Beatrice, or B-Kitty, was one of Ed’s kittens. B was born in Aunt Mel’s bathroom closet. From birth she was the leader, the boss, the keeper of the peace. Aunt Mel called her Officer B. If someone misbeheaved, B would run over and pop them to get them back in line. She was fearless and didn’t hesitate to reprimand the other cats or dogs. She would run up to anyone misbehaving and stare into their eyes, her tail straight in the air, whipping back and forth angrily until they backed down. Cause she was not going to back down – ever.

B was beautiful. A silver tabby with green eyes. She followed Aunt Mel overseeing any yard work. When Aunt Mel called, she came immediately. B was a great hunter. She seldom caught birds but focused on lizards and frogs. She liked to pull off the lizard tails and eat the frog legs, then leave the bodies for Aunt Mel to clean up.

Sometimes her fearlessness worked against her. Aunt Mel came home from work one day. When she opened the front door, B ran past her and bolted under the bed yowling. Aunt Mel had to pull her from under the bed with both hands. Her tail was broken in two. A quick trip to the emergency clinic and the vet had only one question. Do you want a long tail or a short tail? B’s tail had to be amputated. We opted for as long as possible. So B ended up with a tail about 4 inches long. But she still whipped it around and when she stared at the other cats with her tail whipping back and forth, they backed down immediately. There is no way of knowing how B’s tall was broken, but Aunt Mel suspects that one of the horses stepped on it.

When B got older, she had an eye injury. Overnight her eye turned white and she couldn’t see. It didn’t seem to hurt her, she simply couldn’t see. Aunt Mel’s vet suggested removing the eye but surgery didn’t seem necessary. So Aunt Mel declined. A few months later, the eye began to clear and just before B died, her eye had completely recovered.

It was difficult to watch B grown old. She was still bold and fearless but she also became a little senile. She loved to sit on the roof of the house, but once up there, she couldn’t remember how to climb back down the tree. She meowed a lot, calling out to the other cats if she couldn’t see them.

B was a very special cat. Brave and beautiful like her mother.