Of Mice and Men

Last winter, my mom was staying a week with us. She was helping out one of numerous times during The Medical Marathon of Margerie. Which maybe just happens to rhyme with surgery. We are returning home from some appointment when we decide to stop by this nursery (hey, another rhyme) along the freeway.

It is one of those funky places, with a 20-foot iron T-Rex sculpture out in front. We decide we just have to check out this place. We were amazed at the eclectic selection. They had statues of frogs inside pots, which were on top of benches, next to fruit trees. I found a miniature cast-iron stove with little frying pans for $11. We must have spent an hour looking around when we discovered a cute silver tabby cat, curled up in a sunny spot on a garden chair. Being cat freaks, we inquired. Gal working there tells us he came to them as a kitten. He was born feral in the wood pallets at the farm supply next door. One day the coyotes got his entire family. He migrated over to the nursery and the nursery owners fed and adopted him. He was reportedly a very mellow fellow and an excellent mouser.

Sometime later, Mom and I finally make it to the outdoor register. By that time we notice a white male rooster has joined the tabby cat on the chair. We remark how unusual it was for the two of them to get along so well. Gal says "Oh, that's because he raised him." Say what? The nursery owners had, a couple of years prior, brought a flock (or whatever you call it) of chickens to live at the nursery. One sad day, they came to work to find some coyotes had devoured all the flock but one little chick. After the tragedy, the chick started following the cat around. The cat probably felt bad for him, as his family had met the same fate. The chick grew into a rooster and the cat and the rooster remained friends.

The owner gal then told us about how one day she was moving a bag of potting soil, when a baby mouse ran out from behind it. She hears "Bawk, bawk, bagulpp!" And turns around just in time to see the rooster swallow up the mouse. "Best damn rooster I ever had" were her concluding remarks.

Now I am pretty sure this is a unique relationship between a male cat and a rooster. But the two of them were bound to screw up something! And I do get a chuckle about this story every time I look at that little cast-iron stove.