On Cat Tossing

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

On Cat Tossing:

We are continually surrounded by animals. Just my little corner of the village has two to four dogs depending on the day, probably twenty chickens, and one recalcitrant cat. My neighbors Robinson and Sesie adopted a small black cat a few months ago and gave him a name that in local language means “up” or “on top”. He's a climber you see. His name is Mao.

The little chairman is a worthless ratter, but he likes people plenty, especially when you're eating. Once he even climbed onto my shoulder while I was having lunch and then just took a nap there. Not everyone takes to his antics as kindly as I do. It's fortunate for little Mao that he's such a climber, because the easiest way to get rid of an obnoxious cat is to fling him onto a roof or into a tree. He'll land up there perfectly every time and then whine at you for several minutes until finding his way down. It's gotten to be a bit of a game.

Papa Daniel, however, is not a patient man with the stupid cat. After eating supper one night, he was laying on his back on a mat on the ground and we were all talking. Mao, for some reason, kept pacing in a wide circle around Papa. After his fourth circuit or so, when Mao was just passing the man's head again, Daniel snatched out his hand and catapulted the furry bugger out the open kitchen door, narrowly missing a post, and into the dark bushes. We were cat free for the rest of the night.

-- Daniel --