My Grandfathers Cat

In the 1920's my Grandfather had a store in the town of Succasunna NJ. (I will not go into how the Drill Sergeants, in basic training, had fun with that town name.) Grandfathers name was, Raymond Bull. (I will not now go into how that name created interesting situations when trekking in Northern India / Gopeshwar. Nor try to explain why I, a person with obvious ADD, would try to write stories.. but I digress.)

The general store was just that. General needs and necessities for living could be found there and during the depression, some years later, the economic needs of the town increased and Grandfather wanted to expand.

His idea was to start raising chickens and sell the eggs.

He sent away for the eggs and incubator and they arrived in March, which was a problem being that it tends to still be cold in March in Northern NJ, and eggs / baby chickens do not like the cold.. So he put the incubator in the attic of the store and waited for the eggs to hatch.

Our family has always loved cats, and the store was always a place for several of them. Grandfather would just keep one in the store, but allowed others outside the store to keep the mice down by the trash bins. I don't think he actively pursued getting cats.. they just seemed to come by for a time and then wonder off after a season or two. The current store Cat was named "Ferdinand" due to his size, gentle disposition, and the Family Name "Bull".

After installing the incubator in the Attic things went normally for a few weeks. Ferdinand was not interested in anything but his regular routine of sleep and the baby chicks hatched and were doing well.

Then something changed, and Ferdinand started taking an interest in the upstairs of the store. He sat by the door, cried and tried to go up when the opportunity presented itself. My Grandfather would not allow him up there, and the store patrons told my grandfather. "Don't let that cat up there! If you do it will be the last you see of those baby chicks!"

This continued for a few days and the constant cat screaming and the change in behavior in Ferdinand finally convinced my grandfather to leave the upstairs door open for a night to see what the cat would do.

Grandfather then went home and had dinner, and went to bed, concerned of what he may find the next morning and that he just may have made a horrible mistake.

In the morning he dressed and rushed to the store, not even having breakfast! (Food has am important roll in our family... and this stressed to us, as children, how URGENT the situation was).

Thinking his irresponsible action, at the close of business the previous day when he was tired and hungry, would have ruined his chicken investment. He opened the Store door and raced around to the upstairs doorway. There he found Ferdinand waiting for him.

Before he could grab Ferdinand, the cat raced up the steps with Grandfather behind him in hot pursuit!

When Grandfather reached the top of the stairs he saw the cat sitting proudly by a HUGE dead rat Ferdinand had caught and killed that night! The baby chicks were not touched... and Grandfather imagined that the large rat would have done some damage to the Chick population if Ferdinand had not caught him.

From that day on Ferdinand was allowed anywhere he wanted to go in the store. The upstairs door was always open, and Ferdinand had the run of the place... The Chicks were never an interest to him and were moved outside in the Summer. Ferdinand preferred to stay in his usual place, snugged up sleeping, by the coal stove fire.

The family has had cats ever since.