dreamgal042
Well-Known Member
Free Kittuns
from an essay by Jim Willis, ©2002
The sign on the mailbox post was hand-lettered on cardboard and read"Free Kittuns." It appeared there two or three times a year, sometimesspelled this way, sometimes that, but the message was always the same.
In a corner of the farmhouse back porch was a cardboard box with adirty towel inside, on which huddled a bouquet of kittens of differentcolors, mewing and blinking and waiting for their mama to return fromhunting in the fields. The mother cat managed to show them enoughinterest for the first several weeks, but after having two or threelitters per year, she was worn out and her milk barely lasted longenough for her babies to survive.
One by one, people showed up over the next several days and each took akitten. Before they left the woman who lived there always said the samething, "You make sure you give that one a good home - I've become veryattached to that one."
One by one the kittens and their new people drove down the long driveway and past the sign on the mailbox post, "Free Kittuns."
The ginger girl kitten was the first to be picked. Her four-year-oldowner loved her very much, but the little girl accidentally injured thekitten's shoulder by picking her up the wrong way. She couldn't beblamed really - no adult had shown her the proper way to handle akitten. She had named the kitten "Ginger" and was very sad a few weekslater when her older brother and his friends were playing in the livingroom and someone sat on the kitten.
The solid white boy kitten with blue eyes was the next to leave with acouple who announced even before they went down the porch steps thathis name would be "Snowy." Unfortunately, he never learned his name andeveryone had paid so little attention to him that nobody realized hewas deaf. On his first excursion outside he was run over in thedriveway by a mail truck.
The pretty gray and white girl kitten went to live on a nearby farm asa "mouser." Her people called her "the cat," and like her mother andgrandmother before her she had many, many "free kittuns," but theysapped her energy. She became ill and died before her current litter ofkittens was weaned.
Another brother was a beautiful red tabby. His owner loved him so muchthat she took him around to meet everyone in the family and herfriends, and their cats, and everyone agreed that "Erik" was a handsomeboy. Except his owner didn't bother to have him vaccinated. It took allthe money in her bank account to pay a veterinarian to treat him whenhe became sick, but the doctor just shook his head one day and said"I'm sorry."
The solid black boy kitten grew up to be a fine example of a tomcat.The man who adopted him moved shortly thereafter and left "Tommy" wherehe was, roaming the neighborhood, defending his territory, andfathering many kittens until a bully of a dog cornered him.
The black and white girl kitten got a wonderful home. She was named"Pyewacket." She got the best of food, the best of care until she wasnearly five years old. Then her owner met a man who didn't like cats,but she married him anyway. Pyewacket was taken to an animal shelterwhere there were already a hundred cats. Then one day, there were none.
A pretty woman driving a van took the last two kittens, a gray boy anda brown tiger-striped girl. She promised they would always staytogether. She sold them for fifteen dollars each to a laboratory. Tothis day, they are still together...in a jar of alcohol.
You are finally free, kittens.
from an essay by Jim Willis, ©2002
The sign on the mailbox post was hand-lettered on cardboard and read"Free Kittuns." It appeared there two or three times a year, sometimesspelled this way, sometimes that, but the message was always the same.
In a corner of the farmhouse back porch was a cardboard box with adirty towel inside, on which huddled a bouquet of kittens of differentcolors, mewing and blinking and waiting for their mama to return fromhunting in the fields. The mother cat managed to show them enoughinterest for the first several weeks, but after having two or threelitters per year, she was worn out and her milk barely lasted longenough for her babies to survive.
One by one, people showed up over the next several days and each took akitten. Before they left the woman who lived there always said the samething, "You make sure you give that one a good home - I've become veryattached to that one."
One by one the kittens and their new people drove down the long driveway and past the sign on the mailbox post, "Free Kittuns."
The ginger girl kitten was the first to be picked. Her four-year-oldowner loved her very much, but the little girl accidentally injured thekitten's shoulder by picking her up the wrong way. She couldn't beblamed really - no adult had shown her the proper way to handle akitten. She had named the kitten "Ginger" and was very sad a few weekslater when her older brother and his friends were playing in the livingroom and someone sat on the kitten.
The solid white boy kitten with blue eyes was the next to leave with acouple who announced even before they went down the porch steps thathis name would be "Snowy." Unfortunately, he never learned his name andeveryone had paid so little attention to him that nobody realized hewas deaf. On his first excursion outside he was run over in thedriveway by a mail truck.
The pretty gray and white girl kitten went to live on a nearby farm asa "mouser." Her people called her "the cat," and like her mother andgrandmother before her she had many, many "free kittuns," but theysapped her energy. She became ill and died before her current litter ofkittens was weaned.
Another brother was a beautiful red tabby. His owner loved him so muchthat she took him around to meet everyone in the family and herfriends, and their cats, and everyone agreed that "Erik" was a handsomeboy. Except his owner didn't bother to have him vaccinated. It took allthe money in her bank account to pay a veterinarian to treat him whenhe became sick, but the doctor just shook his head one day and said"I'm sorry."
The solid black boy kitten grew up to be a fine example of a tomcat.The man who adopted him moved shortly thereafter and left "Tommy" wherehe was, roaming the neighborhood, defending his territory, andfathering many kittens until a bully of a dog cornered him.
The black and white girl kitten got a wonderful home. She was named"Pyewacket." She got the best of food, the best of care until she wasnearly five years old. Then her owner met a man who didn't like cats,but she married him anyway. Pyewacket was taken to an animal shelterwhere there were already a hundred cats. Then one day, there were none.
A pretty woman driving a van took the last two kittens, a gray boy anda brown tiger-striped girl. She promised they would always staytogether. She sold them for fifteen dollars each to a laboratory. Tothis day, they are still together...in a jar of alcohol.
You are finally free, kittens.
Please tell me that isn't a true story.. 
