Reprinted by permission from Greenprints Magazine
Issue #84, Winter 2010 / 11
Socks was our family pet, a mostly black tomcat with white legs. he had to be the biggest cat in the neighborhood and should have ruled the backyards and fences. But Socks was a coward. All the other cats, including the females, bullied him badly. They'd hiss at him and spit at him and, if they caught him, bit pieces from his ears, nose and jaw. He looked like the neighborhood chewing - uh, punching - bag.
To get away, Socks would run to our mother's herb garden. He had burrowed a hiding place in the soft loam of the garden among her basil, chives, lemongrass, parsley and thyme. If Socks kept very still, the plant aromas kept any pursuing cat from finding him. Socks was a coward, but he wasn't stupid.
One spring our mother decided to add some Nepeta cataria - catnip - to the garden. She knew the herb could be used to treat headaches, but the real reason she planted it was to give our poor cat some moments of euphoria. "The herb garden is already his sanctuary." she said. "Now it can become his private dream den."
That's just what happened. When the first green sprigs appeared, Socks took some sniffs, forgot his woes, and rolled around in pure ecstasy. We were glad our bedraggled cat had finally found a private place all his own.
Happily, however, we were wrong.
Some other neighborhood cat must have found out about the catnip garden and spread the word, because soon socks was joined by several newly friendly tomcats. They all rolled around together, meowing and having a great time. Soon six cats came to the garden each evening, when the fragrance of the herb was at its height.
None of them was ever aggressive to Socks again.
In fact, before long, several female cats started joining the party, and a few months later, there were two new litters of black kittens in the neighborhood.
They all had white legs and looked suspiciously like Socks.
~END~
***DISCLAIMER*** I strongly support spaying and neutering of pets, cats in particular.***
-Lynnel
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