When Fiddlegirl and I first opened the cage containing Tonka and his sister Moey, the little male kitten hung back nervously, letting his sister take the lead. When we finally did get a good look at him, he was the oddest little kitten you ever saw, looking thin and scrappy, not your typical cuddily kitten at all. In time, he grew into his looks. While Moey favours her tabby parent, Tonka’s Siamese heritage is easy to see in his coat colour, his narrow face and his slightly-crossed, blue eyes, a handsome, eye-catching cat. As a young cat, Tonka was an amazing athlete whose favorite game was chasing a sparkly ball on a whip-like line. He would jump, he would leap, he would twist and flip and cavort.
One summer, a tomcat stranger began haunting the screened porch, taunting the house cats. The tomcat would even try to attack through the screen and Tonka would answer his challenge. One morning when I got up, I found that the screen had been torn open on a window and Tonka was gone. He had set off to chase the tomcat. But while the tomcat was worldly wise, Tonka had never been outside and I was very frightened for him. I called and called him. Nothing. A day went by, a night, another day, another night. I had nearly given up hope on Tonka coming home. And then, as I lay in bed the next morning, I heard his peculiar siamese voice calling. He had returned to the window he left by! I lept out of bed and rushed outside and scooped him up, carrying him back inside. And that tomcat didn’t come back all that summer. Brave Tonka, the scaredy-cat who overcame.
As Tonka has gotten older, he spends more and more of his day napping. Capone loves Tonka. He often seeks him out and curls up with him, and Tonka will reach a protective paw around his pal. Moey, who is usually independent, sometimes likes to curl up with Tonka too.
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