How often do you thank the Earth for being reliable beneath your feet?
Its feelings are not hurt if you forget. It simply keeps holding you.
How often do you think about Eartha, the cat in the quiet room?
Her feelings are not hurt if you forget, either. She’s just glad you’re in her orbit.
Most of the cats at Tabby’s Place are “visitable.” You can have a close-range encounter with the largest personality known to science, our zingy and zestful Olive. You can share your dreams with Betty, who will listen with all the love in her heart. (The love in Betty’s heart exceeds the total volume of stars in the total number of universes.)
But, in a quiet room at the southern tip of the sanctuary, where sunbeams keep secrets, there are three cats too precious for the paparazzi.
Eartha appears flamboyant, all feathers and pizzazz. She makes Cher look like a Hobbit. Her eyes are wild, whirligig worlds.
But our showgirl is no show-off. Beneath her extravagant exterior is a cat who just wants to stay down-to-Earth. The quiet room makes a homey planet.
We tried Eartha in other areas of Tabby’s Place. But she found fault lines everywhere, and the quakes frightened her. Born with a rare seizure disorder, Eartha looks like a party but prefers peace. Even the easygoing Community Room was too chaotic for her delicate needs.
But in this quiet room, Eartha’s frizzled wires become soft fairy lights. She supervises our Foster Team and savors sunbeams. She can enjoy all her favorite hobbies: sleeping, snacking, meandering, and contacting extraterrestrials with her ear hair.
Though she still has seizures, they are fewer in number, and our staff knows her well enough to sense the oncoming quake and administer rescue medication swiftly.
A “small” life can be the safest place on Earth.
Our shaggy star shares her satellite with two other luminaries. Skip-It and Zinc both live with kidney disease. As two of the more timid alums of our 2024 colony rescue, these girls scramble for safety if there are too many space invaders.
Both Zinc and Skip-It require daily medication to survive, and our regular cat suites offered too much stress and too many hidey-holes.
But Tabby’s Place contains many realms. And, if you read Zinc’s Yelp review, you’ll learn that the quiet room is “a whole ‘nother world. 5/5, highly recommend.”
While Eartha enjoys her own orbit (which astronomers hypothesize is neither round nor oblong, but shaped like Big Bird), Zinc and Skip-It are twin planets. Sharing afternoon rays and after-medication vent sessions, they make each other healthier, happier, and more whole.
If it seems bittersweet that three of the brightest stars are tucked away from the public, consider this. You can throw an old granola bar in the bottom of your backpack and not worry about it. But if you have a perfect plum, you will wrap it carefully.
You may leave an old potato out on the counter. But you will tuck your treasures — diamonds, amethysts, signed photographs of Weird Al Yankovic, etc. — into places of honor and dignity.
Besides, some of the greatest triumphs unfold unseen.
Luke Skywalker came from a backwater planet. The Guardians of the Galaxy were a gathering of misfits. Tabby’s Place: a Cat Sanctuary is located in a town so small, you have to go to the next zip code to obtain a cheeseburger.
And, from a room of their own, three superstars sweeten the face of the Earth.
Never underestimate the power of quiet.