A cat named Sam2

Sam was a unique cat; he loved to attack any moths that somehow managed to get into our house. I remember one incident in particular. Somehow a moth managed to get into our living room, and Sam stalked it for several minutes.

Let me set the stage for you in regards to the set up of our living room. A chair sat immediately to the right of the front door, with a large console stereo beside it and in front of the picture window in the living room. My dad’s recliner sat in the corner by the other end of the stereo. Our couch sat along the wall directly across from the stereo. Sam loved to lie on the arm of the couch, or on the back of the couch against the wall.

One evening Sam spotted a moth on the picture window, and slowly eased himself off the couch and across the floor. I noticed him coming across the floor, but I did not know what at that time. I was watching television, so I really did not care what Sam was doing.

I noticed Sam stalking toward me intently staring at something to my right, but I really did not care what the silly cat was up to at I was watching television. I am not sure how long it took, but eventually Sam ended up on the stereo. My mother had placed two large lamps on each end of the stereo, with one of them being by my right shoulder as I sat in the chair.

I heard my dad quietly saying my name and pointing to something above my head. I looked and saw the moth. A fly swat sat on the stereo beside me, so I picked it up and swatted the moth, which was what I thought my father wanted me to do.

As soon as I swatted the moth I heard my dad say, “Oh, you should not have done that!” I asked him why, and he said that Sam liked to stalk the moths, catch them, play with them and then eat them. Sam was sitting on the stereo right beside the lamp by my shoulder, and looked quite irritated that I had killed the moth. I quipped, “what is he going to do, push the lamp on my head?”

I swear I saw a light bulb suddenly appear over Sam’s head. In a flash he jumped up onto his back feet and shoved the lamp onto my head with his front feet!  My dad howled with laughter as I sat there confused by what had just happened!  Sam jumped off the stereo and slowly strutted back to his perch on the couch with an attitude of, “I guess I showed him!”

By Ralph Dickerson