The Story Behind the Series

The Story Behind the “Jasper, Street-Fighter, and Me” series

The story came to be one day, as I decided to keep a promise to a dear departed friend.  That friend is actually a character in the series, as my promise was to Street-Fighter, a feral cat who befriended my wife and I. The image I show of Street-Fighter, is an actual image of our tawny friend.  He showed up one day, with half of the pride in tow, walking side by side with the one we call Mommy.  She carries that name, for she is the one from which the entire pride came from.

Sixteen cats followed the king and queen, some sheparding their own kitten, as they exited the woods, and crossed our backyard to our back porch. We sat and quietly watched the show, directed by Mommy, the true leader it would seem.  We know her well, as our own large male, who now lives indoors was the first to bring her to our door.  She has always come to visit us, and to see big Tom-Tom, along with his shadow, who just happens to be her first-born son.

But, back to Street-Fighter, for he was the one all of the other’s seemed to adore. He had walked with a limp as he crossed the yard, but it didn’t seem to hinder him.  In fact when I offered my hand, to see what he would do, he ambled across the porch, and presented me his head to scratch.  His ears were tattered and torn, one pointing to the left, and the other folded back. His head looked like a road map from all of his scars, but there was nothing that he liked better than to have my knuckles give it a hard rub.

He had two open sores from a recent battle, and as we watched two of the young ladies, came over to keep them clean.  I gave him the name of Street-Fighter that night, it just seemed to be the perfect fit.  He seemed to like it, for he lived up to it.  I have watched him spring vertical over a marauding cat, a move that even a ninja would approve of. Especially on only three good legs, because the limp he had when he arrived came from a dislocated shoulder on his left front paw.

While he was big and ruff, a survivor of the cat wars, he had another side to him, one that he made no attempt to hide.  Street-Fighter, was all man, but a man for modern times. It was not uncommon for him to watch the kittens, as the mom’s went to hunt.  Of course, it seemed that one of the moms always stayed behind, for the one thing he couldn’t do was feed them.

During these stints, we would often sit in the sun on our back steps, and just share time and space together, along with occasional knuckle rubs on Street-Fighter’s head.  It was during one such time shared, that I kiddingly told Street-Fighter that I would make him into a crime fighting cat.  Little did I know when I made that comment, that I would only enjoy his company for another month.  My friend succumbed to injuries delivered by a raptor, based on the talon wounds and the massive wound from the attacker’s beak in his neck.

The Jasper, Street-Fighter, and Me series is my way of keeping my promise to often thought of and missed friend.  If you would like to read more about Street-Fighter, and the pride of cats under his care, then take a look at “Our Pride and Our Joy”  A Story written in verse, with photographs by me.  It is available from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Our-Pride-Joy-Richard-Nurse-ebook/dp/B00VP2PMBY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1475682073&sr=8-3&keywords=Our+Pride+and+Our+Joy  or through most other e-book distributors via Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/533311 .

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