Malla Haggman – 2007-2009

The day after returning from a trip away to Victoria for a wedding and to the football at Kardinia Park I receive a phone call at the early hour of 07:00.  It’s a dude who has my phone number because it’s on the tag on my ex-cat’s collar. Ex-cat, as in ‘She’s Nobody’s Moggy Now‘.

Malla will be missed by us all. She leaves behind her sister Laika, who so far seems to be riding out this rough time fairly well (better than Viper Pilot is, who is soft like cream cheese on the inside). Her batty ears and feeble-yet-adorable meow will now be left to the domain of our memories. Atomique will no longer be awakened by Malla trying to suckle at the back of her head at four in the morning. Malla took some time to get to know, but once you did she was a charming feline, a prime (if somewhat bookish, and not long for a world of speeding cars, one finds out) example of her species.

The curious conclusion to this tale is that as I arrived home from leaving Malla’s remains with the vet, I was startled by a cat I’d never seen before lurking on my back steps. Actually, I think he was rather more startled than I, as he bolted instantly upon spying me. Even more curiously, Laika popped her head out from under the house, right near where the mystery cat had been. Now, I know what you’re all thinking: the sisters hadn’t been getting along much lately, and it’s very easy to think she’s paid off some other cat to shove Malla into traffic, but Atomique has reminded me that this new cat may just have been stopping by to pay his respects.

If you’re missing the usual content for the blog, I shall wrap things up for today by shedding some light on her name.  Malla is a shortened version of Mallatobuck, the name of Chewbacca’s wife. Also, let me remind everyone of the time that Malla saved us all from an approaching asteroid by transforming into a half-cat/half-rocket super-fearsome space robot:

MallaZOMGBOT4000: Defender of Earth