The Cat that went to School

This was written in Feb. 1994 with my nephew Jeff Burns in mind who was in 2nd grade at the time. This really did happen.

I was just a small kitten that spring day when I came to live with the Arvy family. My new pet was a tall young man named Ronnie. He named me Henry the Eighth. That seemed like a strange name to me until he started singing a song every time he saw me. He sang, "I'm Henry the Eighth, I am." I soon learned to sing along only he thought I saw saying, "Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow". That's all I ever learned of the song.

I remember my first night with Ronnie. I missed my mother. I thought if I kept meowing she might appear. Ronnie stroked my silver and grey fur, fed me warm milk and put me in a sturdy box. He even gave me a soft blanket to sleep on.

I soon learned to like my new home. Ronnie had a mother and a father and three sisters who liked to pet me and listen to me purr. The big sisters, Jane and Linda were nice, but I liked the youngest sister, Cindy, best of all. She seemed to have more time to pet me and help me play with my ball of string.

One day Cindy gave me the milk left in her bowl after she ate her cereal. It was so good. I lapped up every drop. After that I turned up my nose at regular milk. Cat food and milk from cereal bowls became my usual diet. That was enough and I grew very fast.

By the time summer came I was big enough to go out in the yard. I liked to watch my girls play with their friends. I would hide behind a bush and jump out to try to scare them. That didn't work. They said, "Oh, it's just Henry". I still did it anyway just for fun. I liked to play in the sun, chasing my tail, sniffing dandelions and leaping after leaves as they blew across the grass.

When fall came things changed. Ronnie left in a car, and my girls walked down the street and around the corner carrying books. They talked about something called school.

One day when they all went off, I became very lonesome. I went down the street and around the corner like my girls had done, By keeping my nose down I could tell the path they had taken. I walked a long way, turned and walked another long way until I came to a hill. On top of that hill was a big building. I walked up the hill and saw big letters above the door--Carrollton Elementary School. There were no children in sight. The windows were open and I could hear children singing and talking. Now I knew what a school was. It was a big building where the children went to sing and talk.

The doors were open. I went in and walked down a long hall until I came a special room. I knew it was special for I knew my Cindy was in there. I walked in quietly and sniffed along until I found my Cindy. I rubbed against her legs and purred to let her know I was there. All the children laughed. The mother in front of the room didn't laugh. She said in a loud voice, "Whose cat is that?" It was then I knew cats did not belong in school.

I knew it was time for me to go home. How would I ever find the way? Then the  mother said, "Cindy, you may take your cat home." Cindy picked me up and carried me all the way home. She told me cats do not belong in school. I must stay home and wait for her to come back. I never went to school again. I was content to curl up on the front step and wait until late afternoon when I knew my girls and their friends would be coming back home.