Today we had to say goodbye to our grand, sweet, gorgeous, loving and beloved Maulina. In early June, just before her 13th birthday, she was diagnosed with lymphoma. We tried to do everything we could for her, but the disease never stopped advancing. The last few weeks were difficult; I'm grateful to recall happier times. She was an Egyptian Mau, a native of New Hampshire. We initially gave her the name Lulu, although it soon became obvious that she was not a Lulu. On her first night with us, back in 2003, we kept her in my office, in order to introduce her gradually to our first lioness, Penelope. To keep her company, I slept next to her on the floor. Since Penelope had taken possession of Jonathan, Maulina assigned herself to me, and on most nights she curled up beside my head, her head resting on my hand ("handpillow"). She liked nothing better than to plop on my chest while we watched TV, regarding me as if I were a cryptic yet intriguing drama. If she was elsewhere in the house, we could summon her to a Plop by letting out a long, mournful "Meow-oooo." She liked to have long conversations, the topics of which were known only to her. Undoubtedly there were many things not quite to her liking, but mainly she just liked to chat. She was very set in her ways and at first looked askance upon the arrival of Minnie and Bea, in Penelope's wake. In the past year or two, though, she and Minnie grew touchingly close; annoyance turned to bemusement and then to love. She was in so many other ways a wonderful, attentive, generous companion. She had a full, fairly long life with us, although we wish so much she could have stayed just a little while longer.
