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I've had several cats during my 34 years, but when I moved to Virginia in 1996, I left my two babies with my mother. I knew that my mother would take great care of my fuzzy white felines, so off I went.

The male half of my two cats was Hector Murray Space Shoe Foot Rosencrantz Kitty, a.k.a. "Hector". He was a sleek, white, domestic short hair with beautiful amber eyes. He was at the tender age of six weeks old when I got him; the smallest kitten in a litter of eight. I remember sitting cross-legged on the floor of my friend's kitchen and watching the tumble of white kittens engrossed in their play.

Eventually, the kittens took notice of me and realized I was a stranger; I smelled foreign to them and they were afraid. One small white kitten cautiously made his way across the kitchen to where I sat near the door and tentatively touched my knee with a tiny paw. I knew at once that this was my kitten, and I think he knew it, too.

On the drive home, I agonized over what to call him. My friend suggested I give it a couple of weeks and see if a name emerges along with is personality.

At the time, I was living in a small, two bedroom apartment with a male roommate who played drums in a local band and was rarely home. After the kitten had been with me for a couple of days, I came home to find my roommate, and three of his friends, hanging out in the living room passing the kitten around as if he were a toy. One friend said very matter-of-factly, "We've named your cat. His name is Hector." This last was said with an accent, as if he were from deep in the heart of Spain or Mexico.

I looked at them all as if they were crazy, raised an eyebrow, and said, "Hector, huh? Where did you come up with that one?"

"Well...he's so very white, we didn't want him to grow up to be a sissy, so he needed a strong name and Hector' is it."

I had been of a mind to name him "Bugs" as in Bugs Bunny because when he wrinkled up his little pink nose his whiskers twitched and made him look like a rabbit...but somehow, "Hector" stuck.

I had a friend, who for reasons still unknown to me - refused to call Hector anything other than "Murray." She'd come over, pick him up, squish his face together and say in a deep, goofy voice, "Murray! How you doing, bud?" So Hector became "Hector Murray."

My great aunt and her husband used to own a shoe store in downtown Hartford, CT called "Murray Space Shoe" which was kind of the fore-runner of today's Birkenstocks, wide at the toes with a ridge and a good arch support. They would make a mold of the wearer's foot and then make a shoe to fit the mold. I'm not sure what happened or why they closed, but they closed many years before I was born.

For some reason, once Hector Murray got his first and middle name, it seemed obvious to me that the words "Space Shoe Foot" should follow. I've never quite figured out why and have never delved into the question deep enough to try to solve the mystery.

And, since Hector Murray Space Shoe Foot is a kitty...that's how he got his name!

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Shell.
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