Cat Walk

During this rather strange year in his life, my youngest son has acquired a little tiger tom cat. Last week we took the kitty to the vet to have the tom taken out of him but he has retained the swagger and the attitude.

A month or so ago, Archie and the cat were staying at a house about 6 miles away. The furnace had stopped working at the house and no one else was there. During the night, with a snowstorm raging, the house got really cold and Archie decided to come home. He tucked the kitty into his backpack and walked back here, came in through the door that I always leave unlocked for him or anyone else that needs it, cooked everything he could find in the cupboards while Charlie and I slept soundly unaware, and went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up, came downstairs and turned on the coffee pot picking up a piece of pasta as I walked across the kitchen floor. Hmmmm, I usually clean up better than that before bed and we hadn't had pasta for supper and is that the waffle iron out--and syrup sticky on the counter? Well, it didn't take Hercule Poirot to figure out that someone had come in and made a feast of pasta and waffles as a snowstorm had swirled outside and it didn't take too many of my deductive powers to figure out who it might have been. I went up the back staircase to Archie's room, opened the door and there he was asleep in his bed with this funny little cat. They have been here ever since.

One of the many characteristics of this little cat that endear him to Archie is that he takes walks just like a puppy dog would. Every day, they take a walk around town or through the woods with the kitty following or walking beside Archie. Today, they let me come with them on a walk to the hardware store.

No telling what people think when they see a teenage boy walking around with a little tiger cat beside him, but I guess we have gotten way past caring what people think. I hope it makes them smile.