RIP Keiko Fiend

The Keiko Kitty, also known as the Keiko Fiend, came into my life several months after I’d buried my first cat. Our surviving cat, Johnny, seemed rather lost without his older sister. Like any childless couple that anthropomorphizes our pets, we made the decision that he needed a sibling. I didn’t know that meant my wife would begin that search in earnest. Immediately.
I came home from work to find a smiling wife telling me we needed to go meet someone after dinner.
Turns out, a family had found a kitten, jet black with yellow eyes, and had tried to keep her, but their daughter was deathly allergic. The kitty needed a new home.
After knocking on the door, meeting and greeting the denizens including the cute little girl who looked crestfallen, something black began moving toward me.
Keiko was a pretty little lump of fur with curiosity in her eyes and a look that could melt any heart. I reached down for her, scooped her up in my arms, and she immediately crawled up to snuggle against my neck with a roaring purr. That was that.
Keiko, playful, curious, and sometimes persecuted by her elder sibling, became this independent but snuggly cat that had patience the likes of which humanity has never encountered.
The three animals we’ve had since all bonded with her immediately. She became more like a mother to the other pets, someone they’d lay next to or cuddle with. She loved our dog Indie and we often found her snuggled up against him, the pair of them sleeping away the day.
The Shadow Fiend treated Keiko like she was his mother and will no doubt be devastated by the loss of his sister. I know I am.
For all the things Keiko was, every one of them wonderful and joyful, she was most importantly my friend and companion. She was here at the beginning of my writing career and often listened to me wail about plot points, commenting with the occasional chirp or random snuggle attack. When I was stuck for ideas, she jumped up in my lap and crawled up onto my shoulders until she felt my fingers struggling to get to the keys. Then it was back to the lap. And ultimately, when I started rolling on the keys, she’d leave for her favorite spot in the sun.
These last many months, she’s been losing weight. At her heaviest, Keiko was 16 lbs. BMan used to joke that Keiko, and her fur, was the actual inspiration for the M2 creature of The Black. Today, as we said goodbye, she was 6.9. It was past time, but like the patient saint she was, she didn’t complain or tell the vet or anyone she was even sick. Not that it would have mattered.
Keiko succumbed to metastatic cancer on April 13th, 2021.
My heart is broken.