Growing Up In Granola Village

For some reason, our parents then accepted the gift of a cat which we named Clara after the girl who had given it to us. We loved that cat and kept it for many years until it disappeared. We had owned other cats, including the one that had alerted us to the house fire, but eventually they had vanished as well. However, looking back, I wonder if it was a coincidence that when grandpa moved in, the cats “moved” out. We remember one time, for example, when one of the cats aggravated him for some reason. We all stood by as he grabbed the poor animal and tied it inside a burlap bag. Next he laid the bag in the middle of the garden which was a few feet off our porch, and grabbed his shotgun. We all watched as he fired off four shots and stomped down to undo the bag.I can still hear our laughter as that cat ran out, unharmed, and disappeared into the woods never to be seen again. I don’t know why we hadn't intervened; maybe we had confidence in the fact that the cat had nine lives but grandpa had only four bullets.