A week to the day after my mother died, my lovely white Persian "cat-friend", Quan Yin, disappeared from my home. It was devastating. Too much loss. A week later a dear friend, who like me is a tender lover of animals, encouraged me to get another cat. I was sad and very reluctant. When you lose what you love it's hard to imagine anything in its place. I agreed, however, to just "look". I went to the same place where I had bought Quan Yin some years earlier. I looked around, and nothing interested me. I saw a cage in the back of the store. In it was a short-haired, tiger-marked cat. As I approached, it reached its paw out toward me. I had always responded to long-haired cats. This one was small, sleek, with short hair and definitely not fluffy. I asked about the cat. Evidently he had been there nine months, no one had wanted him, and the owners were concerned because soon he would have to go to the pound.

They loved him, saying he was very delightful, friendly and playful. They didn't understand why he was still there. He had been their hardest sale, and longest tenant. I asked to hold him. I rolled him over on his back in my lap to see how calm he was, and he let me. I turned him over and he gently climbed up my chest, snuggled in my chin and kissed me with his whiskers. His eyes were elegantly shaped, brown and bright. There were so bright! In my heart he spoke to me. That was it; we were mates. I took him immediately to the Vet, who told me he was an Occicat. Which he said, was a wonderful breed.

After he was with me a week, I finally "found" his name. It was "Lucky!" I had tried all my usual esoteric names, but he was something much more real. He loved interaction, communication and physical contact. He was fun! Quan Yin had been a very gentle, refined and aloof cat. I respected her and had accepted her. We loved each other very much at a distance. With all the changes in my life, I realized that fun and play and closeness were now necessary and healing for me.

Ten days after Quan Yin disappeared, she was found by a neighbor. She was very weak. I picked her up, so thrilled that she was alive and took her home. I joyfully introduced her to Lucky and she came immediately and totally alive! Who was this intruder in her domain?! He understood it to be his domain, she understood it to be hers. Now, here was a diplomatic challenge. All my years in the world of diplomacy and psychology and I didn't know what to do. I called Carol Guerney, a famous animal "communicator" in the country. She came over to "counsel" them. She said Quan Yin felt her purpose was usurped by Lucky's presence. Her purpose had been me, and me alone, and she was not interested in sharing. She only wished Lucky's stripes would fall off! Lucky, on the other hand, felt she was the one with the problem and she had to get over it.

Carol gave Lucky two jobs, or "purposes", in being with me. One was to keep the home free of flies and bugs, and the other was to stay very close to me physically and allow me all the hugs and kisses I wanted. Quan Yin reluctantly accepted that her new purpose was to simply be a serene and quiet presence and that this was absolutely a contribution to me. I dearly love Quan Yin. Lucky, however, has become my little animal "talisman". He ruthlessly stalks all flies and bugs and joyfully eliminates them. He plays, he talks, and is never more than a few feet away. The joy and friendship and spirit he displays has been a gift to me. He has taught me what a gift it is to give trust.