Chessie Rhodes

Meet Chessie Rhodes.

Johanna Rhodes, of Etcetera Coffeehouse fame, was not planning on adding a fourth cat to her family of three elderly felines, but the homeless kitten who met Johanna on a Lowertown street wouldn't take ‘no' for an answer. A friend named the two-pound, "grey ball of fur and meow" Chessie, after the old C&O Railroad mascot. The likeness was undeniable. (And it didn't hurt that husband Allan Rhodes is a model train buff.)

"As Chessie grew so did her fur, longer and fluffier. She must have had a big furry father, Maine Coon maybe," says Johanna. "We affectionately call her ‘the hairy one'."

The luxurious coat became a liability last summer, when Chessie got fleas. ("Not an easy task for an inside, mostly upstairs cat," Johanna notes!) When topical remedies failed, the vet resorted to drastic measures: a ‘lion cut', leaving her natural fur on just her head, legs and tail, and a dip in a flea bath. Oh the humiliation!

"She came home flea-less but naturally embarrassed because she was not wearing her glorious fur coat. I have to admit she did look a bit comical." She was swaybacked. The three older cats avoided her. With obvious feline disdain.

When Chessie's coat returned in all its glory, so did her regal attitude. "She is reigning over her territory again," Johanna declares, adding, "She can often be heard pawing at the door from upstairs, vocally demanding to see what's going on downstairs [in the shop]." Her elderly friends don't want to play young cat games, but since the coffee shop noises – and thunderstorms – frighten her, Chessie hangs out in the private office, lounging on the desk with a view out the back door.

"She also spends a lot of time upstairs gazing out the window, watching her Lowertown world go by," Johanna reflects.

"You know, I guess there is a lesson here for us. If you make your wishes known and are persistent, you might get where you want to go, just like Chessie."

Rock on, Chessie Rhodes!

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