My Mom's Cat Sylvester

I once purchase a home in Baltimore.  I came home one night to see my son Sean, sitting on the front porch with this cat in his lap.  My mom who was living with us at the time was very furious, because Sean decided to take the cat inside the house.  If you knew my mom, you would understand her frustration.  She was so afraid of cats, that even the name cat, would scare her.  Sean kept the cat in our basement and we named him Sylvester.   My mom completely avoided the basement for as long as I could remember.     She eventually had to occasionally go down to the basement to do her laundry or to get something from the pantry, or just to go outside to the back yard when no one else was home.  We often wonder how she manage to do that knowing Sylvester was now living in the basement, but no one dare to ask her.  We were starting to feel a little guilty, about our selfishness knowing that she is so afraid of cats, and we were putting her through all this anxiety having Sylvester in our home.   My sons and myself eventually start talking about putting him in a shelter, but we had come to be so attached to him, we could not bring our selves to do that.  Not only that, but we had spend a lot of money on veterinarian bills, just to make sure it was safe to have him in our home.   when Sylvester came to our home, it seems like he was hit by a car or something, so that’s where the major part of his vet bill was incur.  One day while grocery shopping with my mom, I almost forgot to get cat food, only to be reminded by my mom that I was forgetting cat food.   In my mind, I was screaming “What” my mother reminding me to get cat food!!! Oh No!!!”.  I could not resist bring up the conversation on our drive home.  That’s when my mom shared one of the most amazing story with me.  Each day my mom would go for here morning walk, as soon as everyone leave the house for work.  She said one morning when she was going on her walk, she looked behind her, and there was Sylvester following her.  She tried everything to chase him, so he could go back, but he still would follow her.  She said she had to turn back, out of fair that, my son might think, she purposely let him out.  By now, my son would often forget to close the basement door to our living room, and Sylvester was now starting to have full access to our whole house.  My mom said the next few days she decided not to go for a walk, out of fair of letting the cat out, and not being able to get him back in the house.  One afternoon, while my son was home, my mother decided to walk up the street to the corner store, she got to the store made her purchase and was exiting the store.  She said, as she got outside the store, there was Sylvester waiting for her.  She was blown away in disbelieve, as Sylvester gently walk behind her, all the way back home.  My mother, gradually started to go for her morning walks again, and on every occasion Sylvester would follow behind her.  My mother has not gotten to the point where she could cuddle him, but from that day my mother has never gone for a walk, without Sylvester gingerly strutting behind her .   Soon Sylvester was fully apart of our family, and was no longer our cat, but my mom’s cat.