| Show THE CONCERT MASTER Eardley Fadsen 7550 Dunbarton Avenue Los Angeles CA 90045 Professional Division Second Place Short Stary When Falthus said that population tends to outrun the food supply he must have hadcat family in mind Our 1ittle kittens seemed to generate spontaneously They came from nowhere and everywhere in increasing mumbers My mother widow was very aware of this population explosion and so 1t was with great regret and many misglvings that she solemnly announced We will have to get rid of our tom cat His frequent forays into neighboring territory with the accompanying chorus of cat-calls in the middle of the night was the causelSbre for this explosive state of affairs In fact almost any night of the week the mournful tunes would come in crescendo from the direction ofhigh picket fence accompanied by an adagio echo from the nearest barn An unblased report from our neighbors put the cat noise at the pollution level They conceded to no less thanbrigade of cats with two regiments--one performing The Ride of the Valkyries on the picket fence while the other improvised kettle-drun version of The Flying Dutchman It was Wagner gone awry There were broad hints indeed even outright accusations that our tom cat was the operatic lead as well as concert master to the whole performance Doubts were expressed as to whether relief could be expected without drastic intervention In short they threatened to shoot the damn cat And all this because nature had not synchronized the bio-rhythms of the feline estrus cycle with our neighbors sleeping habits Although the words used by our neighbors in discussing the cat problem were colorful often pungent and conveyed an auditory sting that left no doubt as to exactly what they meant think that accuracy can still be served by continuing the narrative without verbatim quotes The neighborhood kangaroo court had pronounced our cat--expendable Weeks passed before my mother summoned enough courage to face the issue on an operational level Talking aboutpetdemise was one thing causing it was quite another The spring morning was bright and clear She placed our round galvanized wash tub on the lawn and filled it with -52 |
