Still Thinking about cats
Yes, I'm still thinking about cats. When I was five, six, years old, there was very often a kitten spotted under a car on the block; coaxing it out took hours, and everybody my size, even from the next block, would work at it. Sometimes people were allowed by their folks to take such a found kitten home. Not me, not then. Finally, when I was maybe in fifth or sixth grade, I actually got permission. So the chore of coaxing them out must have continued for years.
That cat was three colors, and also had the white belly. Is that a calico cat? I seriously don't know if she had a name. My cousins delighted in helping me secret her upstairs on days when their family was joining us for a dressy dinner and the long white tablecloths hung way down over the table edges; we'd let her hid under that table. They just loved seeing my mother, enraged and hurrying, wave the broom wildly and chase the cat all over until she herded it back into the basement, especially if that didn't happen until the decorous eating of dinner was well under way. High spot of the day. No, I never, ever, did that without cousinly coaching. We didn't use tablecloths like that for our quick and quiet meals, anyhow.
That cat rode on my shoulder all the time, when i wasn't in school. During the late grades, there were football games and fights on the corner to attend, and if I went, I had the cat with me. Girls, and cats, were only spectators. I think I used to take her with me on the bicycle too, but I have no idea how. Did I try to put her in basket? I rode that bicycle to the library every day for years, in the summer. Mr. Finendagen timed me, once, because his car was riding along next to me, and he told Catherine that I was going thirty-five miles an hour. Speedometers weren't so trustworthy then, I bet, or maybe classmates dad's weren't altogether trustworthy either. In eighth grade, I still used the bike a lot; I used to take it to school, even, altho that was only two blocks away. Because I can remember Ellen Jures became a constant bike buddy that year. And Jackie Hierens took me to her house, and we went on my bike.
I think her kind mother was trying to help Jackie interest me in going to Trinity.
That cat was three colors, and also had the white belly. Is that a calico cat? I seriously don't know if she had a name. My cousins delighted in helping me secret her upstairs on days when their family was joining us for a dressy dinner and the long white tablecloths hung way down over the table edges; we'd let her hid under that table. They just loved seeing my mother, enraged and hurrying, wave the broom wildly and chase the cat all over until she herded it back into the basement, especially if that didn't happen until the decorous eating of dinner was well under way. High spot of the day. No, I never, ever, did that without cousinly coaching. We didn't use tablecloths like that for our quick and quiet meals, anyhow.
That cat rode on my shoulder all the time, when i wasn't in school. During the late grades, there were football games and fights on the corner to attend, and if I went, I had the cat with me. Girls, and cats, were only spectators. I think I used to take her with me on the bicycle too, but I have no idea how. Did I try to put her in basket? I rode that bicycle to the library every day for years, in the summer. Mr. Finendagen timed me, once, because his car was riding along next to me, and he told Catherine that I was going thirty-five miles an hour. Speedometers weren't so trustworthy then, I bet, or maybe classmates dad's weren't altogether trustworthy either. In eighth grade, I still used the bike a lot; I used to take it to school, even, altho that was only two blocks away. Because I can remember Ellen Jures became a constant bike buddy that year. And Jackie Hierens took me to her house, and we went on my bike.
I think her kind mother was trying to help Jackie interest me in going to Trinity.
posted by Molly McJohn @ 5:45 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home