ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS THIS KITTEN IN DUNCANVILLE...

For this weekend’s edition of Let Sleeping dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap we stretched back to October 2021, then managed to land in March of 2023. Call it “Time Travel By Cat…”
This is the most recent rescue cat added to our household. 
The first photo shows how big he was on Oct. 4, 2021.
That second one is current — shot on March 23. In honor of Hastings’ moods and personality, I titled that photo “WHADDAYA WANT? I’M GROOMING HERE!”
He’s changed more than any other cat we’ve ever brought in to our home — eyes, coloring, manners, moods, income— Wait! Income? Hah. All the cats are still resolutely non-profit.

This is Hastings, AKA Captain Arthur Hastings Streetboy, named (a) in honor of the Duncanville street on which he was found and (b) in honor of the sidekick of Hercule Poirot, i.e., Captain Arthur Hastings, OBE. The cat’s call name is “Hastings” and sometimes he responds — well, he always responds, but in his world "ignoring a call" is a response. He just can't be bothered to come running. Shake a treat container, however, and he’s traveling at orbital speed.
When found, he had huge gobby things dangling off his eyes and he was starving. I spotted him paused and quivering out in the middle of the street. I managed to follow him off the street, watched him run into a curb and claw up the cement and race into a clutter of weeds where I grabbed him. That was on Oct. 4, 2021. [LARRY ASIDE: My rescuespouse Martha and I remain grateful to the emergency medical work by the great staff at Pet Medical Center of Duncanville.  They brought this boy from his wretched state of human neglect to vibrant safety far away from the edge of undeserved death. He’s no longer neglected. That's Martha feeding him at our house. He got over being shy about being fed. ]
As you can see in that photo from Feb. 7, 2022, the rascal was growing and had beautiful blue eyes. Along the way, those blue eyes slowly evolved into really dark eyes and his light-colored coat changed into an impossibly fluffy darker texture.
I managed to catch him sleeping at the foot of the bed on March 23 — I’d intended to take a nap after a particularly happy visit with a doctor. But, there was Hastings enjoying life!
 He has eschewed the actual cat bed to sleep atop a storage cabinet that serves as step two in Porche the Dog’s three-step process of climbing onto the bed where she sleeps nightly or any other time she’s in the mood.
I think Porche may conduct “Sleep Instruction Classes” for the other dogs and cats. She’s a giving dog, though at 3 in the morning she will not give up space on the bed. She sleeps with the determination of a bag of cement.

Hastings doesn’t challenge Porche for a spot on the bed. He is usually up patrolling during the night. 
He is almost adorable — apparently separated from his mom when only a few weeks old, he didn’t learn any of the “biting/clawing manners” that a mommy might explain during the weaning era of a kitten's life. The mom’s usually explain, “Bite my spigot like that again, I’ll roll your furry feline backside across the room and you’ll go without lunch.” It’s a lesson learned. Hastings was mostly hand-fed — he is a vigorous eater. 

Still, we have great hope that Hastings will become comfortable in a human lap as he watches TV. Most of the time, he just wanders through the living room en route to somewhere else on the planet. Or he comes in, looks around, and claims the back of a couch.
Such dark eyes in such a distinct face. He's a handsome fellow. Hastings turned out to be — like the rest of our dogs and cats through the years — pretty dadgumed adorable. Thus, in publishing this edition, readlarrypowell.com officially endorses adopting kittens off the streets and enjoying their purry love. Humans can always use more love — just read the daily headlines!
[DEAR READERS: Got a sleeper or a napper you love to photograph? Send photos and their stories to [email protected] and we’ll spotlight ‘em in our long-running weekend feature, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap. Your dogs and cats and their agents will love you for it.]
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