The Magic of the LBC
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Clever, Curious, Caring Cat
By Margrita Colabuno

The cat is, above all things, a dramatist.
~Margaret Benson

I recently inherited a new roommate: a little black cat. I say inherited because Rhiannon officially belongs to my son's girlfriend who moved in with us during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not long after, Rhiannon followed. It was just a few months after losing my own cat, Frankie, so I wasn't ready to adopt another one. No one could fill her paws, I believed. So, while I was open to another roommate, I kept an emotionally safe distance — until I discovered the magic of the LBC, or Little Black Cat.

My Frankie was one of a kind. She clearly had ties to the Norwegian Forest cat family, which I discovered by chance through Instagram. That explained her affinity for frigid weather. Reminiscent of the snowcapped mountains of her ancestors' country, her lustrous gold, black, and brown coat was punctuated with splashes of creamy white. The scruff encircling her expressive face rivaled that of the king of the jungle, growing even bushier and lion-like each winter. But her true enchantment arose from her fearless, independent, and free-spirited personality — scaling a tree in a flash and balancing on the peak of our roof. (Keep reading)