The Search for A-Pop -- 2

Here’s how it all began. Back at the start of time, before the TLC Cat Club was even built, a big, fluffy, orange cat was rescued from busy traffic and brought to the sanctuary. She called herself Arabella GingerPop, or A-Pop for short.

It was rumored that her big, bushy tail could lay waste to any unsecured object within a three-mile radius of her being.

This handsome, slightly arrogant, yet engagingly vulnerable kitty was quite undeterred by the fact that she had feline leukemia and a host of other conditions that did not bode well for a long life. Armed with a bushy ginger tail that could lay waste to any unsecured object within a three-mile radius of her being, she was also endowed with even greater magical powers. When she walked into the office, for example, computers would crash. If you picked her up and touched a light switch, chances were that all the power would go out. If she sat on a washing machine, it would stop working. If she wandered into the bathroom, there would, likely as not, be a flood five minutes later.

Nevertheless, everyone she ever met was charmed by A-Pop. So, in spite of all the chaos, it was a sad day when, a few months later, she went over the Rainbow Bridge.

Or did she? Some of the older cats here, who knew her, say that Arabella GingerPop would never have gone over the Rainbow Bridge. After all, they argue, things still go wrong, so she must still be around somewhere. (Off the record, they suggest that maybe she went under the Rainbow Bridge, rather than over it.)

The Mystery Deepens
So, while everyone else was scurrying around repairing water heaters and computers and bringing in emergency supplies of kitty litter this month, Tammy the Greyhound and I launched an official investigation of the matter.

“Not so fast,” I cautioned. “Rumor and gossip cannot replace journalistic integrity.”

“True enough,” Tammy agreed. “But last night, I consulted with the esteemed Professor Barkalot who, as you know, is on a secret assignment in Ancient Egypt.”

“According to Ancient Egyptian inscriptions, the Great Egyptian Cat Goddess had an archrival who was known as A-Pop. Their A-Pop, like our A-Pop, had a huge tail that went around the whole planet. She was portrayed as a dragon and she was known as the source of all chaos in the entire universe.”

This ancient prayer, carved in hieroglyphics on a temple wall, entreats the Great Egyptian Cat Goddess to defeat the forces of chaos, "just as you once conquered the Great A-Pop."

“No less,” Tammy repeated. “She sometimes even tried to eat the Sun for breakfast. And if the Great Egyptian Cat Goddess couldn’t stop her in time, the power would go out all over Ancient Egypt and there would be no kitty litter for weeks.”

“We must begin a search immediately,” I instructed. “How many big, fluffy, orange, female cats with bushy tails do we have at the sanctuary right now?”

“You’d think so,” Tammy agreed. “But it seems that pure orange, domestic long-hair, girl cats are few and far between. There are plenty of boys, but A-Pop was a girl. And there are plenty of orange Persians and Siamese, but that’s not the same, either.”