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Let’s ask a hypothetical question here. Would you (if
you’re an adult already) trade your reputation as a responsible wage
earner for the guarantee of becoming legendary?
Well, I’d like to tell you about Old Man Jenkins. He was friendly
but kinda mysterious. You know … as if anything he did or said or
became before he came here just wasn’t any of our business. We
didn’t even know his first name until he died. Then somebody looked
it up. Old Jenkins lived in a cabin he built. “Back up in the
hills,” he said. We haven’t even found it yet.
He’d make leather stuff and bring it to town and either sell it
here, or mail it off to people. He’d maybe come to town four times a
year. So what do you do when you are mailing leather and avoiding
people’s questions? Well, you could become a legend. And Jenkins did
just that.
He liked cats, and he’d always load up with a store-bought bag of
cat treats and started teaching our cats to jump. He’d start by
scrunching a cat against his shins, then block the escape route with
his hands. The only way out was to jump his hands … and they did.
Every time they jumped, Jenkins gave them a cat treat. He started in
on strays, then moved on to gentle house cats owned by old ladies.
First thing you know, he had all but one cat in town happily jumping
for a treat. Sometimes they just jumped for fun.
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The only cat that failed was that three-legged cat of
the Garcia family. Named Tripod, of course. Well, old Tri gave it
his best, but having just one hind leg didn’t get the job done. But
he got a treat for trying, anyway.
Old Man Jenkins died on one of his trips to town, and no one has
ever found his cabin. But that’s okay. Maybe legendary status is
reward enough. It’s the American Way.
[Text from file received from
Slim Randles]
Train your cat to use
your toilet? Why not? www.catsspraynomore.dcle.org. Let us know how
it goes.
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