Elton John Cat

His name was Sywacket, and he looked nothing like Elton John. He looked like a bigger, leaner version of Pyewacket. At least I didn't have to ask why his name was “Sywacket”. His name was “Sywacket” because it sounded like “Pyewacket”. Duh.


He was a male Siamese, and I doubt he had been fixed. I thought he was awesome. He went where he wanted, and did what he wanted. When you're five years old, the idea of doing what you want is pretty appealing.


He may have been my original motivation for becoming a fighter in later life. I noticed that he went out on Friday nights, and he invariably came home with wounds from the Friday night fights. One day he came in with another cat's claw embedded in the top of his head. I was very impressed.


He was just like Elton John in “Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting”.


Except on Friday night.

Jack “Nothing Like Elton John” Parker

Magic Cat

Her name was Pyewacket. Since I was four or five years old, I didn't question why this was her name. It simply was.

If I had bothered to ask, I'd have learned that “Pyewacket” was the name of the witch's familiar in the James Stewart movie Bell, Book And Candle. I didn't learn this until I was 52 years old, when my wife looked it up, and I discovered that our Siamese cat looked exactly like the one in the movie. Pyewacket was also one of the names of a witch's familiar from the Salem witch trials (it was an imp rather than a cat in 1644 ). If I'd had a middle-aged sense of humor when I was five, the idea that my family would have named anything after a witch's familiar would have sent me into hilarities of irony - you will never meet a family as Baptist as we are.

It turns out that the cat was magic, though; and I remember the night I learned that she had mystic powers.

I had looked everywhere for Pyewacket, and I couldn't find her anywhere. She had disappeared. This, of course, is perfectly normal behavior for a cat; and nothing to be remarked upon, so I headed off to take a bath. After I had my bath, I opened the door to the linen closet to toss in my towel, and discovered her laying on top of the dirty clothes. She was cleaning up a brand-new litter of kittens. I could not imagine where those had come from. She had somehow created them out of thin air!

I was very impressed by this, and continue to be.

Jack “The Amazing Mumford” Parker