#34 Rescued Cat

When you work with adolescents who have emotional or behavioral problems one of the big issues is helping the student develop empathy for others. Students who display little or no empathy frequently get a charge out of watching or, at times, causing others to have physical and emotional pain. I have been working with one such adolescent for two and a half years. I'll call him Joe.

Joe’s behaviors roller coaster all over the chart. He has good days and bad days. Along with the struggle of getting him to complete his class assignments or to do his homework there is the constant monitoring of his interactions with the other students. His moods can turn on a dime and seemingly for no reason at all. But he has shown some improvement over the years. Some improvement for Joe is a lot to say and considering how big and tall Joe is now at the age of thirteen... improvement is positive.

As a sixth grader Joe would not pass up a chance to tell me all about, and in great detail, any dead cat he saw in the street. He would get even more excited when he described how his dog or some other dog in his neighborhood would chase down and kill a cat. When I did not react in horror to his stories he seemed disappointed. His graphic, verbal descriptions of cruelty don't happen very often anymore and this, I feel, is positive.

For the past two weeks Joe cornered me daily to tell me all about a kitten he saw coming to and from school. As always, I reminded Joe and the other students not to bring any stray cats they find in their neighborhoods to school. The number of sick and starving cats that end up at school on their own keep me busy enough. But Joe persisted in tell me about this kitten. Joe would say, “He’s real sick and hungry and cold and, and... he's so sick.”

Thursday after school I was in with the nurse discussing another student when I was told I had a phone call. It was Joe calling me from his house. Joe had picked this kitten up and taken it home. Joe’s mother was having a fit but Joe refused to release the cat back into the neighborhood. I told Joe I would meet him at the 7-11 by his house.

I drove over to corner store and parked my car. Joe’s neighborhood is not an area where you want to be standing around for long by yourself even if you live there. Soon I could see Joe and two of his friends walking towards me. The sight was quite an oxymoron. Three large boys, who looked like this was, in fact, their home turf, carrying a small gray cat.

Joe put the kitten in my hands. It looked to be about five months old but didn't look sick. It did look thin and dirty. I asked Joe what made him think this cat was so sick. Joe suddenly had an expression of horror and anger on his face. The other two boys looked quite taken back by my question, too.

Joe said, “It’s hurt!” and pointed to the cat. I held the cat up and started to look more closely for signs of some great trauma. As I began the inspection I asked, “Where is he hurt? Show me.”

Joe said in a tone of frustration, “Look, he doesn't have a tail!” I paused without looking up at Joe and the other boys to gather my thoughts before I spoke. I looked up at the faces of these three young men. The faces I saw where definitely displaying empathy for a small helpless animal. I simply said, “Well, I guess we have #34 rescued cat.”

The tenseness in the faces of all three boys dissolved and big smiles grew. I told Joe I would see him tomorrow and reminded him to do his homework. He said okay and the boys turned and walked away. The kitten was a Manx.

Joe’s completed homework was turned in the next morning and this, I feel, is an improvement.

Copyright © Cleo
February 11, 2001

PS: #34 rescued cat was adopted by one of our math teachers on April 7, 2001. Her new name is Lolita.

Read Cleo's other stories: I'm Soo Good, Yeah, Right! & The Tale of the Two Orange Kittens