Aunt Alvie had a cat that didn't seem to act right, and who better to call into the case than Dooley and Cousin Billy Clyde. My cat just doesn't quite seem to be acting right, she carefully explained to the boys.
She did not once name to them about any need for them to try to help with her cat problem, because she probably didn't realize how serious the problem could be.
In fact, what she really asked the boys to do was see that her cat had plenty of food and water while she was away for the week, visiting with her son. She did mention that her cat was a picky eater, and they surmised the rest on their own.
He is supposed to be a good mouse catcher, but he never seems to catch a mouse and won't eat one for sure. The boys took the story from there and determined to cure the cat while Aunt Alvie was away visiting.
She did tell them that if they left any cat food on the back porch a big old white possum had been getting into it at night, so it was best not to leave any on the porch. This mystery seemed almost too easy, as Dooley slowly laid out the details of the problem soon after she left for the week....cat won't catch a mouse.
Big white possum getting into cat food on back porch. Cat acting very strangely lately. That cat has some vision problems, and he has been seeing that big possum and thinks it is a giant mouse, and thus it is afraid of mice, concluded Dooley quickly.
“Here is what we need to do,” chimed in Billy Clyde. “We need to tie Old Tom on the back porch tonight and set some food just out of his reach so he can't eat it up. We will show Tom a picture of a possum and explain to him that this is not a mouse, it is a possum. When that big possum gets up close tonight, Tom will get a good close look at it and finally know that it is not a mouse.”
They followed through with their plan closely, and eagerly waited for morning to see if Tom seemed any better, although they were unsure about how to determine if it helped him or not. Early the next morning they visited the back porch where Tom was tied.
The dish was empty and turned upside down and there appeared to be some evidence of a struggle with quite a bit of cat hair and a little possum hair scattered around the scene.
Old tom looked badly shaken and was pretty mussed up, but no blood was showing and they decided he was fine, and no doubt cured of his mouse phobia.
As soon as they untied Tom and opened the door he ran inside and all the way to the back bedroom and hid under the bed. He refused to eat a bite of food, and in fact ate almost nothing the rest of the week.
“She is going to notice if none of the cat food gets eaten this week,” said Billy Clyde, so they put a little out each evening before dark for the possum to eat.
Aunt Alvie was tickled to be home later that week, and was anxious to see her cat. She did take note of how thin Tom was looking and wondered if he was feeling well.
She checked the cat food bag and about the right amount seemed to be gone, so it was obvious the boys had been doing their job, so she gave them a quarter each.
A few days later she was talking to Aunt Myrtie, and mentioned that her cat was sure acting strange lately. Every time I open the back door, Tom screams and runs into the back bedroom and crawls under the bed, and that possum almost lives on my back porch now.
Tom had never seemed afraid of the possum before. She asked the boys if Tom and the possum had had a fight?
“We sure never seen no fight,” said Dooley, and was glad they had swept the hair off the back porch before she came home.
If we give place to our lusts and evil desires Satan feeds them for us and they tend to move in and take over our life. Never give place to the devil we read from the Bible.
My new book "Needmore Days" is now available at the Review office in Smithville, as well as Prichards in Alexandria, for those who might wish to buy one.
Needmore Days
The nearsighted cat

