The Brindle Cat.
All was well, until one day, some new neighbours moved into next door....and...
A new cat was in town; A brindle cat called Ruby!
At first I didn't much care for this cat. She liked to chase the black cat off our property! Time and time again.
Ruby would even jump up and sit on his favourite spot - the back gate and guard it against any possible Black Jack invasions!
I used to be a bit mean and chase her away (with the garden hose, I'm sorry to say! :-/ ). But I didn't like her scaring away my black cat all the time.
And even on the rare times when Ruby wasn't around, Black Jack could never relax.
He knew Ruby could appear in a blink of an eye! Which she often did, swiftly and quietly.
And then Black Jack would be gone, chased away by the brindle cat.
But one day, Ruby disappeared and wasn't seen for days.
Suddenly I missed her.
And I think Black Jack did too.
Where was she? Was she hit by a car? Did she run away?
Black cat and I both sort of wandered around the place, a sense of loss and sadness pervading the atmosphere around the garden.
We had almost forgotton about her....
....And then she came back! A little softer and quieter.
Over time an uneasy truce was formed and now both cats share different areas of the property at varying times of day and night.
And although the cats don't much care for each other, they seem to strangely need each other - I often see one of them prowling the property looking for any sign of the other.
And now I have to say....I love both the cats! Very much.
Best of all, Black Jack still has sole use of the roof in the shed and all is well! (...mostly)
John’s new book is called A Cat Among the McIvers.