Frankie Weiss and Her Magic

by Dan M Weiss

Chapter Eight

          Even after Frankie’s teeth were extracted, the bear, her favourite toy was left lying on the living room carpet in the same place for quite a while. She could no longer toss it around with abandonment as she had done in the past. One day, I put it away in the carton with some other cat toys Frankie and Johnnie no longer played with. About two years later, I was to learn how much this bear meant in our relationship. Please keep this paragraph in mind. A later chapter will reveal the bear’s real meaning to Frankie and her thought of mind in relating the kinship of her beloved bear to Mr. Mom.

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          This chapter includes some of my earlier stories that were written, put away, and now made part of Frankie Weiss and Her Magic. The story below is true and truly amazing in its conclusion featuring a neighbour’s cat.

The Clever Orange Tabby

          This almost unbelievable incident took place around 1964. It remained with me all these years due to the impact it made upon my mind. I never knew how clever a cat could be. However, this orange Tabby taught me a valuable lesson.

          The lesson: How a cat solves a killing problem.

          My neighbour across the way, had a beautiful, big orange Tabby, I presume it was a male, more than likely, neutered. His name was unknown to me.

          Often coming home from work and after having my dinner, I would sit out on the back patio and relax. The cat having outdoor privileges would stroll across all the lawns facing each other. In those years it was still quite a wild area; it was not uncommon to see deer and other large occupants grazing. Seeing the Tabby chase rabbits, squirrels, ground hogs and other small creatures was almost a daily occurrence. Those he caught and dispatched were not eaten. They were intruders on his territory and that was not good. The ones he killed were laid on his keeper’s doorstep as gifts to them.

          When these homes were built in 1960-61, the builders had to put up a retaining wall three houses to the right of ours. The house above the retaining wall was built on a hill and the earth could wash down when it rained.   This retaining wall had drainpipes set four to six inches below the wall top. Birds took up residence in the drainpipes, flying in and out and gathering food for their nestlings.

          The orange Tabby had his eyes on the birds; they had no business raising a family in his domain. However, they were too far out of his reach to capture.

          One early evening, enjoying the scenery from my patio, I noticed the Tabby had figured out a way to get to the top of the retaining wall.

          He was sitting on top of the wall, directly above a drainpipe, his right paw dangling just above the opening; he was waiting for a bird to emerge on its food-gathering mission. Finally, one of the birds came out and stood on the edge of the drainpipe ready to take off, and my eyes beheld this amazing scene; the Tabby with a mighty swish of its right front leg knocked the bird off its perch.

          The orange Tabby quickly jumped, down the nine or ten feet to the lawn, where the bird lay, either unconscious or dead, put its mouth around it, with head and tail proudly held up, walked across our lawn to give its keeper a gift of the bird it just killed.

          The benevolence and cruelty of Nature were at work.

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