Cat Tales

Over a period of six years, I have observed three cats not my own. Though I have owned a cat before, I'm not considered a 'pet person'. Nor have I been a pet owner long enough to lay any claim to 'pet wisdom'. Allow me to share about two of them referred to as Cat One, and Cat Two. One day I noticed that Cat One was starring up a tree in my front yard. I observed from my front window and discovered the target of his watch. There was a squirrel way up high, far and away from the reach of Cat One. She made at least two attempts at climbing the tree but decided it was no use. I'm sure she knew better, but it seems her hopes were that the squirrel would either come down or somehow slip and fall. I could have told her, "Fat chance of that happening". I don't know how long the stand-off had been going on, but I observed the episode for about ten minutes. Finally, I sensed the cat began to say, "I'm going home; I've had enough of this". When Cat One had crossed the street, the squirrel came from the tree and ran down my fence. Cat Two wasted no time starring at squirrels in trees too quick for him. His preference was mice. As did Cat One, Cat Two belonged to someone because they did not appear to be stray cats. However, I'm not sure Cat Two was properly loved and fed because it was certain that his 'mice catching abilities' came with a price tag. I say that because on at least two occasions after he caught a mouse he would purposely deposit him right near my doorstep where I was sure to see it. It might just be 'their way', but I felt that Cat Two was saying to me, "Okay, I have done my job; now it is time for you to do your job and feed me". Although I was never interested in making him my own, I was always happy to feed him. I have always appreciated and respected cats and other pets and these observations of Cat One and Cat Two gave me an even higher regard for these quiet and fuzzy friends known as cats. 08102018PoetrySoupContest, Cat Poems, Tania Kitchin, 4P