What Cats Do

(Chapter 6 from the book "The Chicken Who Didn't Know Where to Lay Her Eggs")


By the time Shellie came along, the cat had already been on the farm several years. She had also gone through a series of names in that time.

She had first been known as Cuss. Later she had acquired the name Pester. Some time after that, everyone referred to her as Socks. She was now called Sigourney.

Sigourney didn't belong to either Mike or his wife. As far as they knew, she didn't belong to anyone in particular. They had checked around with neighbors and other farmers nearby to see if she belonged to them. Most of them said that they knew the cat but that she certainly didn't belong to any of them. It seemed that, if anything, the cat belonged to all of them.

It turned out that the Sigourney made her home at every house in the area at some time or another. She simply showed up one day, stayed for several months, and then disappeared as quickly as she had come. It seemed that she had made a life out of sequential residences.

The first time she had shown up on the farm, Mike had named her Cuss because she hissed at him every time he got near her. She had stayed for about two months and then disappeared. A few months later, Paula spotted her while visiting the wife of a neighboring farmer. On that farm, she had been named Pester.

She then showed up at Mike and his wife again about half a year later. They had called her Socks that time because they had forgotten what they had last called her, and, besides, she had four white feet. After a few more months, she disappeared again. They didn't see her again for almost a year.

The last time she had shown up at Mike and his wife, Tadpole had been there. After they told him how the cat showed up, stayed a while, and left, only to show up again many months later, Tadpole had decided that the cat must be an alien from outer space. He was convinced that she actually had a space ship somewhere in the area and that she stayed on the farm only between visits into outer space. He named her Sigourney after Sigourney Weaver in the Alien movies.

Sigourney had stayed almost three months the last time. Then she was gone again.
She had finally come back one day in November. She seemed right at home. She ate Dingo's food and staked out a corner of his blanket for herself.

Fortunately for Shellie, Sigourney didn't seem to have any interest in chickens, either as friends or as prey. She basically ignored Shellie altogether.

Sigourney was a good ratter. About once a week, she would bring a mouse or rat she had caught into the kitchen. She would place the dead creature on the doormat in front of the dog door.

Paula would always exclaim what a fine prize the dead creature was. She would stroke Sigourney's back and tell her what an extraordinary mice-catcher she was. Sigourney would purr proudly and rub against Paula's legs again and again.

Paula would pick up the dead mouse with a paper towel and tell Sigourney how much she appreciated the gift and that she would save it with all the other mice and rats Sigourney had brought her. Then, when Sigourney wasn't looking, Paula would throw the dead creature in the trash.

Shellie was always somewhat relieved to see Paula do that. The thought of Paula keeping an entire box of dead mice and rat made her uncomfortable.

On a warm day in January, one of those days when a low pressure cell from the tropics pushes its way north of the Gulf of Mexico, Shellie and Dingo were in the kitchen together. Mike was out in the fields for the day and Paula had gone into town to buy groceries. The house was quiet.

Shellie and Dingo were enjoying the unexpected warm weather in the middle of winter. It made them feel relaxed and at peace with the world. Shellie sat up on her counter perch. Dingo lay stretched out in front of his mirror on his blanket.

They heard the dog door make its flapping noise. Sigourney came in. She had a medium-sized mouse with her. She dropped the dead creature on the doormat like always.
Sigourney looked around for Paula. When she couldn't find her, she went over to Dingo. She lay down on the corner of blanket that had become hers.

Dingo preferred not to share his blanket with her, but Sigourney didn't pay any attention to him. She simply rubbed up against Dingo until he shifted to the side a bit, and then lay down, right against him. Dingo didn't look at her. He just sighed deeply. He had learned long ago that Sigourney did whatever she wanted despite what he did. She didn't have any fear of him.

After a while, Sigourney got up. She walked over to Dingo's food and sniffed it. She ate a few bites and then drank some of his water. Then she just stood there and looked around for a moment. Finally, she walked toward the dog door.

Shellie and Dingo thought that she was going out again.

She didn't. Instead, she lay down beside the mouse on the doormat. She stretched out and flicked her tail a few times.

She stayed there for about a five minutes. Then she got up again. She walked back over to Dingo's blanket. She again lay back down on her corner of the blanket. She flicked her tail some more. It kept landing on Dingo's hind legs and tickling his skin. He kicked his legs a couple of times in protest. Sigourney stayed where she was.

But her restlessness continued. She turned on her back, swatted at some imaginary creature in the air, and then turned first to one side and then to the other. After a few more minutes, she got up again. She went back to the doormat and lay down again next to the mouse again.

