Ode to Maya

Apache cries for you - not as loud as when you first disappeared months ago
I remember you and Apache coming to greet me every morning
tails wrapped around each other, walking side by side.

I learned a lot about friendship and love watching you two sleeping
wrapped around each other on a bed of flowers in our garden.

Maya, the most beautiful cat that ever was, oh feral cat,
with your soft meow and gentle ways - welcoming newcomers to your colony
yet protecting your friends from outside dangers.

What happened to you? Where did you go? We love and miss you.
Apache and I sit each night together and remember you and we weep...

Maya (1993-2001) was one of the original cats of the Town Cats organization, helping inspire the group's founding. A feral adult, Maya lived happily under the care of the founder of Town Cats for years until vanishing in 2001.

Naughty

She was brought to me with her brother to tame and find her a home as a housecat, but she, being naughty, wouldn't have it and...

....after a couple of weeks of trying unsuccessfully to get out the door, she finally darted out the door and joined Maya, Apache and Azteca in the garden after watching them from her window.

She had a life of freedom for a few years, cuddling with Teca and Maya
until the awful day we found her hit by a car on the side of the road.

Naughty (1997-2000) was another original 'Town Cat', living in the same colony with Maya when Town Cats formed.