The music is "The Favourite" by Scott Joplin

Dahlya Bird Edwards Birthplace: Morgantown, Indiana Birthdate: March 8, 1990 Nicknames: Dolly, Dollybird, Birdle, Ndolly, Nolly Mirn, Doll Doll, Big Dolly. Likes: Laying on Mommy's lap. Letting Abby warsh me. Taking a nappy with Mommy. Getting in the bedroom. Getting out of the bedroom. Having Mommy sing O you Bewtiful Dolly to me. Dislikes: What the vet did to me when I got fixed and wasn't even broke! Daddy whiskering to me that he wants to speriment on me. Daddy whiskering anything to me. When they get out that dark thing that flashes at me even when it doesn't flash. Goldie. Groucho chasting me. The d*g chasting me.

Dolly is one of the three torties from Poppy's first litter. There was also a male, a big, gray shorthair. Poppy was a small cat, and these kittens were large. Dolly was the largest, even bigger than the male. When the others began walking, Dolly couldn't. Her legs wouldn't support her weight, so she was about a week behind them in that area. Then there was the problem of her rolling onto her back and being unable to turn herself over. I helped her with that a lot in her first few weeks. I used to call her "Fat Dolly"--she was so cute! She has slimmed down over the years, but is still a good-sized cat, half-again as big as her sister Goldie.

Dolly's a scaredy cat--really! We don't know for sure what caused it--she was treated no differently from any of her littermates, all were loved equally; but she and her brother Tuffy began acting strangely right after their spay-neuter experience. They wouldn't come near us for days, and wouldn't let us near them. Their mother Poppy and sister Goldie had been spayed at the same time, yet showed no remarkable after-effects. Tuffy seemed to get over it quickly, but he was still a bit leery of Tim. Dolly finally let me pet her, but she avoided Tim for days. We began to wonder just what the vet--a male--had done to them to cause this reaction. We never found out, because we never asked; we just changed vets. Dolly has never recovered from her timidity, and she doesn't really trust Tim. He sometimes whispers to her while leering insanely, "Come here Dolly--daddy wants to experiment on you." This sends her off his lap and running into the next room, where she stops and stares at him with huge moon-eyes. A little while later she'll be back on his lap, because she knows Daddy would never really hurt her.

She's also spooked by the camera. We can never get a good shot of her, because the minute she sees it she's off and running. I had to hold her very firmly to get the shot above.Sorry about the Hand of Fate emerging from the clouds, but she's such a pretty girl I did want her picture here.

Dolly loves to go into the bedroom. About a year and a half ago I spent a lot of time in bed, recovering from a stroke, and I just had to have my babies in there with me. The doors to the bedroom and adjoining bath were left open, so all fourteen could come and go at will. This was fine for awhile, until I was able to get up and around a bit. Then there would be times I'd go back to the bedroom and find someone (not I!) had wet the bed. This happened a few times too many, so all but Bitsy and Sammy were banned from that part of the house. I don't remember how we determined the culprit was Dolly, but she was at least one of them. Now she'll try to run in whenever I open the bathroom door, and if successful will hide under the bed. I try to get her out of there as quickly as possible--I really hate a wet bed! But if it came down to a choice of having a perpetually wet bed or getting rid of Dolly, I'd keep Dolly and move to the couch!