Endless Cats

 I thought I would share a story I wrote for my creative writing class in college.  It is based on real events that happened while we lived in Cheyenne, Wyoming in the 1960s but I got creative about a few things.  Our dog at the time was Cleo, short for Cleopatra (we went through a phase with our dogs based around Roman history, Caesar, Brutus, etc.). I am not sure how we got the cat originally, what we called her, or how many litters there were. The last mom cat and her kittens actually moved with us to Shreveport, Louisiana, so the cat we dropped off for that last visit was another stray that showed up just before we moved, but all the cats mentioned in our home and at the farm were real, especially Fuzzy and Feisty.

Endless Cats

      When I was in elementary school, our family adopted a dog and a cat adopted us.

      The dog ran around with us kids, jumped fences, barked, and generally had a good time, but she slept outside.  The cat pretty much went where she wanted, when she wanted, and was only interested in us at mealtime and bedtime. She slept inside, on the couch, or my parents’ bed, or wherever she felt like.

      My parents were careful to make sure our dog didn’t have puppies, but they forgot to make sure our cat didn’t have kittens.  Soon there was a litter of kittens in our dirty clothes basket. 

      Mom was not happy but Dad said, “I can find homes for them, don’t worry.” And he did. He found homes for every one of the kittens. They were pretty cute. 

      But we still had our dog.  Our dog helped us find chipmunks, chase cars, and played chase with us. Our cat spent all day hunting for things and bringing them home. Our dog still didn’t have puppies, but our cat had kittens in the clean clothes basket. Mom was getting upset, but Dad said, “I have a friend with a farm.  He always needs cats.” And he did. He took all the cats but two over to the farm, even the mom cat.

      We kept two boy cats, so no more kittens. We named those cats Fuzzy and Feisty. Fuzzy was fuzzy and Feisty was smooth.  They were black and white, Fuzzy mostly black and Feisty mostly white but they both had black tails with white tips.  They went everywhere together, but they were very different.

      The dog loved playing with Fuzzy, but Feisty hit her nose with his claws. Fuzzy liked play with me and didn’t mind having his fur rubbed the wrong way. Feisty hated having his fur messed with, scratched little kids, and hid his toys. Fuzzy and Feisty both like to sleep with me, one at the top and one at the bottom. I loved Fuzzy and Feisty.

      Then another mother cat adopted us.  She had kittens in the rag basket.

      Mom said, “Too many cats.  Some will have to go.” The mother cat and kittens couldn’t go; they were too young. So Fuzzy and Feisty had to go to the farm.

      I rode with Dad to drop then off.  The farm was so lonely, no cats around anywhere.

      “Where are the other cats?” I asked Dad.

      “Maybe they’re hunting.” Dad shrugged. Dad stopped the car and we opened the door.  Feisty jumped out and raced to the barn.  He didn’t like driving or being outside.  Fuzzy stretched and purred and finally I had to pick him up and carry him out.  I set him down and he just looked at me.  I think he knew we were leaving him.  But he got up, brushed my legs and purred before strolling toward the barn.  It’s okay, he was saying, I’ll miss you but I’ll be fine.  We drove back home.

      The dog was glad to see me. We ran around, played ball, ran through the sprinkler, and lay in the sun. The mom cat and kittens stayed inside and watched.  Soon Dad was finding homes for the kittens. Mom was glad to see them go. 

      Now we had just one cat.  Mom was glad to only have one dog and one cat, for a while.  Then one day the mom cat had kittens in the sewing basket. Mom had had enough.  Dad was glad it was only a couple of kittens.  He soon found homes for them.

      “No more kittens.” Mom said, looking at Dad.  “The last cat has to go.”

      Dad looked at me.  “Want to drive to the farm with me?” he asked.

      I nodded excitedly.  “Maybe we can see Fuzzy and Feisty.”

      Dad looked funny. “Sure, but it’s been a while,” He said.  He didn’t sound so sure.  I thought of the empty farm with no cats.

      We drove up the highway and turned down the road to the farm.  Then we drove into the driveway. Dad stopped the car and stared.  I didn’t blame him.

      Everywhere we looked, there were fuzzy cats! Big cats, little cats, black and white cats all lazing in the sun.  They all looked at us and some came over to meet the mom cat.  They were very friendly and some purred as they brushed my legs. 

      “Where are Fuzzy and Feisty?” I asked Dad.  He looked around.  In the distance he saw two black tails with white tips walking through the fields.

      “I bet that’s them over there.” Dad pointed and held me up to see.  I called to them but they were too far away.

      “That’s okay.” I said.  “Maybe next time.” I smiled at Dad and he smiled back.

“No more cats for us.” He said. “But it looks like endless cats for the farm.”  We both laughed as we drove away.