A co-worker, Barbara, seemed to always have an amusing cat story to share at the office.

We never tired of hearing about the antics and heroics of her furry feline. Good stories about pets were common "dessert" in our office breakroom, after a quick sandwich and small talk.

Samantha, a sweet, savvy tabby, became the "baby" of the family after Barbara's and Richard's two children grew up and left home for college. Samantha favored Barbara over Richard in almost every situation. I don't think there was anything Barbara wouldn't do for Samantha, and vice versa.

A few years ago, Barbara talked about two incidents that clearly elevated her cat to an even higher status.

One winter afternoon, Barbara left work early with severe cold symptoms. She arrived home and immediately took some reliable cold medicine, making note of the warning that it caused drowsiness. After placing a small package of ground beef in the toaster oven to thaw because their microwave oven was on the blink, Barbara decided to sit back and soak in a relaxing bath.

Within minutes, she dozed off with her head propped against the side of the tub. Suddenly, in dashed Samantha dancing around wildly in circles, making mewing noises that Barbara said sounded just like, "Fire, FIRE!"

Coming to her senses, Barbara ran immediately to the kitchen, and lo and behold, the grease from the meat had somehow caught on fire in the too hot toaster oven, and flames were darting across the kitchen counter to the window curtains! Thanks to quick-thinking Samantha, there was minimal damage to the kitchen area, and a possible life-threatening situation was avoided. Samantha was rewarded for her bravery in alerting Barbara of trouble. That incident occurred about two weeks prior to Christmas.

A week later, another interesting occurrence took place involving Samantha, the cat.

Barbara and Richard returned home late one evening from a holiday party to find a wrapped gift placed just inside the screen at their front door. In a casual voice, as if talking to a person, Barbara asked Samantha who had delivered the gift. "Did you happen to peer out the window when this was put by the door, Samantha? Can you tell us who brought the present?"

Without a pause, their smart kitty cat responded, "Harold, Harold, Harold" in cat-tones. Richard and Barbara both laughed, but said it truly sounded like the name Harold, who happened to be their neighbor 3 houses away.

The next day, a call to this neighbor confirmed that, yes indeed, he had brought the present by when nobody was at home, so merely left it inside the door. But, how in the world, without a card on the package, did they guess it was him?!

After being told that Samantha saw him and told them, both Harold and Richard became true believers that some cats are almost human. Barbara was already convinced.

Copyright © Sandi Pound
July 16, 2001