A Cat Story

Actually this was a vocabulary lesson for my students one year, so some facts have been changed to allow for the fancy vocabulary.

     Beloved pet cats come and go in my sister Kathy’s life. This is the story of how Clark the kitty left the comfort of my sister’s home in Houston, Texas. One brisk, cold December, my sister drove her Volkswagon van home during her lunch hour because she remembered that her supervisor at the Shell Oil Graphics Department had admonished all the artists to have all their equipment every day. She was aghast to realize that she had left her box of special markers at home. She created her assignments with such alacrity that her supervisor told her he would advocate her talents to represent the department in the next big graphics competition sponsored by an advertising affiliate there in Houston.

      Kathy did not want to alienate her boss and make him more aloof than he already was to his adjuncts, so she decided a quick run home for the forgotten tools would be in order. Her cat Clark had suffered an earlier affliction of being hit on the head by a plank during a remodeling project in her home; therefore, he wasn’t the brightest of kitties. When she pulled into the driveway, Clark jumped on top of the still running van to take advantage of the warmth. Just as he curled up for his nap, Kathy jumped back in the van and took off for the entrance ramp of the Houston interstate loop.

      That evening, Kathy and her husband Jack called and called for Clark. They walked up and down the block calling him to come eat his supper. They gave up after a while and eventually went upstairs for the evening. After casually glancing out the window into their driveway, Jack called Kathy to come look. Along the top of the old van were little streaks scratched in the rusting paint. Jack and Kathy marveled that there must have been some amazed drivers to see a cat hanging onto the roof of a van on the busy interstate. When Kathy alluded to this sad story at our Christmas get-together, she said that she hoped when Clark eventually fell off, that he landed on his feet and was adopted by some kind passerby.