Jack Canfield - Chicken Soup for the Soul Celebrates Cats and the People Who Love Them: A Collection in Words and Photographs

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL
CELEBRATES CATS

CHICKEN SOUP
FOR THE SOUL
CELEBRATES CATS

and the People Who Love Them

A Collection in Words and Photographs by
Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen
and
Sharon J. Wohlmuth

Backlist, LLC, a unit of

Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC

Cos Cob, CT

www.chickensoup.com

CONTENTS

Arnold Fine

Tami Sandlin

Kelly Stone

Laura Cota

Elizabeth Butler-Witter

Kim G. Weiss

Jean Fritz

Kim Chase

Charles Baudelaire

Joni Strohl

Carl Sandburg

Heather M. White

Pat Holdsworth

I n ancient times cats wereworshipped as gods. Theyhave never forgotten this.

Unknown

C ookie was a working cat. He lived in a New York grocery store that he kept mouse-free. Cookie was no slouch, and there wasnt a self-respecting mouse that would dare cross his path.

After patrolling the nooks and crannies of the store at night, he had the run of the neighborhood where he would spend his days wandering. As evening approached, you could almost set your watch by his return to the store. He would arrive promptly five minutes before the store closed.

One cool October evening, Cookie disappeared.

The stores owners and their children searched for him in vain.

The kids were brokenhearted. As autumn turned to winter, the snow began to fall, covering the streets. Everyone worried about Cookie, alone in the freezing weather. How will he survive? the kids asked.

Miracle of miracles, the following spring, Cookie magically reappeared, looking healthy and clean. Everyone figured Cookie must have been sowing his wild oats in another neighborhood.

Everything went back to normal at the store. Cookie once more checked all the nooks and crannies of the store to make certain there had been no unwelcome visitors while he was away. He did his job perfectly until autumn, when Cookie once again disappeared!

Once more there was considerable consternation by his owners and their children. How would Cookie weather the wintersnows and the freezing cold?

The next spring, just when the baby leaves started to form on the trees, Cookie returned again!

Cookies owners began asking neighbors for any information as to where he might have been. The kids asked their friends if any of them knew where Cookie went during the freezing winter months.

No one seemed to know.

Finally, one of the children rang the bell of an older couple who lived in a private house near the grocery store.

You say, a big black cat? the woman asked. With white little paws? Oh, yes. My husband and I hated to see him out in the cold. So I gave him a saucer of warm milk. After that he hung around our house almost every day. But we were going to Florida for the winter, as we do every year. I felt so bad about leaving that poor little creature here with no one to take care of him in the freezing weather. So we bought a cat carrier and weve been taking him to Florida with us every year for the past two years. He seems to like it down there. Has loads of friends. But, between you and me, I think he prefers New York in the summer. I think he has a girlfriend up here.

Arnold Fine

C ats dont belong to people. They belong to places.

Wright Morris

I can feel him watching me

Through golden eyes, unblinking,

And I cant help but wonder

Just what it is hes thinking.

I know his habits, I know his ways

But his moods are hard to tell

The only thing I know for sure is

He knows Im under his spell.

For eating hes claimed my nicest dish

To nap, my favorite chair

And anytime I want to sit,

Hes comfortably resting there.

For play, hes got expensive toys

To chase and romp and caper

But still hes only happy with

A balled-up piece of paper!

Hes always begging for attention

To be scratched beneath his chin

And when my writing takes me away from him

He steals my writing pen!

Despite our unique relationship

People ask, Just who owns who?

Its really nice to have someone

To look forward to come home to.

And so, I stay enchanted with

This crazy pet of mine

For nothing keeps you spellbound

Like a furry, finicky feline!

Tami Sandlin

A kitten is chiefly remarkablefor rushing about like madat nothing whatsoever, and generallystopping before it gets there.

Agnes Repplier

I have always been a dog person. As far back as I can remember, there were dogs in my house. Not cats, dogs. So when two coworkers found a tiny gray kitten eating out of the Dumpster near our office building and asked me to take him in, I agreed, reluctantly. Only temporarily, I proclaimed, Im a dog person. My coworkers nodded their heads knowingly and handed me the warm little bundle.