Origination: Classical Music Mailing List
Original Author: Gerry Grzyb (GRZYB@VAXA.CIS.UWOSH.EDU)
Original Subject: Re: Non-musical: Meow (Was Re: home)
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 21:51:34 -0600

As briefly as possible: Hokey and Pokey were litter mates in a third
generation of heavily inbred cats. Though we named 'em at birth, it turned
out that while Hokey was high-strung and affectionate (and jet black),
Pokey was--uh, retarded (and mostly white, with black splotches). You could
accidentally step on Pokey, and he'd look up at you as if to say "why me?"

The fun came when Hokey would do stuff (always involving water) to Pokey
while we were out. Two funniest incidents: Hokey got Pokey into the bathtub
(an old four-footed job), reached down with his paw and turned on the
water. We came home to the sound of running water, and poor Pokey in about
an inch of water (good thing the drain was open!). Even better, Hokey got
Pokey to walk on the toilet seat (with the lid up) and Pokey fell in. We
come home to the sound of pitful meows and a the sight of Pokey with his
lower half in the water. Hokey ALWAYS had this look that said "Boy! Do I
have a stupid brother or what!".

But they worked together on my favorite incident. The house was old, and
the closet in which we kept storage boxes had a door that didn't fit quite
right. The cats could turn a paw upside down under the door and pull it
open, and they loved to play in there. One day we came home to find the
door open and the contents of the closet looking like a tornado had struck.
What was priceless was the look on the cats as they coolly came out of the
room with the closet BEFORE we even saw the damage. The look said "What you
are about to see was done by OTHER CATS! Mean, tough cats from outside of
the neighborhood. Heaven knows we tried to stop them, but they were too
mean and tough!"

A dog couldn't hide guilt to save its life, but a cat? The ultimate liars!

Come to think of it, I remember the look on their mother's face when she
tried to jump onto the molding above a doorway. She landed on it, but since
it was only a half-inch wide, she fell off immediately. But her LOOK said
"Of course I knew I couldn't land there--I was just showing YOU that it
couldn't be done."

Gerry McDowall
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