Cats Called Charlie ( Part two)

We walked into our local pet shop and saw a cage full of kittens. There in front of us was our Charles 3rd. No question about it. He looked exactly like the two previous Charlies. We had to have him.

We paid our tenner and walked out of the shop hoping that this would be our best so far. We would not be dissapointed!

Charles 3rd was a giant among cats, he had no fear. He wasn't scared of anything or anyone. he was the Ray winstone of the cat world, the Guvnor!

He terrorised the neighbourhood straight away, no cat ever dared come in our garden again. They must have been able to sense that a new king had arrived!

After only a few weeks, Charlie was outside all the time, this was no cat that wanted to curl up in front of the fire, this cat wanted to be roaming the streets late at night looking for action.

I remember one night we were woken up at about 2 am. There were some strange noises coming from the back garden. I went out to have a look. Charlie had cornered a fox behind the shed and wouldn't let it escape. the fox was terrified. Fantastic, thats my boy!

Charlie liked to bring me presents, not unusual you might think, a lot of cats bring in mice or small birds. Not Charles 3rd!

In the space of 2 weeks, he had brought in 6 squirrels, 2 magpies and a crow. Nothing was safe when Charlie was around.

We had his bits taken away( if you know what I mean), this didn't slow him down, just made him more angry. We put a collar on him with a bell, this also didn't deter him either. It just made him quicker.

The other thing with Charlie was his voice! Everynight at about 3am, he suddenly became Frank Sinatra and would sing at the top of his voice for a good half an hour. My wife would get embarrassed and worry about the neighbours. Me, I was the proudest man on earth.

He had a few good mates as well. Other streetwise cats. they would come and knock for him every night. We would hear a scraping at the front or back doors and when we opened them there was always a couple of cats sitting there waiting for there beloved Charles 3rd. THEIR LEADER!

He liked to go for a walk with us. If the wife and I would go for a stroll in the evening, Charlie would come with us. He would always be a few yards behind us sniffing away, his tail held high. He seemed to be surveying his "Manor".

I have seen big dogs cross the road rather than come face to face with Charlie, as I said he was the Guvnor.

Charles 3rd ran the estate for about 6 years, but all good things come to an end. My wife called me one day to say that Charlie didn't look good. I came home straightaway and saw he was weak. He died before we could get him to the vets.

Sad? Yes, but what a geezer!

So out we went again to get Charles 4th!