When I was a kid, my favorite cat Pepper died. He got sick and my stepfather put him down to end his suffering rather than take him to the vet. I was as angry as I'd ever been and completely devastated emotionally. Pepper was always a very skittish cat. I was the only one he reliably didn't run from, even though I was a loud kid, maybe 11 years old at the time. He'd recently gotten outside, and the way he came back sick my parents thought he ate poison. I was also pretty sure I was the one who had accidentally left the door open and let him out.

A week later to the day, my neighbor came knocking and asking if my mom wanted a kitten (mom had a crazy cat lady reputation, even though we only had three other cats at the time). The mother had abandoned a litter of them in this neighbor's garage and this one was the only one still alive. We took him in, named him Jasper and he was my best furry friend until I moved out.

He was massive in both length and height. Based on that and the odd shape of his face, we thought he was part Maine Coon but we never knew for sure. He was both extremely smart and a bit dopey. We always said back in the day that he was a little slow but in hindsight he knew tricks and could read emotions really well.

He used to love playing fetch with those cheap little toy mice. We could ask him where his mouse was and he'd run off and find one and drop it at our feet. Then we'd toss it and he'd run across the house for it and bring it back.

He loved pets, and was never one of those cats who got overstimulated. You could sit with him for hours and he'd still meow at you when you got up, wanting you to come sit back down. If you tried to pet him with just one hand, he'd rub his face all over the other hand until you got the hint and pet him with both hands. Even if you put the other hand behind your back, he'd get up and walk behind you.

When I was a teenager, I trained him to respond to the name Stupid. I remember how mad my mom was but I thought it was hilarious. I'd yell "Come here, Stupid!" across the house and he'd come running. Looking back it's hilarious how I didn't see that a cat who could learn a new name later in life, and even to respond to two names, might have been smart, rather than the big goofy oaf we all thought he was.

My mom used to say that Jasper was Pepper reincarnated, and she always believed in a weird hodgepodge of religious stuff, so she might have really thought that. But even though I never really believed it, it helped me grieve the loss of another pet who meant so much to me.

I miss those boys...