Listen, children, to a story about the cat who learned to purr.
Nearly all children, and grownups as well, like to pet kitties, feeling their soft warm fur flow beneath their fingers. Most kitties enjoy it as well. When they do, the kitties purr, which is their song of contentment, of joy, of trust.
A while ago, two grandparents lived in a small town, sort of away from The City.
One day they noticed that Max the Cat was peering out of one window, running to another and peering out of that one, and then running to a third window and peering out of that one as well.
Grandmother went to the window herself, to see what had Max the Cat so excited. She saw a cat, leading a parade of four tiny kittens around the house.
Grandmother began to leave bowls of cat food out for Momma Kitty, as Grandmother and Grandfather named her, along with bowls of water. Grandmother would sit quietly, a ways away from the food, and softly speak to Momma Kitty, as she, Momma, would cautiously eat and drink.
Soon, Momma Kitty, half wild and very cautious around these “Human” creatures, would allow Grandmother to sit closer, and closer, and closer, until one day when Momma Kitty was on the porch, meowing for Grandmother to fill her food bowl. Grandmother then opened the kitchen door and invited Momma Kitty to come inside and out of the cold.
Both Grandmother and Grandfather were most surprised when Momma Kitty sauntered in, selected a chair in a window, leapt up to it, turned three times, and curled up, looking at the people as if to say, “What? You invited me in, and here I am!”
Grandmother realized that Momma Kitty had her kittens, and those kittens were NOT! In the house. She walked outside, looked around and found the kittens, bringing them inside as well.
Momma was sort of stand offish at first. Which, when you think about it, makes sense: she had been an outdoor cat, not somebody’s cat, and had lived her life away from humans. Probably, some humans had been mean to her, and that would make her even more frightened of people.
But, because Grandfather and Grandmother would feed her, and talk quietly to her, and offer her the opportunity to sniff their hands before slowly moving to pet her (which, after all, is only the proper thing for polite cats to do, don’t you know!), she started to relax, to not run away, to allow the people to pet her once or twice.
Momma Kitty saw how her kittens enjoyed being petted, and how her kittens would snuggle up with the people, one kitten choosing Grandmother as Her Human, sleeping on Grandmother’s pillow with her at night, the other choosing Grandfather as her human, and sleeping on his feet at night.
Momma Kitty’s kittens would seek out Their Human, and, when Their Human would pick them up, and pet them, and tell them how pretty they were, and how soft and warm they were, the kittens would purr, loudly, because the kittens had never learned that humans could be anything other than kind and loving.
Momma Kitty didn’t purr. She grew to tolerate the petting, she slept on the big bed with the people, and she cuddled with her kittens, she groomed them, they groomed her, and her kittens purred loudly whenever they got their grooming/kitty kisses from their Momma.
That is, Momma Kitty did not purr, until today. While Grandmother was laying in bed thinking about the things she was going to accomplish that day, Momma Kitty crept up to Grandmother’s side, laying down next to her. Grandmother wrapped Momma kitty up in her arms, pulling her in closely.
Momma kitty began to purr! Not a quiet, almost there, can-you-really-hear-it sort of purr, but an honest, loud, full throated purr, that filled the room, and Grandmother’s heart, a purr of trust, of contentment, of finally being in a home, with a family, and being safe and warm.
Momma Kitty was Home.
Musings of A Stretcher Ape 