Beachball is my feline master and I can tell you that he is a “one-in-a-million cat! He bounded into our school yard one cool, Monday morning in October of 1998. The entire school at Paradise Valley was in a circle as we sang patriotic songs. My students knew I loved cats, so one of the boys asked permission to snatch him. Beachball spent the entire day, taking turns sleeping on jackets, backpacks, and laps of all the students. He is a tabby and white domestic short-hair with a large head, expressive yellow-green eyes, and quite the pink nose. The students decided to name him Beachball, because he had a large head, but I felt the name fit him, because of the way he “bounced” into our lives!
After the first day, I just knew we would not see him again, but every morning after that day, Beachball would be at my door, waiting for me. I would let him in and again, he would follow his routine. After trying to find his owner, and writing a letter of permission to the parents to ask if there was any objection to having a cat as a class pet, our principal, Lyn Corpus, allowed us to keep him. Our class became his home, equipped with a bed, dry food, and an occasional pro bono visit from Maureen Henningsen (a parent who worked at South County Animal Hospital. Beachball brought us great joy. He was gentle, friendly, loved to be held, and loved to play with cat toys. He also responded back every time we spoke to him. The students would see him on weekends, and holidays hunting for gophers at the soccer field. The most surprising thing of all was the fact that he would be at our classroom’s door, every day for eight months of school! He even had his picture taken for the yearbook. Eventually June came, and even though it was going to break my heart to separate from him, I knew I had to find Beachball a home. I was hoping one of the students would adopt him, but they already had too many animals. I finally asked my next door neighbor, who loved cats (but already had three), if she would take him. She agreed to do so.
Eventually, Beachball made his way up to my house, and found me (not without some help from me, of course). He cozied up to my husband one morning on our porch, and it was love at first purr. My husband called up our next door neighbor and asked, “Do you think we could draw up adoption papers?” From that day forward, Beachball was ours and he became a hunter extraordinaire. He cleared out our yard and the surrounding area of gophers, mice, and various other rodents. We were presented with the spoils of his conquests on our doorstep…a liver here, and jawbone there. He played volleyball with his cat toys, carried on full conversations with us, and was trained to jump up on a cat perch when he wanted to go out!
Beachball, aka Beachy is now 18 years old. In the twilight of his years, Beachy is now housebound due to an arthritic spine. Never again will he experience the joy of the hunt(those gophers are now tormenting my husband)! However, he continues to be talkative, gentle to the grandchildren, and always in the mood for our affection. He even bats a cat toy around now and then. Beachball is indeed a special cat, and will always have a special place in our hearts.
– Carol Ferri
