NoJoMo 24 -- Woo-woo in The Common Room

Prompt – What’s your first memory?

I’m not sure what my first memory is, but one of the first ones is of Woo-woo, a large grey and white striped tomcat.

I have been told that Woo-Woo arrived on .my parents’ stoop on a wild and rainy night, as a vey small kitten. He was named after the sound the wind was making that night.

By the time I came along, Woo-woo was a very large tomcat indeed.

He slept curled around me in my basket. That was his idea and when Daddy woke to hear him snoring and found him there, they dare not move him for fear he would scratch me. Not counting his long tail, he was bigger than I was. No power kept him out. Put out of the house at night, he simply used his claws to unhook the screen and come in to sleep with me. Of course there was no air-conditioning then – not even a fan. You couldn’t have the windows shut.

I shared my milk with Woo-woo by squeezing the nipple of the bottle so that it spurted out for him. He tried to reciprocate by bringing me tidbits like mice and lizards, which seemed to excite Momma more than needful. The noise fiunally conviunced him that this was not worth while, since she threw out his offerings anyway. After a while, he learned to steal bananas from the top of the refrigerator and cookies from the cabinet. He never ate these, he brought them straight to me. At first Momma was inclined to believe that I had helped myself but, as I did not walk yet, she couldn’t see how. One afternoon Aunt Fern spotted Woo-woo slinking along the baseboards from kitchen to my play porch carrying a large banana and I was exonerated. She said he was having quite a problem with it as it would get between his legs and trip him up. I wish I remembered seeing that, but I don’t. I do remember sending him to get it by taking his head between my hands, looking straight into his big yellow eyes and saying “nana”several times.

As alpha tomcat on the hill, Woo-woo fought many mighty battles. Not the least of them was for me - or rather, on my behalf.

I did not like the red-haired boy several houses down the street. He threw my tea table cloths and tried to break my little china tea set. Woo-woo terrorized the poor kid right off the top half of our hill. Every time that cat saw him, the cat would begin to howl, growl, fuzz up and walk crooked, showing every sign of a desire to tear little Foster limb from limb. Kid grew up afraid of cats, but he did well as a runner.

I also disliked our doctor, who made house calls. In those days, doctors were hardly ever in their offices. Turns out, I was right. He was a lousy doctor. If Woo-woo heard the doctor’s car, it was all over. He WAS NOT COMING IN.

Woo-woo would go straight through the screen door after him and sometimes made full contact. if the doctor ignored warnings. Momma tried putting the cat in the bathroom ahead of time. that worked once. I guess Woo-woo smelled him. The big cat began to make his war cry and out the bathroom window screen he came– and back in my bedroom window. He fastened his four paws around the doctor’s ankle and began to use all his claws and teeth to remove the trouser legs, which did not take long. Doctor ran for the street. As soon as he got out of the house, Woo-woo jumped off and let him run. Doctor came no more.

There was an new doctor in town and we had to call him. Momma was afraid the old doctor would warn the young one, but I think he was so po’d that he hoped ole Woo-woo would get Dr Haygood before he had a chance to run. He drove up, knocked on the door and Momma warned him. Doctor Haygood ignored the cat, who looked from me to him over and over. I didn’t seemed dissturbed, so Woo-woo went to the kitchen for milk. No problem. I liked Dr. Haygood and he was a good doctor.

Not long before Daddy left for the Navy, Woo-woo had one last battle. It must have been a real doozy. Daddy patched him up as well as he could (no pet vets in our small town in those days) but he was too hurt. Daddy gently wrapped him in a blanket and put some strong medicine near his nose. .Woo-woo soon settled down in Daddy’s arms and began to snore.

We burried Woo-woo in the back yard, and planted the grave to forget-me-nots, beginning a tradition for family cats to come.

I guess they worked. I have certainly not forgotten.

Blessed Be

Last updated November 25, 2014