Felix came into my life one cold, misty morning more than 40 years ago.

There was a knock on the door from two scared little girls who had found a shivering, black kitten at the roadside on their way to school. They didn't know who else to take him to and as my door was closest they chose me.

The poor little thing had a nasty graze on one side of its face and limped on one back leg, but broke into a loud purr when I picked it up and stroked its small, black head. I fed it a saucer of milk and some Weetbix left over from the baby's breakfast, which disappeared rapidly down the pink mouth, with a mixture of growls and trills of delight.

After he had eaten, he looked drowsy, so I wrapped him in a warm rug near the heater where he immediately fell fast asleep.

Later at the Veterinary's consulting rooms he sat in my arms and purred contentedly as Mr. Paxton looked him over.
"Just a few grazes and scratches," he reassured me. "Nothing a shot of Penicillin and TLC won't fix in a few weeks."

And so it was. Within a fortnight of him coming to my door as a shivering, maimed scrap of Catness, he began to grow into a graceful, long limbed creature with a wise, knowing air about him.
Every evening he sat in the window waiting for my husband's taxi cab to appear around the corner two blocks away. The corner was across two vacant blocks and the car was too far away to hear, but somehow that cat knew.

He'd wait until the headlights shone on the letterbox as the car came in the gate and then go to the back door, to wait for my husband to come in.
My husband was enchanted with Felix's affectionate ways and picked him up to carry him in to the sitting room. He'd settle him down among the rugs by the heater and come to the table to eat.

Felix wouldn't move from where he'd been put, but he would "Meouw?" with an enquiring note and then sneak to the door and peep around the corner, eyes bright green and hopeful. "Oh come on then," my husband would say, and he'd come out, and jump up onto his lap, purring loudly.

Having been given a small piece of something tasty, Felix took it back to his cosy place by the heater where he ate it in front of Tiki, another cat we had before Felix arrived.

Tiki wasn't very strong as he had rickets, but Felix loved him and defended him bravely against a stray dog that wandered into our driveway one afternoon.

The dog went howling off down the street while Felix walked stiff legged and bristle tailed back through the gate to touch noses with Tiki and to accept our congratulations. He was indeed an unusual cat.