Rotunda mysteriously appeared in our back yard at 2:00 in the morning, howling pitifully beneath our bedroom window. She was just a tiny kitten, not even three months old, but she had already decided where she belonged. No one claimed her or seemed to know anything about her, and we used to kid her, telling her she'd been dropped off by aliens.

Rotunda had a body like an accordion bus. Her back end was on a two-second time delay, never quite in synch with where her front end was headed. She rocked back and forth like a wave when she walked. Her navigation was further hampered by her unusually short legs, long body, and massive bulk.

Tunda's size was a mystery. Even at the age of four months she was huge, and despite the fact that she never really had a big appetite and preferred picking at small meals, she continued to expand. We were never able to determine exactly how much she weighed, because she refused to come within ten feet of even the most well-disguised weights and measures device. I once tried surreptitiously stepping onto the bathroom scale with her in my arms, but she was not to be fooled. She threw a tantrum, retracting her head almost totally into her body like a tortoise and thrashing her little legs so wildly that I was unable to read the result. Her weight was HER business and no one else's! Our vet was never successful in this endeavor, either, and he finally settled for a rough estimate of 21 pounds. Now 21 pounds is not that heavy - I've known larger felines. But with Rotunda's funny little body and long, full coat of fur, she presented the illusion of a long-haired watermelon undulating across the floor.

Rotunda was a cat of many nicknames ( "Thunder Buns," "Robusta," "Tonnage," etc.) and she answered sweetly to all of them, but I think her personal favorite was "Living Giant." She endured it all with dignity and humor, in the spirit in which it was offered. She seemed to understand that we were laughing with her, not at her. (After all, no one would dare make serious fun of a princess!) She had a wonderful sense of humor and definitely knew how much she was loved.

Rotunda passed away at age sixteen from kidney failure. She died as she lived - with dignity. Sometimes when the house is very quiet, I can still hear the sound of her little toenails clicking across the hardwood floors. She was a wonderful companion and a very special enrichment to our lives, and she is very much missed.