Badu

Badu is the mommy cat. She mothered 12 to 15 kittens while living at Transy House, including "Streaky" who was given the Mtribe, and Cleo the Palsied One, who was given to Jamie. The last of the kittens to be with Badu is Zona, who has been living with her in the Catskills at Central House for the past year. Badu loves Central House. She lives outside much of the time, but has been sleeping inside with Jamie in recent weeks. Badu is very fearless even though she is such a delicate small cat. When she first arrived at Transy House there were two active dogs there, Sophie and Kiva, who liked to chase cats. They had driven out several other cats who had been brought in to hunt the mice. The dogs pounced on Badu, who was then practically still a Kitten, and she was fearless in confronting them and setting them back on their heels. Eventually they worked out a modus vivendi. Today Badu and Kiva treat each other like old friends. At Central House Badu has become a hunter, leaving dead mice around on the doorstep so often that it is bothersome. It is beautiful to watch her moving stealthily through the grass and weeds as she stalks prey. Some people think that she is abandoned because she is outside so much, but it is actually just that she is so sociable. Whenever something is going on on the Central House grounds she sticks her nose in and participates. The people living at Central House want her to stay there, and take good care of her, even though I am considering taking her back to Brooklyn as I write this. They have know Badu for a long time, and love her. She is the best cat I have ever known.