Caspy
The Friendly Ghost
Amanda Davis of Blythewood, South Carolina, shared the story of a starving, blue-eyed kitten named Casper who overcame a devastating history of abuse.
It was 2003, the summer after my sophomore year of college at USC. I was visiting my mother on the weekend, as I often did before she passed away. The second I came in the door, the first words out of her mouth were, "Come see who we found on the porch."
I smiled, knowing it was a stray of some sort, and I couldn't wait to meet him or her. I walked into our dining room, and there, cowering under a table leg was a visibly injured, little white bundle with the biggest most amazing pale blue eyes I'd ever seen. "We're calling him Casper," my mother said. "I mean, he's about as pale as a ghost and he acts like he's seen one, so it fits!" We laughed.
I crouched on all fours and hummed and cooed at him. I noticed, again, his injuries and asked my mother if she'd taken him to the vet yet. She said, "When we took him to Dr. Meinke, he told us that some horrible person had burnt the pads of his feet and ripped out his claws. If I find out who did that to this sweet animal...makes me sick!"
It was then, as we were talking and I was slowly stroking him, that Casper looked right up at me. I kept petting him, listening to his happy purr, and quietly fell in love with him. I knew then I'd found a very special cat and that he was meant to be mine.
That was nearly eight years ago.
Now, Caspy is no longer a skinny, terrified kitten. He's a huge flame-point Siamese, with a fat white belly and orange points down his back and a long, long tail. He's a loving and wonderful cat, despite his terrible beginnings. I feel just as lucky now as I did then to have him in my life. I like to think he feels the same.