Five years ago, my neighbor, Granny Vera, lost her husband, a war veteran, and became completely alone. They had no children, and she constantly reminisced about her dear Mitten.
They married just before the war, and then her husband went off to fight. Loyal Vera waited for him. Mitten returned alive but without his left hand. He loved his wife dearly and cherished her, promising to always protect her. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep that promise and left her alone when he passed away.
On the anniversary of her husband’s death, a large black cat showed up at her door. It seemed to appear out of nowhere in the middle of the night, meowing plaintively. A snowstorm raged outside, and the wind howled fiercely, but somehow, Granny Vera heard the cat’s cries. When she opened the door, she found the unfamiliar cat. Feeling sorry for the poor thing, the elderly woman let it in and even offered it a dish of milk. However, the cat refused the treat, walked around the house with a proud, independent air, and chose a spot on the owner’s pillow, where it purred and fell asleep immediately.
For some reason, Granny Vera didn’t shoo the cat away and settled down next to it.
In the morning, she examined the cat more closely. Well-groomed and chubby, it didn’t look like a stray at all! It was jet black with large green eyes that took up half its face, and it had a very self-assured demeanor. Another notable detail was that the fingers on its left paw were missing. It was as if they had been torn off. “Just like my Mitten!” she cried.
The cat, meanwhile, jumped gently onto her lap and purred.
“Duchess, I should give you a name… Maybe you’re a Tom?” she asked softly, stroking the cat and scratching behind its ear.
The cat flinched and gave Granny Vera a look that was so human, it left her speechless.
ITS EYES WERE HUMAN! NOT “LIKE HUMAN,” BUT TRULY HUMAN!
“Alright, ‘Tom’ doesn’t suit you. How about ‘Jack’? It’s a good name!” she stammered.
The cat let out a dissatisfied meow, jumped off her lap, growled, and started scratching the sofa’s upholstery.
“Okay, okay. I won’t give you a name just yet. You’ll just be ‘Cat’ for now. Please leave the sofa alone,” the elderly woman politely requested.
The cat muttered something unintelligible in response, obliged her request, and majestically retreated to the other room.
So Granny Vera and the Cat lived together.
I visited her quite often, and she told me the most astonishing stories about her Cat! For one, the Cat healed her. After her husband’s death, Granny Vera suffered a heart attack, and her heart often troubled her. But the moment she lay down, the Cat would settle on her chest with its warm, soft body, purr, and fall asleep. The pain would vanish as if it had never been there.
Once, something truly strange happened! Granny Vera lay down, and the Cat, purring sweetly, dozed off beside her. There was a knock on the door. She got up to answer it, and the Cat followed her. It was Pete, the local drunkard and troublemaker. Shoving his foot in the door and cursing, he demanded money from Granny Vera for more alcohol. The old woman tried to refuse, but the rascal persisted, growing more aggressive by the minute. He even went so far as to insult her and tarnish her late husband’s memory.
Suddenly, the Cat growled and lunged at the intruder. Pete shoved it away, but the Cat lunged again, nearly biting him on the throat. Swearing, Pete retreated and left.
The Cat gave Granny Vera a meaningful look with its HUMAN eyes, lifted its tail high, and with a sense of duty fulfilled, it returned to the room.
One day, Granny Vera planned to go to the local council regarding firewood and asked me to accompany her. We were supposed to take the bus to the nearby town. I agreed, taking leave from work, and went to pick her up early in the morning.
The old woman was sitting on her bed in her dressing gown, looking bewildered and even distressed.
“Granny Vera, why aren’t you ready? Let’s hurry; we might catch a lift,” I urged.
“Sarah, I’m not going. I’m sorry,” she quietly replied.
“Why?”
“I don’t know how to say this… Please don’t laugh… The Cat doesn’t want me to go.”
“What?! I took leave from work, and you’re listening to a cat! Get dressed!” I exclaimed in disbelief.
“Listen, Sarah. I had everything ready last night and went to bed. Then I had this dream where my Cat talked to me, just like you’re doing now… It looked at me and said:
“Stay home, Vera. You shouldn’t go tomorrow.”
I was speechless! It wasn’t just that the Cat talked to me; it called me ‘Vera’! That was something only my late Mitten used to call me! AND THE CAT’S VOICE WAS JUST LIKE MITTEN’S!
Then the Cat started singing the song Mitten loved:
“On the wild steppes of Cheshire,
Where the gold lies beneath…”
“Remember, dear Vera, I sang it when I was going to war?”
Somehow, I found the strength to ask:
“Mitten, is that you?!”
“WHO ELSE WOULD IT BE?! I SEE HOW HARD IT IS FOR YOU ALONE, SO I CAME BACK…”
“So, Vera, just take it easy and stay home tomorrow. Nothing good will come of the trip. They’ll bring the wood next week anyway. Tell Lucy to back out of the surgery. She won’t survive it…”
That’s when I woke up…”
To say I was shocked would be an understatement! I stood there for a long time, gasping like a fish out of water.
Then it struck me: “Granny Vera, are you feeling alright? Maybe we should call a doctor? Your blood pressure might be up.”
“Never felt better, Sarah! I spoke with my dear Mitten!” she replied, smiling through tears.
I did check her blood pressure, and surprisingly, it was normal!
From that moment, Granny Vera started calling her cat Mitten. Strangely enough, the cat responded immediately to the name!
Soon, Granny Vera’s (or the Cat’s?) predictions began to come true. The bus we were meant to take almost overturned on that very day. It slid on ice, and the driver lost control, but luckily, no one died, though many were injured. Coincidence? Perhaps. A week later, Granny Vera received her firewood delivery…
The neighbor asked me to call Lucy, Mitten’s niece, to advise her to cancel her scheduled surgery. She didn’t listen and unfortunately passed away on the operating table…
ANOTHER COINCIDENCE?! I don’t think so.
The old woman and her Cat Mitten continued their life together. The Cat still healed and protected her, staying by her side until the end…
Granny Vera lived until she was 94. She passed away last year. She was on her feet until the last moment, always worried about her Mitten. She made me promise to look after him if she were to go.
She passed quietly in her sleep, without pain.
I remember how her Cat mourned her. He was no longer young, and his once-luxurious black fur had turned gray.
All three days while the coffin with her body lay in the house, Mitten stayed by it. I SAW TEARS FALLING FROM HIS EYES MYSELF!
People scolded, shooed, and even kicked the Cat out… But somehow, he always found his way back to the coffin. He sat there, crying.
Mitten accompanied the funeral all the way to the grave and when they buried her, he remained there. I tried to catch him to take him home with me, but he fled…
Mitten remained at the cemetery, by Granny Vera’s and her husband’s grave. He didn’t want to come with me, so I visited him daily to feed him.
I was very worried about how the Cat would fare through the winter and tried to take him home by force. One day, I succeeded, but he escaped the same day, and I found Mitten at the cemetery.
The winter was harsh, yet the Cat survived it. He died in early spring. When I went to feed Mitten as usual, I found him on the grave. Curled up beside Granny Vera’s cross, Mitten seemed to be guarding her rest…
I don’t know if Mitten was just a cat or if the spirit of old Grandpa Mitten truly inhabited him…
There’s a lot of talk about reincarnation these days, suggesting that in another life, a person could become anything—even a cat.
I’m not sure if that’s possible. But somehow, I want to believe that in the form of the Cat, Grandpa Mitten’s soul lived on. He returned to his dear Vera to guard and save her…
And he was with her until the very end, just as he had promised.
