Kitties I have known - 5 - Mala

20x30 Acrylic on stretched canvas Mala was a mixed Russian Blue who lived with us long ago when we lived in Manhattan Beach, CA. She was the ultimate hunter. After the neighbor complained that she was killing the birds at her birdfeeder, we put a powerful bell on her collar. Didn't work. The neighbor grudgingly became a fan, admiring how she could stalk without ringing that bell and her skill at stalking a bird all the way across the street (never noticing the occasional car that had to swerve around her). Her favorite sport (after stalking birds) was to climb a tree, jump to the roof, climb to the highest peak and jump off. When she hit the ground you could hear a loud ooff as the ground forced all the air out of her. But for just a second there, she could fly! After one of the other cats we had at the time was killed by a car, I decided to bring them all in the house for good. But Mala, I realized, could never be happy in a house, so we gave her to Rich's brother who lived up in the hills above San Francisco. I still see her in my mind's eye jumping from branch to branch in the highest tree around.