Grant - A dickens of a cat: and other stories of the cats we love

2007 by Baker Publishing Group

Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-3697-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

To the memory of my mother
who loved kittens and cats
and was known in my home
as Cat-Grandma

Contents

H. Norman Wright

Callie Smith Grant

Gwen Ellis

Twila Bennett

Gregory L. Jantz, PhD

Lonnie Hull DuPont

Amy J. Tol

Marci Alborghetti

Linda S. Clare

Lisa-Anne Wooldridge

Callie Smith Grant

Renie Burghardt

Robert Benson

Tracie Peterson

Paul Ingram

Alyce McSwain

Sue Buchanan

Thora Wease

Linda Shands

Terri Castillo-Chapin

B. J. Taylor

Linda Shands

Jeanette Thomason

Bonnie Compton Hanson

Mary Ann Cook

Julianne Dwelle

H. Norman Wright

C an you imagine your life without a cat? Not if youre reading this book. Now and then you will find a book thats difficult to put down. And this is one of them. The stories cover a wide spectrum. Memories of your own cat history will surely be activated. At times you will find yourself smiling or even laughing as you connect with a story. Youll remember the sounds of a purr or a hiss or a quiet meow. Youll remember long-lost images of your cat climbing up the drapes or hiding in the shower or stealing that piece of fish from the counter. You might even remember the panic you felt when you couldnt find your cat for a few hours, or even several days. And you might remember the feel of that dead mouse under your foot, which was really a gift from your proud hunter.

This book is both inspirational as well as informative. The various contributors create pictures in your mind so you feel as though you are right there. You might plan to read just one story, but youll have difficulty stopping.

This is the kind of book that wont stay on your shelf, but youll want to say to other cat lovers, Hereyou will really enjoy these stories... but I want my book back when youre through.

Callie Smith Grant

I was on a mission.

I love cats, always have. I consider them some of Gods best engineering. So compiling a book of cat stories sounded like a delightful task for me, and I put out the call for stories.

Anyone who has a cat certainly has a story, and those stories are as varied as the coats on cats. I wanted not only a variety of stories but specifically stories that showed the importance of cats in the grand scheme of ones life. Stories that showed cats being and doing what they were put on earth to be and do. Stories that showed cats showing up when needed. Stories that showed that perhaps the Creator sent just the right beast for the right situation at the right time. I received scores of stories that were testament to these very things.

Then I got on a more difficult mission. What if I could find stories that showed cats actually saving lives? Ive heard of them waking up people when theres a fire or a gas leak. Those stories must be out there. Certainly dogs save lives. Weve all seen footage of dogs pulling people out of fires, swimming them out of floodwaters, or fiercely guarding their beloved humans from harm. Surely there must be a cat out there that saved a life.

There is indeed. There are many, and some of them are in this book. But they didnt haul anyone from a burning buildingnothing so overt as that. These lifesaving cats were much more... lets say... catlike about saving lives of humans.

In these pages, youll meet cats that soothed childhood hurts, promoted peace in the household, protected children, assured troubled humans, and even, in their own ways, impacted journeys of faith. A God-sent cat did save humans in the ways cats operatequietly, low to the ground, on tiptoe, purring all the way.

Joy Davidman, the wife of C. S. Lewis, found great solace in cats. In her writing, she alludes to poet Francis Thompson who suggests in The Hound of Heaven that God pursues us like a great hound. Joy Davidman wrote that with her, God was more like a cat. He had been stalking me for a very long time, waiting for his moment, he crept nearer so silently that I never knew he was there. Then, all at once, he sprang.[]

Cats have their ways. Felines are on this earth to be what they are. Sometimes those unique ways of the cat come into our lives and help us. In these pages, youll meet such marvelous cats and their humans, read their stories, and ponder this amazing beast created on the fifth day.

Gwen Ellis

G wen, I think its ovarian cancer, and I think its spread everywhere. Im so sorry. These were the grim words of my surgeon in late October. Go home, get your affairs in order, and well operate as soon as we can.

I had surgery in mid-November and learned that I, indeed, had an aggressive form of ovarian cancer. Then there were complicationsintestinal blockageand ten days in the hospital.

I was weary of being in the hospital. I was frightened about my future. I worried if I was even going to have a future. I had been divorced a year earlier and I wondered how I was going to cope with chemotherapy, my job as an editor, and taking care of my house in the country all by myself.

Sometime during those ten days, my daughter began to say, Mom, I dont want you to be alone. I think you need a pet.

Oh, Wendy, how could I take care of a pet? Im so weak I can hardly take care of me.

What about a cat? Cats dont require much care.

Im a dog person, I answered with my and thats final tone. But one night after my concerned daughter had gone for the evening, I began to think about what shed said. We were so focused on my cancer and whether Id live or die that we thought of little else. Perhaps a pet would give me something else to think about. Pets have always made me happy. In fact, Im positively silly about my pets. The doctor had already told me that the very best therapy was going to be a positive attitude.

I went to sleep that night thinking about the kind of pet I might want. In the morning when Wendy came I shocked her by saying, All right, Ive decided I want a cat. I want you to go to the animal shelter and get me a black-and-white tuxedo cat. Since Im a book editor, I think I should have a very literary-looking cat, dont you? His name will be Charles Dickens. Make sure he looks the part. He should have a bib and white mittens and socks, and a mustache would be good.

She didnt make it to the shelter that day because after all those long tiresome days, I was suddenly dismissed from the hospital. But the next afternoon, Wendy got a mommy sitter and then went to get my cat. I could hardly wait for her to get home. When the garage door opened, Judy, my sitter, jumped up to see what Wendy had brought.

It was a young, bright-eyed black cat with a white bib, the compulsory white mittens and socks, and a one-sided mustache. I couldnt believe it. I had told Wendy what I wanted, but I never dreamed she would find the exact cat Id described. Hello, Charles Dickens, I said. He said, Meow.