THE TAIL OF TWO CATS
by Gramma Char
My granddaughter, Sammy, came to visit one day. Sammy was four years old at the time. Bobcat, one of my two black and white cats greeted her by rubbing up to her, purring, and allowing Sammy to pick him up. Bobcat is a friendly and cuddly cat. Sammy thought this was very nice as most cats don’t like to be bothered by small children.
Bobcat got his name because of his stub tail. He lost part of his tail when he was a kitten, because he allowed it to get too close to the mowing sickle used to cut the alfalfa for hay. This unfortunate incident happened before Bobcat met me. I found Bobcat one day when I was out riding along a section line trail. He came up to me using the same friendly actions he uses today to get attention. Bobcat has been with me ever since that wonderful summer day.
Sammy had never seen a cat with such a little tail. She kept saying, "Gramma, he has such a little tail." When Bobcat would leave the room, Kippers, my older black and white cat would come around for some attention. Kippers has a regular tail. Sammy would pet Kippers and say, Gramma, he grew a big tail. After Kippers had enough attention, he would leave the room, and Bobcat would come over to Sammy for some attention. Sammy would pet his tail and say, what happened to his big tail. I would say that he lost it in an unfortunate accident. Sammy could not really understand that explanation.
Throughout the day, the two cats would take turns coming over to Sammy for attention. It seemed that Kippers and Bobcat were never in the room at the same time. Both cats are similar in color and markings. Sammy would continually made an expression about the tail of the cat. It seemed like she thought I had a magic cat who could grow a tail whenever he wanted one.
I could not understand why Sammy was so interested in the different sizes of the cats’ tails. It finally dawned on me, later in the day, when both cats were in the room at the same time, that Sammy thought Kippers and Bobcat were one and the same cat. Sammy was unaware that Kippers was lying on a couch next to us, but out of her direct eyesight.
Bobcat had just come over for some attention. Sammy was petting him and she asked the question again, " what happened to his tail." "It was big and now its little." I pointed over to Kippers, lying on the couch behind Sammy, and I told her that Kippers is the cat with the big tail. Bobcat, the cat you are petting, has the little tail. After looking from one cat to the other, Sammy had the cutest look of enlightenment on her face when she exclaimed, "oh, gramma, you have two cats."
