I'm Paige, AKA Parysa. When I was in my early teens, my family got our first Siamese. My mother had had two growing up named Boots and Snoopy and she loved them b/c they were so clever and could open doors. So, when we got Ming, she was very happy. As a kitten, Ming would sleep in my bed with me and curl up in my hair. One week, my sisters and I went to summer camp. When it was over someone told me that he had read in the paper that my house had burned. I, being in the vicinity of fourteen and having three younger sisters to look out for, went to the counselor and asked if it was true. He wouldn't answer. Finally, our parents came and picked us up and took us to my grandfather's house, where we could hear Ming yowling in the garage. (She didn't like my grandfather's cat and had had quite an adventure already and was through with it!) My mom explained that the house had burned and how.

My step dad is a fireman and was at work. My mother was a nurse and worked late. She got home and put on a pot of soup and went to take a bath, where she fell asleep. Evidently Ming decided to do her part and kill the bugs that had gotten in the house and while she was doing that, knocked something over on the stove. My mom woke up to the smoke alarm and Ming yowling at her (because she never just meows, lol!). She got out of the bath and threw some clothes on, then started to go down the hall. The entire front of the house was in flames and as this was registering, the fire extinguisher exploded! My mom turned around, shut the door, and went over to her other bedroom door, which led to the outside. She threw a bucket out and started chunking everything she could grab: wedding pictures, clothes, albums, the Rolodex (one of those things that holds phone numbers) into it as she called 911 and told the operator to tell my dad she was ok since he would take the call. Then, she lightly threw Ming out the door (there was a drop and no steps as no one ever used that door), and jumped down. Ming, the poor dear, shot into the woods and wasn't seen again for hours. The fire department got there and put out the fire, but didn't save the house. However, at about 3 am, my teenage neighbor boy (a snobby rich kid) shocked us all by going into the woods and finding Ming and coaxing her out of a tree and unscathed into his arms.

Ming lives in my parents' new house (rebuilt at the site of the old one) and presides over her kingdom from the top of the refrigerator and spends her time chasing Frodo, my sister's Balinese, Chance, my mom's Rottweiler, and P.I.T.A., the puppy border collie, away from her and their food bowls! Needless to say, the stove is no longer left on without her supervised!