No Mo Clone

While MD lived here, she and I and her b/f at the time sat in the living room and observed the cats. We discussed the virtues of the all....Gussy is so sweet and so quick to respond to affection and has wonderful squirrel-like toes....Polly was the perfect heart-of-gold in a gruff exterior cat.

Which one, we pondered, should be cloned?

We decided as a group that it had to be Mo. If any of the cats was getting cloned, it should be Mo. Too bad I had his cojones dealt with the same time the vet took care of his gangrenous tail....

So there we were, reveling in our wisdom.

And then I said, "But the Mo we'd get from cloning would still have his tail."

MD said, "Yeah. And there's no guarantee you'd get that personality.' This led to a brief nature vs. nurture discussion and involved some speculation about the hardships Mo had know before coming to Ma Maisonette.

And just as quickly, we decided that Mo was unique, that in fact there could never be another Mo.

Yesterday, as is my habit, I stopped at Panera for a salad and afterwards went into the nearby Petco to visit the shelter kitties.

And there he was - or very much like - a four year old version of Mo. A handsome gray kitty with white paws, a white belly and a tiny smudge of white on his nose.

"Ohhh," I said to him through the Plexiglass, "If I could take you home, I certainly would. I certainly would. Because you're the closest thing to Mo I've seen, ever."

But I still believe cats reincarnate, looking very much like their old selves. He'll come back to me. Just as Burtie did in Dylan. I'll be looking for him and he'll come back.

Whenever I have to have one put to sleep, the last things I say to him are that I love him, that he has been a good, good cat, and I'll be waiting for him to come back to me.

I once made the horrible mistake of turning away from Beaky, who'd come back to me. I'll never do that again. Ever.