Tim's Reflection Connection

President Nixon departed on his historic trip to China. I was a kid. To commemorate this historic event, I started calling our siamese cat, who was officially named Sassy, her new nickname: Mao Tse-tung. It stuck. Eventually everyone was calling her Mao Tse-tung.

Sassy was one of my family's favorite pets. She lived to be almost 20 years old! She really was much more like a dog than a cat. She would do many crazy things:

retrieve paper wads when you threw them
meet me and my sister at the front door everyday when we got home from school. Come to think of it, she would meet my father when he got home from work as well.
leap out of nowhere and grab on to your ankles with her paws forcing you to stop and pick her up or drag her along as you continued to walk
leap out of nowhere and grab on to your ankles with her paws and start gnawing on the back of your ankle as if bringing down her prey in the wilderness
unexpectedly leap from the floor up to your shoulders so she could ride around the house on your shoulders
the above appeared to bring her much joy in life as it seemed to be her daily ritual. You would find Sassy on someone's shoulder as often as you would see her walking on the floor.
always jump up and sit in your lap the minute you sat down
sit in very high places: on top of the refrigerator, on top of the curtain rods (OMG), on the back of the sofa
if you put your opened hand up over her face (the same gesture one makes when reaching to pet a cat's head) she would put her ears back, show her teeth with quivering lips, hiss viciously, and then attack you. The closer the open hand to her face the more vigorous and dramatic her display. You really thought she was going to take your hand off!
the above “attack” was always in good fun as she never was trying to hurt anyone. However, unsuspecting house guests were duly terrified. She, like a dog, loved a good tussle with a human.
She would “gallop” as heavily as a horse around the house when she got in some bizarre mood.

Sassy had several names throughout her lifetime. Daddy called her “Fraz” a derivative of “Sassafras”--a take off on Sassy, which she was! She would carry on lengthy conversations with you. All you had to do was meow back, and she was ready to talk. Mother called her “Fuss Box.” I also called her “The Beast of the Ungodly”--who knows why. And then there was the period of time I called her Ozimandious, for the obvious reasons.

I learned later in life that Sassy was not your typical siamese cat. She was so incredibly personable and sociable, always wanting to be with people. She died of old age curled up in my mothers lap with mom petting her.

Sassy sitting up high
(Click to enlarge)