The Cat in the Christmas Tree by Callie Smith Grant

Author:Callie Smith Grant
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Inspiration;Cats—Anecdotes;Cat owners—Anecdotes;Christmas;Human-animal relationships;PET003000;REL036000
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2022-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

15

The Classified Cat

Lisa Begin-Kruysman

Long before the internet with its billions of websites like Craigslist, where many people now buy and sell all manner of items, people relied on print newspapers and their robust classified advertising sections. Listings for furniture, boats, homes, services, and even pets could be found among a host of promising columns. You could even find love among those old-school classified ads. A former boss of mine met her husband through a PennySaver ad. They even shared the same birth date!

Back in the late 1970s, my family found love too, when a gray tiger-striped cat named Morrison came to us through a classified ad in a local newspaper.

At that time, I was finishing the first semester of my freshman year at the University of Connecticut and had returned home for the holiday break. I was well aware that my then ten-year-old brother Matt had been given permission to get a kitten. A year earlier, we’d tragically lost our beloved family dog, Coco, and our petless home had a void that needed filling.

I grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey, in a house on Longview Avenue, named for the expansive view of the New York City skyline it offered. Although a mere thirty minutes from one of the world’s largest cities, Hackensack offered some country-like qualities (one of my friends even had free-range chickens), and with my family’s variety of beloved pets, our household was an unlikely Menagerie on the Hill.

Each of my three siblings and I specialized in specific species. I was the dog person with a fondness for rodents, rabbits, and birds. My sister adored horses. My brother John was our tropical fish guy with a large saltwater tank filled with exotic specimens, and the youngest, Matt, was our feline fancier.

I was excited about the prospect of spending a few weeks on holiday break getting to know our fluffy new kitten. Earlier that day, I’d been told that my brother would be picking up the new kitten that afternoon, responding to a “Free to Good Home” ad he’d seen in the newspaper. It was his early Christmas present.

I understood my brother’s excitement. I recalled how I felt when I was Matt’s age and eagerly looked forward to my own Christmas present of a tiny chocolate poodle we’d named Coco Puff. A kitten would be wonderful.

When I came home late that night, however, there in the multicolored blinking glow of the family Christmas tree sat a midsized cat. He stood and greeted me as if I were an old friend, rubbing up against my leg, purring like a motor.

Despite this lovely introduction, I felt let down. This is no kitten!

I learned the following day that my brother, upon arriving at the “Free to Good Home” location, had been a little disappointed as well. He’d gone there with the intent to leave with a kitten. But when he met this adult male, he’d been captivated by the young cat’s majestic green-eyed beauty. So Matt brought the cat home and named him Morrison for the late Jim Morrison of The Doors fame.

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