My neighbor, Buster

I've always thought Buster looked a bit goofy, but behind a somewhat crosseyed appearance and extremely easy-going temperament, is quite the intelligent personality.

When I had Sammy, she would sit in the window sill and hiss at Buster down below outside. Buster would always look back up at her with an amused and curious look. (Once Sammy got out on the landing outside my door and met Buster on the stairs and they had a noisy fight, but no injuries.) Sometimes I'd see him down below, scanning the window sill for Sammy, if she wasn't there. When I run into Buster in the stairwell of our apartment or outside, I try to sneak a pet.

Buster is a spayed black-and-white tom and large and hefty, and he lives in the apartment right above me. A few times after Sammy died, Buster has invited himself into my apartment, and sniffed around, primarily where Sammy sat most. I think he's trying to figure out why he hasn't seen her.

I'm not sure about letting him stay for long with me. I haven't told my neighbor that Buster has dropped in. So after a few minutes, I pick him up and throw him out; that's how easy-going he is. Now he's taken to being vocal with me when he sees me. Like the other day, when I was coming home and could see a woman with her small dog in the road in front of our apartment building, and Buster, who was crouching in the road some feet away, not sure of the dog (who was on a leash). But Buster approached the dog, who wasn't aggressive, just curious. By the time the cat got close enough to the dog to make the dog strain on its leash to take a closer look/sniff, I was at our street door.

The woman and dog left, and I called out to Buster, thinking maybe he'd like to use me as a door opener. He came, chatting away at me, but streaked right past me, in no mood to be petted. Instead, he walked ahead of me, keeping a half stairway between us, finally stopping halfway up to his place (he's done that before, often at my request because I didn't want him to see Sammy at the door). What amused me was that he parked himself on the landing to watch me let myself into my apartment.

He's a character, and I guess he thinks the same of me.