to health on turkey baby food, eventually switching to kitten food. Her eyes darkened to a faded yellow, and her mottled colors came in, a Tortoise shelled cat, or Tortie for short.

Torties are known for being mischievous, and she fit the bill. She would get into everything! And she still does, from time to time. My wife snapped a photo of her hiding in her Vera Bradley bag and I knew I had to draw it. The picture hangs in our house to this day.