One in five orange cats is female.

One in a million orange cats is a certified genius.

One orange cat is Cleopatra.

She is not so much orange as marmalade. She is fresh-squeezed sunlight. She has the manners of a queen. This is proven by the fact that she refrains from making fun of me, no matter how many times I tell her she is my favorite “marmalady.”

She is also not supposed to be here.

You may recall that Cleopatra was adopted. We wept and whooped, as marmaloonies do. We did not expect our sweet little citrus to roll back up our tree.

But when Cleo’s adopter fell ill, Cleo fell back into our arms. Once a Tabby’s Place cat, always a Tabby’s Place cat.

Cleo’s eyes were calm, as if to comfort us. There, there. Cats remember what we forget. Life is juicy. Life’s painful pieces — call them “pulp” — are just part of the equation.

“Pulp” brought Cleopatra to Tabby’s Place in the first place. She was parted from her person. It was no one’s fault. It was no one’s choice. It was not supposed to happen.

But it caused fresh happiness to happen.

Cleopatra, once loved by one person, now ruled a whole sanctuary. The first love of her life was not the last. This jam jar had no bottom. Cleo began to wonder just how many people she had yet to adore.

The answer keeps expanding, with no end in sight.

This time around, Cleo came back like a queen on a quest. Our legs turn to jelly at the sight of her face. Everyone missed her. No one stays sad in her sight. Our middle-aged marmalady illuminates every inch of her new, old, zestful, restful life.

Cleo is not in denial. She grieved her first loss, and she grieved her second. Pulp is not pleasant when it gets caught between your teeth or your dreams.

But Cleopatra is at peace. She has Vitamin C to share. She knows we need it. Unlike cats, people get jammed up in marmalamentations and forget the sun.

She is more than a marmalady. She is a marmalioness.

It’s enough to make you nominate her for the marmalegislature.

But marmaladies have too much grace for elected office. So Cleopatra, one in five, one in a million, one of a kind, will simply reign and radiate as long as we need her.

She is supposed to be here, and so are we.

The jams you don’t choose may be the marmaloveliest of all.

If you are feeling especially marmagnificent, you can help elderly cats like Cleopatra with a donation to our Remember the Seniors Fund Drive. Your donation will be doubled through 6/30.

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