Sunday, November 25, 2007

Dear Reader,

I have one more Thanksgiving snippet to share. This is a short accounting of a man and a cat and a Thanksgiving turkey.
The man was my Uncle Angus, whom I have briefly mentioned before. He was my Daddy's younger brother. His true name was James, but for some reason he was known to many as Angus. In truth, Angus suited him much better than James. My sister and brother and I adored him. He is a difficult man for me to describe. Not a teddy bear type, perhaps more of an impish nature and one who never lost the twinkle in his eye. He and our aunt lived on the other side of the island of Oahu where we were raised. They had no children but they did have a cat and that cat's name was Available Jones. (He once had a dog called Binge, and years later one he named John the Baptist.) I don't really remember Available Jones as I was too young at the time, and it probably was prudent that Available not be left alone in the presence of such a small child. Considering his behavior, he must have been a formidable animal.
Apparently at Thanksgiving, my aunt opened the refrigerator door and Available Jones spied the turkey resting on the top shelf. In one magnificent leap he managed to straddle the turkey. He proceeded to help himself with determination. My aunt could not remove that cat from the turkey. He was so aggressively possessive that he probably consumed a greater part of it before he calmly removed himself to lick his chops and clean his paws.
I would venture a guess that was just one of many of Available Jones' transgressions, because shortly after the turkey debacle, Uncle Angus made a cage of sorts, packed Available in the cage, and left him on our porch for the Humane Society to pick up. My sister is convinced that the cage was purposely made in a flimsy fashion so that Available could escape. Escape he did. I believe that he eventually found his way home after several weeks. It's unclear what happened after that, but the conjecture is that Uncle Angus took Available Jones to a nearby military base where he was adopted. Given his tenacious personality, he was probably promoted to Second in Command.

Best!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a charming and funny story. Any man that would name his cat Available Jones would have to be a fun guy. And John the Baptist? Nice.

Mrs. G.

Anonymous said...

What a fun story! Thank you for sharing it. Those cats can be pretty darn clever upon occasion.

marylou said...

Dear E,
I find your relatives fascinating and you obviously have inherited some of their more "eccentric" genes:) By the way, that is meant as a compliment ^-^
I think you should compose a short story read, imagine the characters you would incorporate. Hysterical! I would be the first in line to purchase said book:-) Then again, I tend to waiver off the edge myself sometimes but.... that is a horse of a different color!!
Hug Life, Marylou BBF

Amy said...

Sooo great! I love your stories and your uncle seems like a man I could make friends with :)

Nora said...

This is hilarious! I would have liked to be a fly on the wall for that (as long I was out of range of that cat)

Monica said...

So funny! Those pet names are awesome, I think I love your uncle Angus too!What a fun person he was!