Sarah has a simple chore that I would think she would find pleasurable. She has to feed the cats. The outside cat gets fed once a day (even though I’ve asked her to feed it twice a day in the winter) and the indoor cat uses a Le Bistro self-feeder which only needs to be filled periodically. Not a single day goes by that Sarah does not have to be prompted by Mom or myself to feed the cat. I can always tell when the cat did not get fed because the sad sack stares longingly into our living room window and, if ignored, will bring us a present of a mole, skink, lizard, bat, mouse, squirrel, or bird. This morning she gave us a sparrow.
When I was Sarah’s age, I was not allowed to have pets so instead I took to feeding birds. I would actually ride my bike down to the feed store on Main Street in Medford, NJ and make a special mix that would attract certain types of birds. Then as I ate breakfast by the bay window, the birds would eat with me. And the neighbor’s cat would sneak up on them and kill them as I chowed. That’s when I took a disliking to cats. Yeah, yeah… life’s full of contradictions. Anyhow, I really took pleasure in feeding the creatures and making sure that they never ran out of food. So it befuddles me how she can callously ignore this dependent creature.
I am a believer in the school of hard knocks and learning by physics. Perhaps I should deny food to Sarah for a couple of days. Nah, that wouldn’t work. She has too much candy stashed in her room. I guess this is one of those times we (or Noah) does the job for her and it comes back to her in other ways. "Dad, can I have some food for snacks at the mall?" "No dear, I gave your snack food to the cat."
Little side note, Sad Sack was a WWII commit strip that my grandfather on my father’s side keep in a red, hardcover book. It was primarily line art and similar to Beetle Bailey. Whenever I would visit Nanny and Pop, that was one of the first books I would grab (followed by the photography techniques books with the naked women..boys will be boys afterall).
