JIM ‘PAPPY’ MOORE: The Cat on the Roof
By Jim “Pappy” Moore
Two brothers were very close. They helped each other when they could. One brother had to leave town for a three-week trip on business, taking him to another country. He would need to leave behind his only pet – a cat. He asked his brother to keep his cat and care for her. Of course, his brother agreed, but being a dog-person, his brother did not particularly understand cats, or their owners, for that matter.
On the second day of his trip, the out-of-town brother called in the early evening to check in with his brother back home about the family and on his cat. When he asked about the cat, his brother replied abruptly “your cat ran out into the street today and got run over by a truck – it’s dead.”
The brother whose cat had died was shocked and inconsolable. He simply couldn’t believe that just a day after he had left for three weeks his beloved cat was dead, tragically hit by a truck.
“What was my cat doing out of the house – she’s a house cat!” said the away brother. “Well,” replied his brother, “turns out she was afraid of my dog, and when I answered the front door to the delivery guy she took off, ran straight to the street, in front of a truck, and got run over.”
“I don’t understand why you weren’t more careful with her. You know she’s skittish,” responded the away brother.
After further words of anguish, the away man asked his brother “why did you have to tell me my cat was dead like that?!”
“Like what?!” the brother back home replied. “What was I supposed to tell you, except that the cat got run over by a truck and is dead?”
The grieving brother said “well, you should have taken into account I’m out of town for three weeks, and you could have told me something that let me know maybe the cat wasn’t doing well, and that she was on the roof and wouldn’t come down. Then slowly tell me over time the cat was getting sick, then sicker; then led me slowly to the conclusion that my beloved cat had died.”
His brother replied “I didn’t think about that; I figured you would want to know the bad news right away.”
The grieving brother responded “I have almost 3 more weeks here and now I have to suffer those long weeks knowing my cat is dead and I’ll never see her again. Please be more thoughtful in the future.”
The brother back home said “OK, brother. I’ll try to do better for you.”
A few days later, the brother away on business in a foreign country called his brother back home to check in. After making small talk about his business trip, he got around to family matters. “How is grandma doing?”
His brother replied “grandma’s on the roof and she won’t come down.”
Copyright 2022, Jim “Pappy” Moore. All rights reserved.
