C. S. Lewis and Whiskers

On March 21, 1955, in a letter to Mary Willis C.S. Lewis writes:

We were talking about Cats and Dogs the other day & decided that both have consciences but the dog, being an honest, humble person, always has a bad one, but the Cat is a Pharisee and always has a good one. When he sits and stares you out of countenance he is thanking God that he is not as these dogs, or these humans, or even as these other Cats!

Lewis may have something here. Humble cats are hard to find. Humble cats are, I think, hardier to find than haughty dogs.

We once had neighbors, two doors down, who had cats and dogs. Their large black cat, Whiskers, was the neighborhood bully. When our neighbors went on vacation we watched their pets and when we went on vacation they watched our pets.

One summer they went to the beach leaving their pets, including Whiskers, in our care. As the week progressed Vickie remarked that she had not seen Whiskers. As the week drew to a close and the day came for our neighbors’ return we had still not seen Whiskers; in spite of calling his name within and without the house. This was unusual for he not only patrolled his neighborhood on a regular basis, reminding other cats, dogs, and humans that they lived in the area solely by his sufferance; but he also used “home” has a source of food and water. What had become of Whiskers? Had he met his match? Was he road kill? Had he hijacked a truck of Nine Lives cat food, been caught, tried, and was he now in prison?

It turns out that as our neighbors were getting ready to pull out of the driveway on vacation that one of their sons realized he had left something in his bedroom. Whiskers, who was in the house at the time, followed him into the bedroom without being noticed; when the son left the bedroom he shut the door…he shut the door on Whiskers. It was a second-floor bedroom, it was summer, and the air conditioning was turned off. It was hot, it got hotter, and there was no water.

Now at this point I could write to be continued…but that is a cheap trick so I’ll tell you what happened – he lived! I can’t testify whether he used more than one life that week, but he did indeed live, dropping a number of pounds. Of course Whiskers tried to get out of the bedroom – oh my did he try. He destroyed the carpet by the door. He destroyed the trim around the window. It’s a wonder he didn’t claw his way through the drywall – but he did live.

It was weeks before we saw Whiskers again. Whether he held it against Vickie for not finding him we’ll never know, but he seldom came down to our house after that experience; of course our dogs didn’t mind his absence, but I have to admit I kind of missed the old boy.