Tale of the Cat, the Possum, and the Rooster

 

                                                    By H. L. Dowless

Once there was a cat, a possum, and a rooster.  One afternoon this black and white barnyard cat said, “Well Hoss, I sure wish I had a fish.”

 

The possum said with a toothy grin, “Yes, well that would be nice, but this fresh plum will suffice, for now least wise.”

 The rooster said, “Well, cock-a-doodle-dew all day!”

 

Come morning time, the three went for a walk by a field side. The field had recently been plowed. The dirt was cool and slightly damp, feeling really good to walk through with bare feet early in the morning. The cat turned to the possum and said; “My oh my, a cup of thick, rich, jet black coffee would be just great, right about now.”

   

The possum replied, “Yeah for sure, but much better with a square of freshly made cornbread, and maybe a bit of cheese and a fried egg.”

  

 Both of them then turned to glare at the rooster wearing slobbering sly grins, who said, “Cock-a-doodle-dew, now it‘s morning time!”

   

So the three continued to walk in the freshly plowed field early in the morning. The cat eased up on a quail, who carelessly walked out to scratch around for grubs in the freshly turned soil of the field. On the very moment the cat leaped into the tangled thorny cover beside the field, the quail flew. On the instant his feet touched the earth, an entire covey of quail thundered up from all around the three, slightly startling them for an instant. The cat eased out of the brier patch empty handed, still grinning by force, and slobbering mightily.

  

“Shame on you, Cat, for missing that huge bunch of birds. We both were counting on you,” said the possum in chastising sarcasm.

“Yeah, and shame on you, ole Possum, for not helping out a bit there with the catch,” replied the cat carrying an edge on his voice.

  

“Well then, I'll take the blame for your miss. I figured I would eat whether I helped out, or simply allowed you to make the catch,” replied the possum. “Your scraps are fine by me.”

   

Both then turned to the rooster with the same slobbering grin, who yelled, “Cock-a-doodle-dew all day!”

   

Soon they walked up to a yaupon bush laying by the field side, snapped off by the wind two or three days earlier. The bush had lain there until the spring leaves dried.

“Well at least we shall soon have coffee,” grinned the possum.

“Yeah, if you'll just kindly find the turtle shells and rub the sticks, please,” snarled the cat.

  

“The rooster cried, “Cock-a-doodle-dew all day!”

 The possum turned and said as he slowly walked away, “We'll do, ole Tom Cat, just don't walk away anywhere.”

“Well, all we have right now is time,” replied the cat.

 The rooster cried, “Cock-a-doodle-dew!”

In an hour the possum returned, carrying two clean, rather large turtle shells, two forks, and a set of flints, complete with a steel striker.

   

“Where just tell me, ole Possum thar, where on earth did you manage to find that? I did not know I could count on you so,” grinned the cat to the possum, with newly found cheer in his voice and on his face.

“Well, ole Cat thar, I saw a column of smoke rising up in the distance above the trees the other day. I was searching for an excuse to have a look-see. All I found besides smoldering ashes, were these two forks, the flints, and the steel. The two large turtle shells were from a meal I had taken a couple of days ago. I figured they would make nice coffee cups and even better bowls, just as soon as we can find our meal for the day. What do you think about it there, ole Tom Cat,” asked the possum still wearing a slobbering grin.

   

“It all sounds splendid to me,” replied the cat as the possum gathered fresh kindling splinters and dried broom straw, patiently squatting as he struck the steel and the flint. Soon he was feeding larger dried wood sections into the small fire, making it grow.

   

After a while he was feeding much larger branches into the flames that had fallen to the forest floor and dried over the course of time. The flames burned the branches in two, and then the cat could slide the sections into the growing flames.

   

The possum stepped off to the side, then returned holding the two turtle shells filled with tea colored creek water. He placed the shells down by the glowing coals. In no time the water was boiling. The cat pulled the shells from beside the coals, and then crumbled up the crispy browning yaupon leaves, dropping them into the boiling water, pausing to allow them to steep.

 

Tom Cat turned to the Possum, smiling with a slobbering grin, saying; “Well here it is, ole Possum thar, the very best coffee this side of the Big Muddy. I call it God's coffee, since it grows all around us. When times are tight, there sweet cassina sits, just like a gift from the good Lord himself.”

 

“Yeah? It sure got the boys through during the time of the big fight. The Fed overlooked all of our collard greens, beets, carrots, and black eyed peas, assuming they were animal feed or just weeds, since they were grown at random and stored in feed barns all around for the hogs and chickens,” grinned the possum to the old tom cat, as he glanced backward toward the rooster.

  

 “You're so right,” grinned Tom Cat back to the Possum. “Then there was the Yankee starving time of the Great Depression. We made it through just fine, however. We had a spell of outstanding wealth from the end of the Second World War, until might near eighty two. Then the Fed started closing down all of the work places, and laying ever-body off by eighty three. No work means no food, and now everybody must go back to eating black eyed peas again.”

 

“And good ole Aunt Sadie Bizzel’s fried chicken,” grinned the Possum to the Tom Cat, with a slobbering grin.

 “And good ole fried chicken,” replied the Tom Cat to the Possum, with the same slobbering grin. “Aye sir, we could never leave that one out of our beautiful little picture here.”

“So do tell us,” snarled the cat with a slobbering grin toward the rooster, “what da you think about all of this talk here?”

   

The rooster replied, “Cock a doodle-dew! Cock-a-doodle-dew! Cock-a-doodle-dew to you! Cock-a-doodle-dew! The good Lord will provide! Cock-a-doodle-dew all day!”

  

High overhead the darkening clouds began to gather as the wind suddenly picked up, increasing the pleasant feeling inside the three. The possum and the Tom cat huddled around the fire, stirring the coals with cane sticks and talking quietly among themselves.

 

Thunder from the darkening sky above suddenly cut through the pleasant rustle of the leaves in the spring breeze of the day. A bolt of lightning flashed, instantly striking a large live oak limb high above the possum and the Tom cat; causing it to suddenly crash to the ground, striking the cat and the possum both in the head, knocking them both directly into the flames, as it settled upon the earth beside the fire and the two now roasting bodies.

 

The rooster flapped his wings excitedly for seven minutes or so, as if exercising himself. He casually walked over to the two bodies lying inside the flames, gently rolling them over with his beak when the moment was appropriate. He then raised his head, flapping his wings excitedly once more again.

 

“Cock-a-doodle-dew! Cock-a-doodle-dew!  The good Lord provides! The good Lord provides! Fried Tom cat and possum are not bad with the collard greens and black eyed peas! The boys found that out as well! Cock-a-doodle-dew!  The good Lord surely provides!”

About the author:

The author is an international ESL instructor. More details about him can be found here: