The Passing of a King

Chapter 1: Our Lives Come Together

I don't remember if it was spring or the begainning of summer when Layla brought her litter of 4 male kittens to us. Thom and I were living together in the huge garage of Louie's house in Seaside, California. Layla was a beautiful, petite, dark smoky gray cat. She was sweet to Thom and tolerant of me. Hotly protective of her kittens, she ripped to shreds the nose of a nasty dog named Sky that some of Louie's relatives brought over and were stupid enough to park on the front porch where Layla had her kittens.

Layla brought the kittens to us when they were 3 days old and just barely had their eyes open. Later, when they were a little older, she brought them out and presented them to us. One was all jet black, one was a lovely silver gray, one was black and white patches, and one was jet black with 4 white socks, a snow white patch on his chest, and gorgeous iridescent eyes.(You, dear reader, figure out which one was Bogus Khan) Thom named them one by one, but only when the right opportunity and circumstances presented themselves. The silver gray kitten was named Willow, the black/white patches kitten was named Bugsy, the all jet black one ended up with the name of Booger (he was always into trouble) and the black one with iridescent eyes and white socks was named last. Not just any name for this special kitten who commmanded attention from the moment one laid eyes on him. I think at some point I made a joke about how his behavior was bogus and instantly Thom came up with the name of Khan. Bogus Khan became his name and even way back then I think he knew what his name was and perhaps even that it was a special name.

From the start, Bogus was the largest and most dominant of the litter, but his brother Bugsy was the most aggressive of the litter, probably because he was the runt of the litter. Bugsy never hesitated to pounce on the other kittens. Poor little Willow, who was quiet and very sweet tempered got bowled over continually, and finally stopped playing the pounce game. Booger, who was always into trouble, never hesitated to scrap fiercely with Bugsy whenever he was pounced. Bugsy swiftly developed a highly effective flying tackle maneuver that took his brothers down almost every time. Even Bogus. However, Bogus quickly came up with his own effective strategy of pinning his opponent down and spreading his weight out much like a professional wrestler would. Especially after Bugsy pulled the flying tackle maneuver on him and knocked him off his feet a few times. Bogus didn't like that at all. (Grins). Bogus was content to sit back and watch his brothers play and figure out his strategies of winning in the pounce game or any other game. He was a fighter from the very begainning of his life.

When they were about three months old, it was time for the brothers to say their farewells and start out on their life journeys. Booger went to Arron, Thom's son, Willow (who bonded instantly with Chrysty) went home with her, Bugsy and Bogus stayed with us. It was a sad parting, but we all made it as special as possible. And so our lives begain on the long journey together.

Thom and I were so blessed to have had Bogus with us for 12+ years before he left this world on October 5th, 4:30 am Sunday morning 2003.