Barn Cat

This is “Barn Cat,” or “Mama Cat,” whose grandmother and mother belonged to this property before we did. She grew up there, had litters of kittens in the barn, and was a wild as she could be.

Somehow, over many months, my late husband (who was quite the animal whisperer) befriended her. She grudgingly allowed him, and only him, to pet her. He would go down to the shop to build cabinets and find some bloody trophy she had laid outside the shop doors for him.

Eventually, she became friendly with me and our children, but not too much so.

After my husband died, Barn Cat continued on at the barn, where we fed her as needed. One day, she seemed to realize that her Man wasn’t coming back. She strolled up to the back door and sat down on the back door mat, staring until I opened the door.

She sashayed in as if she had always been a domestic cat, and stayed with us ever afterward.