In late September of 2019, a black cat came into our lives. It was a terrible time for my family, with my wife’s father having just passed. My wife was extremely close to her dad, and she was absolutely devastated.

The cat was a neighborhood country stray. It was ninety-five percent black with some brown speckles and a white streak on its belly. The animal immediately and uncannily took to my wife. It followed her from room to room and would run down the driveway like a dog to greet her when she came home.

Now it has an odd habit of climbing onto our shoulders and will just sit perched on one’s shoulder like a wizard’s familiar. If a shoulder is not available, it will perch on a foot. The oddities of this feline don’t stop there.

I swear the animal thinks it’s human. When left outside, it will jump onto the doorknob and hang there, clawing and pulling at it. My entire front door frame is all scratched up from this activity. On a couple of occasions, the cat has managed to turn the knob and open the door. I have never seen anything like this.

When my children do sleepovers in the living room, the cat will go get its cat bed blanket and drag it into the living room to sleep with them. On several occasions, the animal has grabbed a small comfort pillow from the end of my bed and has dragged it to the top of the bed, placing it in between my wife and I, where it lays the top half of its body on the pillow.

The most bizarre behavior is how it sits. The cat sits on our chairs and couches like an old man. (actual photo above) It is common to find the animal sitting like this watching TV. I don’t really believe in spirit animals, but if I did, this feline would fit the bill. By the way, my kids named this nearly all black cat Jello. An odd name for an odd animal.