In Memory of The Buddy Cat

One of my closest and oldest friends, The Buddy Cat (“B” to those who knew her well), passed away while I held her in my arms the week before this last. Looking back over the ~14 years we’ve spent together, and trying to find ways to memorialize her life, I remembered this comic by Mike Taylor and thought that maybe a little dose of laughter could be a nice antidote for my grief. The comic is from an old project of Justseeds’ own Meredith Stern, a zine she organized called The Dragoman, which involved artists submitting stories and then getting someone else’s story sent back to them to illustrate as a comic.

I wrote a story about the early days of the Buddy Cat, when she first came into my life by insinuating herself into the house that long-time cohort Ally Reeves lived in back in Nashville. The story involved Buddy getting “sick” while Ally and some friends were away at a gigantic protest, and I stayed home to feed “B” and facilitate that week’s Food Not Bombs cooking session (the smells of which are less memorable). Mike (who I’ve never actually met) got my little tale of ad hoc feline dentistry, and I always thought his take on the whole thing was truly hilarious. The rest is below…