The taming of Monster.

It took several weeks of coaxing to get Monster to eat inside the kitchen as opposed to eating at the back door, though at first, it was with the door ajar. Even then he still went off each night, refusing to sleep indoors like Baby and Jaffa. Once his supper was scoffed, he’d be off till morning, when we would hear his sonorous miaow once more at the back door, telling us he was hungry again.

Gradually, however, his trust grew enough to come inside for a sleep on a chair one very wet day, and it wasn’t long after that when he decided he would stake his claim on one of the chairs indoors. De-lousing and worming him were not without incident, as he thought nothing of biting us when he was held securely. Being petted and stroked was unknown to him and made him growl and struggle to get free.

The least noise sent him running to get out the back door. This could be as little as my husband turning the pages of a newspaper. Louder noises such as vacuuming were out of the question when he was indoors. Even sudden movement, such as my husband walking towards him, frightened him off.

As for purring it took a long time to find Monster’s purr-box. He was sitting on my lap one evening, about two years after he’d been with us, when we suddenly heard this very loud purring song, and he hasn’t stopped since. Amazingly tame now, we feel his is a success story, considering how wild he had been initially. That must have been down to the raw deal of his former life.

Monster has a beautiful sleek coat of black and tan fur, sad expressive eyes, and a bottomless pit for a stomach. He should have been named Oliver as he always asks for more. The thing he loves doing most, apart from eating, is climbing trees. But in the evenings he will sit on a lap and sing contentedly to us.

Monster
Ravenous tongue,
Purr-box song.
Gobble, gobble!
Much, munch!
Can he digest
All that lunch?
Yes! He can,
He’s Mister Monster Man!
Looks tragic,
But he’s magic!