This cat.....this old male rascal....one paw up,ear permanently bent from injury or frostbite....weary looking...but knowing where to show up early and wait for the drapes to be drawn. He counts on me for the food he knows he will get. He's been quite absent lately. Someday I know he will never come back, this free roaming feral cat. I think of the bums my mother said her mother fed at the back door during the depression. Now my grandmother wasn't a warm and fuzzy woman...but she had found it in her heart to have compassion on these homeless men struggling to survive. Today there are shelters and food pantries, but I guess during the depression it was every man for himself. Many left there families looking for work they never found, but rather traveled along railroad tracks camping out and eating what they could beg borrow or steal. When we were kids we used to dress up as hobos
A throw back to these out of work men who wore shabby clothes and carried what they had in a bandana or rag tied around a stick.
Maybe I should have named him Hobo...
down on his luck
homeless
and looking for a meal
at my back door this morning.
What a lucky cat 'Hobo' is.
ReplyDeleteA lovely story about your grandmother, Suz. I love reading about people's history and how it has shaped their lives.
Very nice story with wonderful memories of one loved.....bkm
ReplyDeleteHe's a beautiful boy - I am glad he has got you. x
ReplyDeleteaww, the same compassion that your grammie had but i have a feeling that you are so much easier to live with on every level!
ReplyDeletei love your hobo kitty...his well worn appearance must really be a cover up for a dapper young man who's down on his luck ;)
Great Story Suz, I thought back to my Gram and how My Mum said she'd feed folk who came to her Farm Door during the Depression. They would help on the Farm and she'd give them Supper. I hope your friend returns. He looks quite like the Battled Cat.
ReplyDeleteAwwww... You make me miss my cat. MISS him.
ReplyDeleteA nice, touching story. I would so love this cat. We had an old stray that took up with us. I know the feeling of "someday he'll never come back". That happened. It's sad but I expect that is the way he wanted it.
ReplyDeleteGreat story! I just read Peanut Butter for Cupcakes. It was about a real family during the depression. I also read Out of the Dust this week...it's about the dust bowl. Both were great mid grade novels about suffering and overcoming.
ReplyDeleteI love Handsome the Hobo. I love how he made you think of your grandmother and those men back then. So glad he has you. Great photo.
ReplyDeleteA very touching story with reflections on other associated realities! The photo reaches the heart!
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