She again turned onto her back, swatted, and then turned from one side to the other.
Shellie watched her with a small amount of irritation. She wished that Sigourney would settle down and go to sleep. Her restlessness was out of place on such a pleasant day.

Finally, Sigourney stood up, yawned deeply, stretched first her front legs and then her hind legs one after the other. She stood there for a moment, looked around, and flicked her tail. Her bright yellow eyes were wide and wild-looking.

Then she seemed to make up her mind about something. She sprang through the dog door. It made a flapping noise behind her.

By now, Sigourney's restlessness had infected both Shellie and Dingo. They, too, felt the need to get up and do something.

Shellie hopped down from her counter perch. Dingo got up from his blanket.
They went out through the dog door one after the other.

They stood there together on the back porch for a moment. They looked down toward the shop. They spotted Sigourney. She was headed around the corner of the shop.
Dingo trotted off after her. Shellie followed him.

When they went around the corner of the shop, they spotted Sigourney again. She was walking down the road that ran along the edge of the field that bordered the forest and swamp.

Dingo and Shellie followed her at a distance of several hundred yards.
Sigourney kept marching along the road. She seemed to have a specific destination in mind.

She eventually got to the edge of the forest. She stopped for a moment, looked around, flicked her tail a few times, and bounded into the forest.

Dingo and Shellie lost sight of her. But they followed her right to the spot where she went into the forest. Dingo smelled the ground and picked up her scent. He followed it into the forest.

Shellie stayed right behind him. She didn't like going into the forest without Paula there, but she didn't turn back. She felt that she was safer sticking by Dingo's side rather than risking a walk back home by herself. A chicken in an open field was an easy target for hawks, foxes and a lot of other creatures.

After going about 50 yards into the forest, Dingo stopped. Shellie stopped right behind him. They both looked in front of them. They saw a small clearing about 30 feet wide. It was surrounded by pine trees and the ground was covered with the brown grass of January.

They saw Sigourney. She lay there on her back in the middle of the clearing. She once again swatted at some imaginary creature in the air.

Shellie and Dingo watched in fascination. They wondered what she was doing and what she was thinking.

They had been there about five minutes when they spotted something move in the brush on the other side of the clearing.

They suddenly felt fear for both Sigourney and themselves. They crouched down close to the ground and lay very still.

Then they saw what was moving in the brush. It was another cat.

They both relaxed and watched the cat.

The cat came into the clearing. First, it just stood at the edge. It looked at Sigourney, and Sigourney, still on her back, looked back. Neither seemed afraid of each other.

The second cat walked over to Sigourney. Sigourney stood up. The two cats stuck their tails high in the air and walked back and forth, rubbing against each other. They touched noses a few times.

Then they both lay down on the grass.

After another few minutes, Shellie and Dingo saw another movement in the brush. They watched closely.

This time two cats came into the clearing.

Sigourney and the other cat stayed where they were. They seemed to know the two new cats.

The new cats came over and all four cats walked around, rubbed against each other, and touched noses.

A few minutes later, a fifth cat joined them. They all went through the greeting routine again.

Shellie and Dingo sat there spellbound. They had never seen such a thing in their lives.

The five cats then lay down for a while. All five turned from side to side or lay on their backs. They all swatted at the imaginary creature in the air. They seemed to be enjoying the warm January sun.

After a while, the five cats formed a circle. They all sat there facing each other like a group of highly self-assured Egyptian sphinxes.

Shellie and Dingo could hear them purring. The soft, combined sound made Shellie think of the SUV engine, as if it were covered in layers of cotton padding.

Eventually, one of the cats stood up. It stretched its front and hind legs and looked around. Then it left the circle. It disappeared in the brush at the edge of the clearing, right where it had come from.

Over the next few minutes, three of the other cats also left one by one.

Only Sigourney remained. Then she too stood up. She walked over to the edge of the brush where the first cat had left. She disappeared into the brush as well.
Shellie and Dingo sat there a few more minutes, not knowing what to expect. Finally, it became evident that the cats weren't coming back.

Dingo got up and headed back home. Shellie followed him.

When they got back to the house, Sigourney wasn't there. She didn't come back for the rest of the day.

They both slept very soundly through the night. The adventure in the forest had left them extremely tired.

Sigourney also didn't come back the next day, or the next.

Shellie and Dingo looked all around the yard for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.
The days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months.

Finally, one morning in June, Sigourney showed up in the kitchen again. She didn't give them any special greeting. She simply ate half of Dingo's bowl of food and then lay down on his blanket. She flicked her tail.