Suzy and Nigel – Another Story of Helen's Pets


Back in the mid 70s Helen acquired yet another new animal – a young female cat. She probably would have been a teenager had she been human. I'm not certain that I remember her name correctly but it may have been Suzy.

I remember Helen telling me about Suzy back then. "Suzy keeps us all young," she said. Suzy had only one ambition in life and that was to be chased around the house by each of Helen's other animals. Suzy's usual approach towards satisfying this urge was to lurk patiently for hours on the tops of cabinets or tables waiting for another animal to walk by underneath. Then Suzy would leap down on the poor victim's back scaring the daylights out of him or her. When the poor animal had recovered its composure, he or she would growl (if a dog) or "phisssst" (if a cat) and lunge at Suzy. But Suzy could run faster than anybody. She would get a big grin on her face and take off -- always remaining just a little out of reach. Suzy could also take corners faster than anybody so the victim could usually be lured into smashing into walls or furniture or people's legs while in pursuit. Suzy would happily wait until the victim got back to his or her feet and then take off again.

A visit to Helen's house during those days was often punctuated by the sounds of pursuit – high speed paws and claws running across the floor, collisions between bodies and walls, the sliding of furniture and, occasionally, human screams.

There was one animal, however, that did not respond to Suzy's antics – that was Nigel, the old, aristocratic, long-eared dog. His dignity was too immense – much too immense – to bother with silly young female nonsense. When Suzy jumped on his back, Nigel would simply look at her with contempt and with a dog-like harrumph, walk away. Suzy would try poking at Nigel while he was lying down or would create a ruckus nearby while he was sleeping. But nothing worked – that is, until, one day, she discovered a technique that never failed. I don't know why she didn't use it more often, perhaps she was somewhat embarrassed to employ it or maybe she just wanted the greater challenge of attempting less-certain techniques. In any case, as a last resort, she would wait until Nigel was asleep, walk over to him, lift up one hind leg and sit down with her crotch right on poor Nigel's nose. That was too much! That wasn't cricket! Nigel – enormously offended – would leap up from the floor and chase Suzy around the house until he was exhausted. Of course he never caught her.

Did Helen's pets acquire personality traits from her? What about Nigel's aristocratic dignity? We all remember that Helen had an incredible aura of dignity and substance that made a powerful impression on the people she met and on her audiences. That quality of hers reminds me of the similar quality one can see in the faces in Curtis photographs of elderly American Indians and in the faces of some wonderful old blues singers. Incidentally, Helen met remarkable individuals from both groups in her travels. From the respect they gave her and from the comments they made to Helen's friends afterwards it was obvious that they regarded her as a very special woman and a very special soul.

What about Suzy's lack of dignity and her hi-jinks? Examples of Helen's lack of dignity and her frequent nonsense come easily (very easily) to mind. Here are just three examples: Helen owned a book on bird poop (with photographs, for crying out loud!) and she often set a tone at get-togethers that promoted completely losing it and she was almost always stirring things up to create a ruckus. How could one not love her?

Yes, pets become like their masters – and Helen kept us all young.


-Alan Oakes