Cleo surprised me again this morning. She is not only a patient cat; she is a compassionate cat.
I discovered this character trait in Cleo by accident. The evening before I had made plans to water my six fruit trees down by my barn. I have a prune, an apple, two regular pear trees and a fine winter pear tree. My winter pear tree ripens later than the other pears. They are larger and the pears taste extra good.
When I watered the apple tree I saw the apples were nearly ready for pies. If you have read my column you may know how much I love apple pie. Linda, my good neighbor, makes me a pie now and then. She is a good pie maker and they taste wonderful.
To get back to my story about Cleo’s newly-discovered character traits, my plan was to take my usual walk into the field where my well is located a few hundred yards from my barn. Once there, I intended to prime the pump.
The pump priming part is a story in itself. Several years ago I had to replace a foot valve. The foot valve is the part that fits on the end of the well hose and closes the intake so the well will hold its prime. To get at, and replace the damaged foot valve, I had to pull 80 feet of hose out of the well. Once out of the well hole, the hose lay in the grass like a 3-inch-diameter string of spaghetti.
Sometime in the process, I allowed the hose to crimp and bend too much while it was out of the well. The bending made a small break in the hose and caused it to have a leak. In spite of a good foot valve, the pump could only hold its prime for a day or two.
Thereafter, and for the next two years, every time I wanted to fill the cistern behind my barn, I had to walk out and prime the well by hand. That was all right. I didn’t mind walking out in the field to prime the well. It was good exercise for me.
I could have had the boys at the well repair company repair the line anytime, but then I would no longer have an excuse to walk into the field and see the world from a new place. Someday soon I plan to have the well repaired now that I’m slowing down a trifle.
What I’m telling you is a long way around the point of my story about Cleo’s character. So, finally, at last, here goes.
When I walk to the field, or anywhere on my farm, Cleo is right there to follow me and offer her help no matter what the job. Naturally, she does not help me water the fruit trees but she does watch and supervise. When I walk out to prime the well she follows me. Sometimes, when she grows impatient with my slow pace, she will zip ahead a dozen yards and wait for me.
This morning, leaning on my cane, Cleo went ahead. Each time she stopped and waited for me to catch up. She accepted that I did not have the same spring in my step when I wore a younger man’s clothes. She continued to wait patiently while I opened the water line, added the water and primed the pump. On the way back, Cleo waited for me again, every few steps, to make sure I could make it home.
There is no reason any cat would act this way unless she wants to do so. So I know Cleo chooses to be kindly toward me and overlook my case of the “slows.”
Besides supervising my work, she looks out for me and that is not common for most cats.
Gene Paleno is an author and illustrator living in Witter Springs.
