My dad is the last person I ever expected to bond with a cat. Some of my most memorable moments as a child are the ones where he flung a cat out the front door by the tail simply because the cat made the mistake of sampling Daddy's supper plate. Stray cats wanting only to find a home full of children would suddenly disappear from the homestead without a trace. We dared not ask what happened to the cat. Mama wouldn't have told us. She was always in cahoots with Daddy anyway.
Imagine my surprise--and that of my three siblings--when Daddy suddenly began to show kindness to a black female cat that showed up at their house a few years ago, years and years after we kids had grown up and after mine had left home.
Instead of running her off or providing an untimely demise for the poor stray cat, he and Mom began feeding her and even had her spayed! They even provided Ebony (named by my daughter) her own little "house" sheltered from the wind and heated with a lamp.
Daddy had a pet cat. Daddy the cat hater. Wonder of wonders.
It wasn't long after Ebony took up residence there that Lucy showed up at our house. In the second shock of the century, my hubby allowed her to stay. Is he becoming another Peepaw? Wait. He needs grandkids for that, and that is another blog post.
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Ebony in her favorite spot.
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Lucy is a people person cat. She stayed with us for a long time, content to be fed in the evenings and petted a bit, but ever so slowly she began to migrate next door because my parents are outdoors more often than we are, and she craves people company. She began to spend more time there than here, even though Ebony has never been a hospitable host. She's been downright mean, in fact. But Ebony isn't getting any younger. I mean, her fur is starting to fall out and she isn't moving around as much, so we figure she is an old cat.
Lucy, on the other hand, is a young cat. She is playful and has finally figured out that she can outrun Ebony. So she decided to stay at Mom and Dad's, which is a mystery since Daddy greets both cats with a friendly and affectionate lifting off the ground with their tails. I guess they just put up with that kind of thing for the attention. As for my part of cat ownership, I cover the vet bills and buy food and treats, though, because technically she is our cat.
Lucy quickly took a liking to Peepaw. Because of his bad knees, he drives a golf cart around quite a bit--to the shop behind the house, to the mailbox, you get the idea. Lucy has decided she likes to ride on the golf cart with Peepaw, and Peepaw likes to carry Lucy on the golf cart, so it has become a daily habit with them.
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| Lucy and her Peepaw |
When he decides it's time to open the shop, he gets on the golf cart with his coffee cup and Lucy jumps up beside him. They ride to the driveway for the newspaper, then they take a tour of the property, Lucy jumping off now and then to chase a rabbit or mouse, then jumping back on to finish the ride back to the shop.
I was getting my coffee this morning and caught a glimpse out the window of the top of the golf cart moving through the pasture. Peepaw was giving Lucy her ride. All is right with the world.
XOXO
Labels: cat, golf cart, Meemaw, Peepaw, stray cat
