Conned by A Cat

I first noticed her this spring while I was cutting blackberry canes on the back of the barn. The sound was quite soft at first, then became a much louder "Meow". Spotting her wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do since she was jet black from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail. Not even her chest or paws had any white on them. But there she was, somewhere in the recesses of the berries, talking to me in a most friendly manner.

"Meow'" I answered back.

After a short conversation in my best Felinese, I finally saw her. She was just sitting there in the sunless depth of the brambles, that little black cat, scrawny, yet verbal. She seemed friendly enough, but any movement I made startled her, causing her to jump and move away from me. We soon reached a mutual agreement. We would ignore each other's presence, but still talk. So the morning passed in a most pleasant manner.

As the months passed, I discovered she often slept under my porch, walked across the hood of my car, and slept on top of the recycle bin. Always greeting me with a happy purr-meow whenever she saw me, she still would run off if I tried approaching her, but not as quickly.

Then came the day I realized a mouse had gained entry to my house--droppings on my kitchen counter when I got up in the morning, and an actual sighting as it scurried across a window seat in the evening. That is when I decided I wanted the little, black, feral cat to stay around my house as much as possible. So I bought some cat food.

I didn't feed her much food since I want her to continue surviving off the land. It seemed to be working. She came to my door every couple days and greeted me with a very polite, "Meow". Yesterday she finally let me pet her, but was still very skittish. She rubbed against my legs, but jumped when I coughed.

Now today, she ran to greet me when I came home from town. She meowed and purred, rubbed against my leg, then waited by the door for me to give her a handful of food.

I think I have just been conned by a cat, but at least I haven't had any more signs of a mouse in my house.

Getting ready for a great afternoon on the mower with the Lord.
Jan