Title: SpecialT: Nine Lives - Nine Names
Author: S. Jenny Boyer
Publisher: Halo Publishing, Int.
ISBN Number: 978-1-61244-074-3
Genre of Book: Non-Fiction/Inspirational/Memoir
Pgs: 100
Publication Date: April 2013
Places available for sale: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Halo Publishing, and Signed copies from the author.
Author Website: http://tinyurl.com/myydudk
Review provided by World of Ink Network
About the Book:
Cats teach us some of life's most important lessons. After all, nine lives allow them time to get things right.
All SpecialT needed to do to get his points across was to be himself. His story reveals how delightful life can end up being if we can find the path God wants for us, take it, persevere on it, and not look back. This was one of my cat's most poignant lessons. I found out after SpecialT had been with me for many years, that several of his allotted nine lives had already been spent. There is no doubt in my mind that he polished his life-lessons on his way to me.
Many cats share one or more of SpecialT's qualities, and are no doubt life-lesson teachers to some degree. Whether you read his story on a sunny beach, in front of a fireplace with a cup of tea, out loud to your children or grandchildren, or quietly to yourself, it is my hope that one of your favorite cats, past or present, will come to mind and put a smile on your face as you remember a life-lesson he or she taught to you.
EXCERPT: from Chapter 4, Cat Fight, Lesson Learned
The night it happened was quiet and quite dark. Here in the country we have no street lights. It was the time of a new moon, so shadows were deep and night creatures were hard to see. Cats roamed the neighborhood freely then, and there were few complaints from neighbors about their night adventures while the rest of us were sleeping.
All at once a screech of gigantic proportions woke me from a sound sleep. I sat straight up in bed, then rushed to the window to see what was happening. There in the dark shadows of the driveway I could just make out T face-to-face with Wildcat, the next door neighbor's cat who was so jealous of T that the neighbor had returned T to live with us. The howls went back and forth on different tone levels, each escalating in sound. I grabbed my robe and slippers and literally leaped down the steps to put a stop this fracas, all the while whispering a prayer.
God, please protect T and Wildcat from each other. T is so gentle, I do not think he knows how to hold his own in a fight with Wildcat.
I ran out of the house through the garage just as the physical battle took place. Legs were flying in all directions, gray and orange intertwined like a pinwheel out of control, all accompanied by howls of distress and anger. I turned on the driveway lights and grabbed an old aluminum pot and a small hand rake and began beating them together with all the force I could muster as I ran towards the fur ball action At the harsh banging sounds, the entangled cats split apart, with Wildcat running home, and T lying still on the blacktop.
Oh God, let T be okay.
I picked up T and he looked at me with his calm golden eyes, his body limp, but breathing. I could imagine him asking me, "What just happened, Mom? Wasn't that a cat, isn't he supposed to be my friend?" I searched T's body for a puncture wound, which I knew from past experience with other cats could easily become infected, but with his long hair it was difficult to see down to T's skin. The one thing I did find was a V-shaped split in one of his ears, slightly tinged with blood.
Back we went to the vet when they opened the next morning. No real damage had been done, no puncture wounds to the body, but the cartilage in the ear would never heal together, and could not be stitched together, so T would always sport a natural “V” to remind us and him of his close call with danger. We called it his "victory" notch.
What Others are Saying:
Boyer’s book is a memoir-type book about her very special cat which she called SpecialT. He was worldly yet very gentle. He was a wonderful companion to her. She traces the story from when she first saw SpecialT appear on her doorstep and how she knew that this older cat would be the pet who would grace her life always. And SpecialT did grace her life for many years to come. ~Irene Roth
About the Author:
Ms. Boyer is a retired nurse, an Infection Control Practitioner, whose world changed dramatically when she let the words swirling inside her escape to paper. Her story of her beloved cat, how he came to live with her later in his life and the lessons she learned from him, changed her life for the better. She lives in Frederick, Maryland with her husband Jim. She has three daughters and one step-daughter, and four grandchildren. Several of these family members are in her book. She continues to write about how other creatures impact her life, and the lives of others.
The author's desire is to inspire others to appreciate how God uses animals, sometimes very wise and wonderful ones like SpecialT, to enrich our lives if we only open our hearts and minds to the lessons they can teach us, just by being themselves.
ABOUT WORLD OF INK:
Virginia S Grenier
