Beech Tree News Network

I love cats.  I think, because they are their own people.  You can’t predict them, and they rarely do what you want.  Someone once said, “Dogs come when you call them.  Cats take a number and get back to you.”  The Jones family knows this all too well.
    When Olivia Jones was four years old, someone gave her a cat.  She named him Todd.  Olivia loved Todd, and he was always there to greet her every morning when she left for the sitter and each afternoon when she returned home. 
    On the afternoon of the July 4th holiday, Olivia, along with her parents Marty and Haley, left the house for the local Catfish Festival, riding in Marty’s truck.  Staying for the fireworks extravaganza meant a late return home that evening, and the whole family was exhausted.  Even though she was tired, Haley knew if she didn’t return her sun glasses to her own car, a new Honda Accord, she wouldn’t have them the next time she needed to drive. 
    What Haley didn’t know was Todd the cat was lying in wait for his chance to check out the comfy interior of the shiny new car.  When the door of opportunity opened, Todd crept unnoticed into the back floor board.  Haley closed the door and returned to the house and the comfort of her bed.  Todd jumped up into the back seat and the comfort of the new upholstery.
    Sometime during the a.m. hours, Todd awoke from his nap.  He stretched, yawned and jumped into the front seat for easier access to the windows.  There was only one problem.  The windows weren’t open.  Albert Einstein said, “Look deep into the eyes of nature and everything will make sense.”  If you had looked deep into Todd’s eyes that morning, you would have seen a cat who realized he was trapped, and what happened next would make sense.  Todd decided to make his own way out.  He scratched and clawed at the padding around one window then the next, fraying the new upholstery, but not setting himself free.  He would just have to wait until someone found him.
    The next morning, Olivia went outside to greet Todd, but he wasn’t there.  She looked all around the yard, but no Todd.  After breakfast, her parents joined in the hunt, but Todd was a no-show.  During the search, something about the new car caught Haley’s eye.  Upon closer inspection, she realized the upholstery around the windows had been shredded.  She’d found Todd.  Olivia was elated.  Marty was less than thrilled about what Todd had done to the new car, and he told Haley it was time Todd found a new home.
    On the next work day, after Haley left with Olivia, Marty gathered up Todd and took him to the Pound.  And that was that.  Or so he thought.  When Olivia got home that afternoon, there was no Todd to greet her.  She called and called for him, but he never showed.  That night she asked her parents to pray with her that Todd would find his way home.  They did.
    The next morning, Olivia expected to see Todd on the door step, but he wasn’t there.  At the sitter’s house that day, her little friends comforted her with their faith that Todd would find his way back to her—never underestimate the faith of little children.  After Todd wasn’t there to greet Olivia that afternoon, she once again asked her parents to pray for Todd’s return.  They did.
    By this point, Marty could barely look his daughter in the eye, so he resolved to go back to the pound the next morning to bring Todd home.  When Marty arrived, he was told it would be 45 dollars to adopt the cat—his cat.  Rules are rules, after all.  Marty paid the 45 dollars, and Todd the cat was on the door step that afternoon when Olivia arrived.  Olivia was overjoyed, as well as having a new appreciation for the power of prayer.
    Todd stuck around for a whole month before disappearing, never to be seen or heard from again.  (Marty swears he had nothing to do with it.)  The family had other cats after Todd, but none of them stayed around for long.  Today, the family has two dogs.  They come when you call them.