Five years ago, there was a turning point in the life of my neighbor, Granny Vera. She laid to rest her husband, a war veteran, leaving her utterly alone, as they had no children. The elderly lady frequently reminisced about her dear Mike.
They had married just before the war broke out. Then her husband went off to fight, while loyal Vera waited for him. Mike came back alive but missing his left hand. He adored his wife and held her in high regard. He promised to protect her from harm, but then he passed away, leaving her all alone.
Exactly on the anniversary of his death, a large black cat took up residence with her. He appeared out of nowhere, meowing plaintively at her door one stormy night. Despite the howling wind outside, Granny Vera miraculously heard his cries and brought him inside, even setting out a dish of milk.
However, refusing the treat, the dignified guest roamed through the rooms. After carefully inspecting the house, he chose a spot on the owner’s pillow, purred, and fell asleep. For some reason, Granny Vera decided not to chase him away and settled in beside him.
The next morning, she got a closer look at the cat and realized he wasn’t a stray. He was sleek, well-fed, with striking green eyes set against his jet-black fur—a rather self-assured creature. An important detail about the cat was that his left forepaw had no claws, as if they had been torn off. “Just like my Mike,” she lamented, tears slipping down her cheeks.
The cat, meanwhile, jumped gracefully into her lap and started purring. “I ought to give you a name… maybe Whiskers?” she pondered, stroking him gently and scratching behind his ears. The cat flinched and looked at Granny Vera so intently that she felt taken aback.
HIS EYES WERE HUMAN! NOT “HUMAN-LIKE,” BUT TRULY “HUMAN”!
“Ah, so ‘Whiskers’ isn’t to your liking. How about ‘Timmy’? A fine name indeed,” she quickly suggested. Disapprovingly, the cat meowed, jumped off her knees, growled, and began to scratch the sofa’s fabric with focus.
“Okay, okay. I won’t give you a name just yet. You’ll simply be Cat for now. Just leave the couch alone,” she politely requested. Grumbling something unintelligible in response, the Cat fulfilled her request and proudly retreated to the parlor. So they started living together: Granny Vera and the Cat.
I visited the old lady frequently, and she told me startlingly unusual stories about her Cat! For starters, the Cat healed her. After her husband’s death, Granny Vera had a heart attack, and her heart troubled her often. But whenever she lay down, the Cat was there, settling his soft, warm body on her chest, purring until she fell asleep. The pain would vanish as if it had never been there.
One day, an extraordinary event occurred. Granny Vera lay down, and the Cat, nestled beside her, purred sweetly and dozed off. There was a knock at the door. Rising, she went to open it, with the Cat in tow. It was Victor, the local drunkard and troublemaker. Shoving his foot in the door and cursing foully, he demanded money from Granny Vera for another drink. Though she tried to refuse, the scoundrel persisted and grew increasingly brazen, even going so far as to hurl insults at her and defile the memory of her late husband.
Suddenly, the Cat let out a growl and lunged at the offender. Though Victor swatted him away, the Cat sprang again, nearly gripping him by the throat. Swearing, Victor retreated and left. The Cat, looking meaningfully at his owner with his HUMAN EYES, lifted his tail high and, with a sense of duty fulfilled, disappeared into the room.
Once, Granny Vera planned to visit the council about wood and asked me to accompany her. We were to take the bus to the district center. I agreed and, taking time off work, went to collect her early in the morning.
The old woman sat on the bed in her house clothes, looking bewildered and somewhat flustered.
“Granny Vera, why aren’t you ready? Come on, maybe we can catch a ride,” I instructed. “Isobel, I’m not going. I’m sorry,” she quietly replied. “Why not?”
She hesitated for a moment before continuing. “I don’t know how to explain… You mustn’t laugh at me… The Cat told me not to go.”
“What?! I took time off work, and you’re letting a cat give you orders! Get ready!” I exclaimed in anger. “Listen, Isobel. I prepared everything last night and went to bed. In my dream, the Cat spoke to me, just like you’re doing now… He looked at me, said, ‘Stay at home, Vera. You mustn’t go tomorrow.’
Suddenly, I was left speechless! It wasn’t just that the Cat talked; he called me Vera! Understand?! Only my late Mike called me that! AND THE CAT’S VOICE WAS EXACTLY LIKE MIKE’S!
Then the Cat began to sing a song. It was the same one Mike loved:
‘Over the wild plains of Durham,
Where they dig for gold in the hills…
Remember, my Vera, I sang it when I left for the war?’
I somehow found the courage to ask: ‘Mike, is that really you?!’
‘WHO ELSE WOULD IT BE?! I SEE HOW HARD IT IS FOR YOU ALONE, SO I CAME BACK…’
So, Vera, calm yourself and stay home tomorrow. Nothing good will come of it anyway. The timber will arrive in a week. Tell Lucy to cancel her surgery. She won’t survive it… ‘
And then I woke up…”
Saying I was shocked is an understatement! I sat there in silence for quite a while, gasping like a fish out of water. Then it struck me: “Granny Vera, do you feel alright? Should I call for an ambulance? Maybe your blood pressure’s up.”
“Never felt better, Isobel! I spoke with my dear Mike!” she exclaimed, smiling through tears. I checked her blood pressure, and surprisingly, it was normal!
From that moment, Granny Vera started to call her cat Mike. Oddly enough, he immediately responded to the name!
Not long after, Granny Vera’s predictions (or perhaps the Cat’s?) began to come true. The bus we were supposed to take almost overturned that very day. There was ice on the roads, and the driver lost control. Thankfully, no one was killed, but many were hurt. Coincidence? Perhaps. And precisely a week later, Granny Vera received her wood delivery…
She asked me to call Lucy, Mike’s niece, to advise her to cancel her scheduled surgery. However, she didn’t listen and sadly passed away right on the operating table…
ANOTHER COINCIDENCE? I don’t believe so.
They continued to live together: Granny Vera and her cat Mike. He continued to heal and safeguard her, remaining by her side until the end.
Granny Vera lived to the age of 94. She passed away last year. Up until her final moments, she was up and about, constantly worrying about her Mike. She made me promise to look after him if anything ever happened to her. She left peacefully in her sleep, without any suffering.
I remember how Mike mourned for Granny Vera. He was already quite old himself, and his once lush black coat had turned gray.
For all three days that her coffin remained in the house, Mike didn’t leave her side. I ACTUALLY SAW TEARS FALLING FROM HIS EYES! People scolded him, tried to chase him away, even kicked him… Yet, somehow, he always ended up back beside the coffin, sitting and weeping.
He accompanied the procession to the grave and stayed when she was buried. I attempted to capture the poor creature to take him home with me, but he ran off…
The Cat remained at the cemetery, at the graves of Granny Vera and her husband. He didn’t want to come with me, so I visited him every day to feed him.
I was worried about how the cat would survive the winter and tried to bring him home by force. One time, I succeeded, but he escaped the same day, and I found him back at the cemetery.
Despite the harsh winter, the cat made it through. He passed away in early spring. When I came, as usual, to feed Mike, I found him on the grave. Curled up by Granny Vera’s cross, Mike seemed to guard her rest…
I don’t know if Mike was just an ordinary cat or if the spirit of the late Grandpa Mike truly inhabited him…
There’s a lot of talk about reincarnation these days—supposedly, in the next life, a person can become anything, even a cat.
I’m not sure if that’s possible, but I can’t help believing that the soul of Grandpa Mike lived on in the form of the Cat. He returned to his beloved Vera to protect and save her.
And he stayed with her to the very end, just as he promised.
