Today I want to relate a true story about an item that became lost. The name and addresses of this family will be kept confidential.
A family has two cats, and these cats eat dry cat food. It has become a daily ritual that the husband would feed the male cat, while the wife was responsible for feeding the female cat.
A Spanish word for cat is, “Gato”. Yes I am still trying to learn Spanish and I guess a few words have stuck in my head.
On a certain day the wife had purchased some grocery items along with a bag of dry cat food. The cat food was sorely needed as they had just enough food to get both cats through the day but would have none for the next day.
The wife arrived home with the grocery items and the husband was given the task to carry them inside the home. The wife handed the husband a plastic bag that had a bag of cat food in it, all the husband need to do was to carry it into the house.
At this same time there was a grandson telling his father that he wanted to stay at his Papaw’s house for a while and his Papaw will bring him home, “when the big hand on the clock gets to the top” (4:00pm).
The husband was involved in a couple conversations and he was attempting to carry the groceries into the house. For this senior citizen husband, talking and walking could be confusing, so talking and carrying groceries must have been more confusing.
All seemed well until the next morning. The hansom senior citizen husband always arose from the bed early, made a light but nourishing breakfast for himself, let the outdoor cat in the house and made breakfast for the cat, “el gato”.
Being a very observant elderly husband, he immediately noticed that the cat food was not where it should be. This fine man, even before he sat down to his own nourishing breakfast, began to search for the cat food. Where could his wife have placed the cat food? The Husband of many years searched, and re-searched the same search area several times, (it is said, a sign of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result, and this older husband was searching the same area over and over, expecting to find the bag of food).
Finally the senior citizen husband gave up and decided to eat his own lite, and nourishing breakfast. He would wait for his wife to get out of bed and then he would ask her very politely, where she had placed the cat food.
It seemed to the husband that several hours had passed before his wife came in the living room. Knowing that his wife was not a morning person, and being a kind and thoughtful husband, he waited for the right moment to ask, “Where the heck did you put the cat food?”
The response was quick and somewhat brutal, “I gave it to you to bring in the house, you had it, where did you put it?”
It was at this point that the husband decided he should take another look for the cat food. The wife searched all the same places that the husband had looked including the garage. The kind and considerate husband, explained that he had previously looked in the garage and had even gone outside, thinking the bag may have been left on the drive way.
As they were standing in the garage at the door that came from the garage into the small but efficient office area, debating the possibilities, this fine upstanding husband of many years, began to access his memory, (which is not always easy for elder statesmen), when he remembered that he had, in the past, misplaced his car keys.
The memory of this hansom, long time husband was working at full speed now! It was like a flash of light had hit him! “BANG”
When he had misplaced his truck keys they were found, on the coat hook that is located on the door, going from the garage to the small, but efficient office. Slowly the husband turned and announced quietly to his lovely wife, “I found the cat food, the bag is hanging on the hook on the door.”
If there is a lesson to be learned in all this it might be, don’t take short cuts, see all tasks through to the end, even if it is as simple as putting your car keys or the cat food in the same place each time you have finished using them.
Names, dates and locations have been left out of this detailed account, in an effort to protect the husband and wife from embarrassment.
Don Ford
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