The Lilacs

Nemo

{Mr. Snagsby takes his book down from the safe . . . and brings his right forefinger travelling down a page of the book.

“Here we are, sir” says Mr. Snagsby. “To be sure, I might have remembered it”

Mr. Tulkinghorn has seen the entry, found it before the law-stationer, read it while the forefinger was coming down the hill.

“What do you call him? Nemo?” says Mr. Tulkinghorn. “Nemo, sir. Here it is.”

“Nemo!” repeats Mr. Tulkington. “Nemo is Latin for no name”.

“It must be English for some one, sir, I think,” Mr. Snagsby submits with his deferential cough. “It is some one’s name. Here it is, you see, sir”.}

  {Bleak House, by Charles Dickens – Chapter 10.}

 

We found Nemo in the garage late one evening during a particularly bitter wintery spell in early February 2006 - hungry, cold and scared. He was a feral cat (born in the wild) and only about 6 months old at the time. We gave him some food and comfort and, for the next 3 months, he would stay for a few days and then disappear for a few days. While doing some spring clean-up in the garage during mid-May that spring, I turned around and there he was, with a look on his face that said he was going to stay this time (pending Galaxy’s approval).

He needed some Vet attention and, as we hadn’t yet decided on a name for him, the Vet marked “no name” on the invoice. That pretty much captured the essence of this beautiful young cat so, with a nod to Charles Dickens, we decided to call him Nemo.

Nemo (also known as ‘the little rascal’) became a very important and integral part of the scene at The Lilacs, and took over control upon Galaxy’s passing.