Hemingway – God’s Blessing
by Sarah Rauser
(Rock Spring, GA)
Eight years ago I went out for a evening walk and about a mile from my home in south Florida I heard something in the bushes. It was a tiny kitten. It’s white fur was completely black with dirt and it was covered from head to tail in fleas.
It’s left eye was closed shut from an injury and his face covered in slime. I walked as fast as I could home and took the little thing to the emergency vet. He told me that there was little he could do for it, since it was so small and very sick and injured. He did not think that it would live the night. The next day I was also suprised that it lived.
That was eight years ago. I named him Hemingway because he has six fingers on both front paws (after the Hemingway polydactyl cats).
He has damage to his eye but he can see out of it. I always thought that he was a very unusually beautiful cat, but was very surprised to learn that he was a full Turkish Van!
I read that if a Van has a mark on the back of its neck that it is blessed by God. Hemingway has that mark, but I am the one that is blessed.
He follows me everywhere and never leaves my side. He’s so smart that I don’t really think of him as a cat. He doesn’t really like water, but when he has to drink it, he does prefer natural spring water served in a tall glass. It works for both of us!
Sarah
