We loved Billy, fed and cared for him for sixteen and a half years. Bringing him home as a four month old from the shelter that rescued him, along with his sister, from underneath a suburban porch in Upstate New York, I held him easily in the palm of my hand. (Inside, full color photographs show Billy at his best.) We will never know anything about his parents or what his life was like in the months before we brought him home. But from his first days with us, he was as sweet as any cat we have ever known. It took us much longer to understand how very smart he was. This book is a sort of black cat biography, a record of his last year in perspective of the sixteen that came before. It's a sad story made lighter by anecdotes from his adventurous past. It's also heroic. A black cat who, although loving and playful, insisted on being himself and doing some things his own way. The result go from hilarious to inspiring.