It was a pitiful-looking yellow/orange stray cat. You just had to feel sorry for this skinny little cat as it sat outside of the back door looking for a little bite of food. It looked like it was about to starve to death so we put out some food and water for it on the back porch and after we went away it finally walked over and ate the food. I guess it liked the free handout because it came back for more but it never let us get close to it. This was a feral (wild) cat and it just didn't trust people.
Now we generally keep our back door open because we like the cool air blowing down off of the hill to cool us off in the summer but that presents a problem. Sometimes we get flies and other insects in the house and that can be a little unpleasant so we put up those terrible stick fly strips that you stick to the ceiling with a thumb tack and the flies just love to land on the sweet-smelling stick strips. Problem solved.
Back to the cat. As time went by the cat got a little bit braver and my wife was able to coax it into the kitchen to eat and sometimes it would even lie down on the blanket on the floor under the table. We had to leave the door open so that the cat would have an escape route and when I came into the kitchen the cat usually took off. It hadn't gotten to know me and it didn't even like for me to look it's way, so I gave it plenty of room and was careful not to look it in the eye. This cat was wild. I doubt it had ever been inside of a house before.
Then one day I was sitting in the living room and I heard this terrible terrible squalling coming from the kitchen. I got up out of my chair and went to see what the hell was going on in the kitchen. The first thing I noticed was that the wind had blown the back door shut and this had obviously caused the cat to panic. So, I eased over to the door, careful not to make eye contact with the cat, and opened the door so the cat could get out. And out the cat went... acting like an idiot... jumping, twisting, squalling, and carrying on like you've never seen before. The can made it's way down the driveway, did a couple of flips up into the air and took off into the bushes. I have no words to describe how that cat was acting. Of course, I always suspected that cat was possessed or something and it looked like it's demons had finally gotten the best of it. Oh well. So long, cat.
When my wife got home from work I told her what had happened and we both just shook our heads. Who would have thought that a cat would be so claustrophobic that it actually went crazy when the door got blown shut. Whatever.
My wife likes to sit at the kitchen table with the back door open and the ceiling fan on and just enjoy the sight of the birds feeding and watching the other animals that we usually have on the hill out behind the house and that's where she was sitting (I was in the living room sitting in my recliner.) when all of a sudden she broke out into a hysterical laugh. I was thinking, "Oh no, not her too!" She had gone crazy just like the cat did. I'm not going back into THAT kitchen. No sir.
Well, wifee was finally able to walk and she stumbled and laughed her way into the room where I was and with tears in her eyes she was finally able to speak. "I know what happened," she said. "Okay, will you let me in on the secret?" I asked. She looked at me, laughed some more and then coughed out the words "The fly strip is missing."
Evidently the fly strip getting blown around by the ceiling fan had been too much for the cat. It must have gone nuts laying there under the table watching the wind blow the strip back and forth and finally just had to attack it. That may have been the biggest mistake that cat ever made, because apparently the fly strip won that fight. At least that explained why the cat was jumping up in the air and doing all of those crazy flips.
Several days later the cat returned, looking even worse that it did when it first showed up at our back door. It was covered in sticky brown glue and had obviously had a rough time over the last few days. Wanda (wifee) cleaned the cat as best as she could and fed it. Poor cat. You certainly couldn't blame it for being paranoid. Everybody and everything was out to get this cat. I can only imagine the nightmares it must have had when it finally was able to get to sleep. Poor cat.
Well, the cat hung around for a few weeks and I guess it finally felt good enough to head back out into the world to seek out it's fame and fortune because one day it was gone and we haven't seen it since. I wish it the best.
I'll bet you one thing, though. That cat will never attack a fly strip again.
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