Cats

Not having a child, or a dog, or even a cat in your life makes it really empty. So right now I'm just going to think about some of the cats we have had.

When I was about three, we had a cat that my parents named after a certain woman we knew, because its face reminded them of her. I heard my parents saying that if she were to come over for a visit, and she found out we had named a cat after her, she might take that as an insult.

Then there was the cat that strolled through the house at night. I loved the cat, but I found it frightening one night when I woke up and saw two eyes glowing in the dark. After that, whenever I woke up during the night, I was careful to keep my eyes closed.

Then there was the cat that got hit by a car not long after giving birth to five kittens. In spite of our attempts to feed the kittens with a doll bottle, one by one they died. The last one was Tommy, who cried loudly for a long time. My brother and I watched my mother bury them in the back yard.

Then there was Paint, who was a black and white cat that looked like he had run through some paint and splashed it on himself. He let us build a tower of blocks on top of him while he slept. When he finally woke up and moved, the blocks fell on his head, so he calmly got up and walked away.

Paint used to climb on the screen door and look in through the window in the inner door. We often saw him hanging there while we were eating supper. Even when it was dark out, you could see him because of his white spots.

After Paint died, we could still see him hanging on the screen. There just happened to be a spot of white paint in the same place where he used to hang.

Then there was Snoopy, who was a BLACK CAT, not a White Dog. She was named after a cat in the Bobbsey Twins. She lived more than 18 years. And there were Missie, who lived 12 years, Blackie, May-may, May-two, Caesar, Black Pirate, Emily, Tootsie, Tiny, Snowball, Mittens, Barney, Silas, Sylvia, Mittens, Doozy, Sam, Arthur, Timothy Smoke, Tiger, Pussy Willow, Calico, and Trouble, who was never any trouble and as far as I know never died. And lots more. I'll add to this list as I think of them.

Some people prefer dogs to cats. They like the close connection you can often have with a dog. But I admire cats because of their self-sufficiency and their wildness.

All the bad things they say about cats are also true of people. But do you ban such people from your life? No, you just learn to live with them, and you appreciate their good points, and don't worry too much about the bad points. You have to have a sort of skill in dealing with them, and any amount of success is very rewarding.

My cat (if I had one) doesn't especially need me, or at least not to the point where she can't live without me. But the very fact that my cat is patient with me and content to live with me makes me feel important.