A couple of weeks later, I was again presented with the same box. This time I was told, we were babysitting while the neighbours went away for the long weekend. I saw there were only 9 babies and one of them was not long for this world. I cried inside at the injustice of it all, then proceeded to put myself in overdrive. A quick trip to the toy section of the department store got me a doll's bottle, the grocery store, a can of evaporated milk. Back home, I diluted the milk and warmed it, then began the fight of my life. This tiny, tiny little black kitty with the funny white paws, was not going to die in my home!

 

Three days later, when it was time for them to go back to their home, the little one had gained enough strength to seach for a teat, but still couldn't hang on, when pushed aside by the others. One of the other kittens had scratched it's eye, and it was clouded over. I lasted two days.......I couldn't stop thinking about this baby, knowing that after all my work, it was going to die anyway. And if by some miracle it survived, who would even want it, with only one good eye. I told my daughter to go and bring it home. She did! So, at approximately four weeks of age, Checkers came to live with us. Of course she had lost the ground she had gained from being with us, but she thrived on the bottle and it wasn't long before she was running the house.

 

She did run the house....being so tiny, no one could take a step without looking at their feet, making sure she wasn't under them. As it was summer, we decided to paint the living room and hallway. While painting along the baseboard, Checkers decided to check out the workmanship. She got too close to the wet paint and a glob of it stuck to the tip of her ear. As her ear flicked back and forth, it reminded us of a radar dish. We started calling her Radar as a nickname, but even when the paint was just a memory, the name stayed.

 

Radar was a lover, a cuddler. Our other two cats accepted her readily.Timmy mostly ignored her, but Rachael became inseparable from her. When we moved again, this time to the country, they all adapted well. We lost Timmy soon after when he was hit by a vehicle. Radar did her first mourning then, crying inconsolably, until I would go and cuddle with her.

 

She was a funny little kitty.....she hated to be alone, and if she even thought no one was around, she would start mournfully crying. As soon as I would speak to her, from wherever I might be, she would immediately be quiet. Radar also disliked the cold. She would stick her nose out the door in the summer and if the temperature was below 80 degrees, she absolutely refused to set foot outside. When the days were scorchers, she loved nothing better than catching shrews in the tall grass. She brought everyone to me for my approval. And over the years, there must have been hundreds.

 

Despite Radar's rough start in life, she was a very healthy kitty. She gave birth to her first litter in the spring of 1984. She had six babies and they all were healthy. She was the best Mother I have ever seen, rarely leaving her bed. We found homes for five of them, keeping the runt of the litter. There was nothing wrong with her, she was a feisty little thing, but I felt that Radar would be distraught with no one to care for. We started out calling the babe Happy, as she was always purring, but somehow, it was shortened to H.P. 

 

Less than six months later, Radar was pregnant again. We never figured out how it happened, as she never left the house. Rachael was also pregnant. They had their litters a week apart. Rachael giving birth to three and Radar to five. Again, Radar showed what an awesome Mother she was. When Rachael would wander off for some quiet time, Radar would go and stay with her babies, and H.P. would lay with her pint size sisters and brothers. It was so cool to watch! All the babes were healthy, but one of Radar's was a really strange looking little thing, all neck and legs. Of course being the softy I am, that's the one I had to keep. We also kept two of Rachael's as we couldn't find homes for them. We named Radar's baby, E.T. and Rachael's two were Zack and Zeke.