Oscar the Grouch

No, not from Sesame Street...

Oscar, you see, is a cat.

For a long time he's lived in our neighborhood - a mostly outside cat, owned by neighbors (if it can be said that any cat is owned by humans. It might be better to say that he owns the neighbors). He was always particularly unfriendly, but liked to have handouts, and would, once in a long while, even let me touch him if I put a bowl of food under his nose. But normally, he'd bite and scratch and fight and try to get away if you attempted to pick him up or anything of the sort. He has been the ultimate "grouch".

He's lived here for a couple of years, and we've had that neighborly relationship, where he comes and goes, and sometimes we don't see him for days at a time. This past December, the first couple of weeks were bitterly cold, at least in the single digits, even if not in the negatives.

I was afraid for Oscar. His family would let him in, but he was NOT an indoor cat, and he'd be ready to go out again, soon. They'd let him out when the parents were at work and kids at school. At that point, my wife was not working, and so I let Oscar come into our house.

He made straight for the basement, and went and hid out there. Our litter box, for "Lucky" (the three-legged, one-eyed, tailless, mangy furball that normally lives here) was in the laundry room, upstairs, and the food, as well. So, we arranged a second litterbox for Oscar, and a bowl of food, and he was quite comfortable just 'hanging out' in the basement.

His family came back and got him, but a day or so later, he was back at our door, so I opened it and he went straight back to the basement. I had some projects to do down there along about then. It's a mostly unfinished basement, one big room, but it's divided by a huge set of bookshelves I have erected over the past couple of years, and one project involved shelving up a few hundred books (many of the kids' books, many of mine from over the years). And as I'd work down there, I'd murmur softly to Oscar, and gradually some of his fear went away.

One day, I put my hand under his belly, and lifted him up to a table. He didn't know how to take that, I think, but put up with it. And over the next couple of weeks, we'd do this again. One day, I carefully picked him up, and carried him to the top of the stairs, to the main floor, and by the time we got there, he was pawing to get down, but he did let me get him that far.

We also have a dog who lives indoors, a small Llaso named Molly. Molly is a fairly calm dog, but she tends to be too close when Oscar is around, so anytime I'd handle him with her around, he'd revert to his wildness... which is part of the reason why the top of the basement stairs seemed to be a "problem area" for him. But, still, we got there.

One evening, I brought him up to my bedroom, and put him up on the bed. Everyone else was away in the house, it was just Oscar and I. I stretched out and started talking to him... and he started purring. A little while later my wife bustled in, moments later followed by Molly and Lucky, and Oscar scooted.

Too loud, too busy, he couldn't hang with that. He was back in the basement in moments. But for 10 or 15 minutes, he had stayed... A few days later, we did this again. When the crowd crowded in, he lasted a little longer this time. And gradually, over the next few days and weeks, Oscar has gotten to where he'll hide, either in the basement, or the bedroom, and when I come home in the evening, he'll make his first appearance.

He'll come rub around my legs, and if I sit in my chair, he'll climb up on me and start his motor to running. A few months ago, I had no idea that he had such a pur-engine... but it's alive and well. And at night, when I lay down, if he's inside, he'll come climb up into bed beside me, and if I pay him the slightest attention, he'll start purring loudly... closing his eyes, kneading the blanket with his paws.. and if ever I've seen happiness and contentment, I see it in him.

One day, a week or so ago, I had opportunity to be home alone for a few hours. I had some work that I needed to get done, and so I sat in my easy chair, perched my work laptop in my lap, and went to work. A little while later, the old Grouch came in and jumped up beside me, and eventually curled up and went to sleep.

There's a comfort there. This world sometimes seems difficult and often I feel out of tune with my surroundings. It's nice to know, even when I doubt myself, that this creature that's been a loner for so long, sees in me the companion he has perhaps craved for a long time. It was a nice, peaceful day. My son was home, but the victim of a sleepover with too little sleep, so had gone to crash out for a few hours, so it was just me and Oscar... sitting there in companionable silence.

A pair of Grouches.