Once upon a time in a land far far away (Spokane, WA–hehe) there lived a soon to be Gonzaga graduate and a homeless semi-feral cat. Initially these two had no knowledge of one another, but as you will soon see, their paths were destined to cross; changing both lives forever.
This gal, we’ll call her Jessi, had a really awesome former roommate, we’ll call her…Katie. Circumstances had intervened in their lives and both had moved in with others. Jessi had moved in with fabulous Petey and her kittens and Katie had moved in with a couple other individuals who don’t play starring roles today. 
The jist of that story is that both Katie and one of the roommates each had a cat and they were only allowed two pets in the rental house.
One day Katie called Jessi and asked if she would be interested in adopting a cat. Jessi, a die hard dog fan, immediately turned down the offer. However, she did agree to come to the house and bring by some food, since all parties were low on funds and it made more sense to pool resources. Upon arriving at the rental, Jessi was greeted by a sad and pathetic sight…a scrawny old cat with terrible dandruff, multi-hued fur, and bones poking out of her skin *insert sigh*.
This particular cat had been nicknamed “Pongo” by Katie…why? Well, you will have to ask Katie. This narrator is suffering a case of “some-timers”. Interestingly enough, while definitely lacking socialization, the cat would approach and even allow you to pet her if she was provided with a bowl of food…which was good because otherwise our main character might never have fallen for such a pitiful creature.
As much as this sad, sad sight compelled the soon to be graduate to want to take in the scrawny feline, her practical nature argued against it.
Until one night…Yep that’s right, I threw in that old cliche line…Back to the story.
One night Jessi went to Katie’ s house for a party…and all night that sad little cat cried outside the window. The two cats in the house did not help matters…they carried their food to the sliding glass door and ate it in front of the starving cat! Needless to say, after a full night of knowing that little cat Pongo was locked outside in the cold rain, Jessi knew she only had one choice…adopt a cat.
This may seem a simple process and certainly a simple deduction to some of you. Those people would most certainly be wrong. Amongst the many complications were a limited income that would end as soon as graduation arrived, a stepfather who did not like cats, and a roommate who already had two cats of her own. This was a battle Jessi didn’t really want to fight…but…many hours later, after wrestling Pongo into a box and placing $400 worth of cat expenses on her credit card, Jessi was committed. So was Pongo–not that she would accept it.
Now, if you want to learn more about this remarkable feline and the journeys she has had, stay tuned for the next installment of “Pongo’s Story”!