In the Cat’S Eyes

By Andrea Melchiori and Riki Dorothy

Please meet Si, the cat. This book is the story of a cats journey from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Los Angeles, California. The 2, 200 mile journey is written from Sis perspective, including the interaction with his owner. Now deceased, Si was a twelve-year-old blue-point Siamese cat. He was playful, stubborn, smart, and talked a lot, and sometimes even a little bit like us two-legged creatures.

Si had two favorite ways to pass his days, to sleep and to spend as much time with his human friend when she was home. His human friends name is Andrea. Sometimes Si would love to check out what Andrea was doing, even if that meant opening the blinds with his paws to see what was happening on the other side. Another activity Si loved was to travel in the car even though he really disliked the long hours. Looking out the windows he wondered what was ahead, what came next, and his human friend could observe that intense attention paid by her cat to the changing scenery. Indeed, Si trusted his owner with everything to keep him safe.

Cats quite possibly have an inner voice that speaks to them just like human voices speak to us. These voices could propel them into action, what to do next, when to eat, where to sleep and perhaps even what toys to play with. Si oftentimes made such decisions (or so it seemed to his human friend): whether to bug her for playtime or to come running when he heard the car keys jingling. This book is about one of Sis adventures, an activity that started when his human friend Andrea grabbed those car keys for a long trip across the Unites States.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Nov 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490740027

Andrea Melchiori

For many years Andrea Melchiori has resided in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She has always loved cats; currently she has two Siamese cats, Syn and DC. Syn is a chocolate-point male, and DC is a seal-point female. Andrea grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and then moved to Kalamazoo to attend college. She got the idea to write this book as she was traveling from Michigan to the West Coast, with the intention to live in California for a while. She travelled with her cat at the time, Si, for approximately a week and a half. Along the way they encountered so many roadblocks and obstacles as well as wonderful, heartfelt experiences that she decided to put these adventures into words. So please join the two and travel with them across the country. andreascat.blogspot.com [e-mail] The illustrator, Riki Dorothy, resides in Otsego, Michigan. Website: www.rikilarueart.weebly.com

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© Copyright 2014 Andrea Melchiori.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-4003-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-4002-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014911163

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Trafford rev. 11/6/2014

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Dedicated to my deceased Siamese cats,

Si and Am.

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank all those who encouraged me to follow through on this book project:

Billie Rae Bates who volunteered to write the foreword;

Jen Passavant who applied her photographic skills to my picture on the back cover;

Riki Dorothy who did such a great job at illustrating the various situations encountered by my beloved cat Si on our car trip to the West Coast;

also to my family who provided valuable feedback and to Matt Franklin for designing a wonderful map.

Thank you very much, and I hope you readers enjoy this wonderful adventure.

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CONTENTS

In the beginning

Si at the Gas Station

Si’s Going Places

Si Traveling through a Historical District

Si in the South

Hitting the Dusty Trail

Visiting Colorado Springs

Traveling in the Rocky Mountains

Si at the Colorado River

Si Experiencing More Mountains

Arriving at the Entertainment Capital

Si Is Almost There

Los Angeles, California

FOREWORD

If a dog is man’s best friend, does that mean that a cat is a woman’s best friend? No, actually, I don’t believe so. I think cats transcend gender boundaries, transcend even the boundaries between human being and animal. In other words, when a cat is a friend, a cat is a friend, whether to another cat or to a human, much like Si, the highly intelligent feline you will meet in this sweetly told story.

The wonderful domesticated cat has been associated with us humans for thousands of years. Several ancient religions believed that cats are exalted souls, companions or guides for humans; Wikipedia says that while they are all-knowing, they are mute so that in fact they cannot influence our decisions. Their sleek, graceful characteristics were prized by the ancient Egyptians. They are said to have been tamed from their wildness in the desert climate of the ancient Near East. National Geographic reported that in 2004 a grave, estimated to be 9,500 years old and was excavated in Cyprus. It contained two skeletons, laid close to one another, of both a human and a cat. In a different part of the world cats even drove the chariot ridden by Freyja, a goddess of Norse mythology. It’s no wonder that cats stand faithfully at our side, for so many millennia and still today.

And what a friendship it is. A cat, as we know and love him or her, communicates with us and with other creatures in so many different ways, beyond the familiar refrain of the meow: he purrs, he hisses, he plays, he claws, he tucks back his ears, he growls, he squeaks, he chirps, he clicks, he arches his back and raises his fur, he even grunts. He may occasionally caterwaul in the night. Often, he softly closes his eyes at us as a term of endearment. Sometimes, he gifts us with his killed prey. (Paul Leyhausen, a student of animal behavior and author of Cat Behavior: The Predatory and Social Behavior of Domestic and Wild Cats, proposed that cats adopt humans into their social group and in fact place them near the top of that group).

A cat has an advanced sense of hearing, eyesight, taste, smell and touch, not to mention that keen sense of balance. He is more independent than a dog, lacking any sort of pack mentality. As a carnivore, he is an excellent hunter, with sharp weaponry and an uncanny ability to sit motionless for long periods of time. He is known to hunt more than one thousand species for food. He has a fondness for heights, appreciating the sense of security and prestige a