The Day That Mrs. Kitty Gave Birth

Legally it was Miss Kitty, as the maiden was never properly betrothed, like most other she-cats.

But we called her Mrs. Kitty.

I recall that this may have once been a source of contention once between my sister and I. I can't even remember which position I took, but whatever it was, the cease fire that my parents brokered left the issue unresolved.

I think the confusion comes from the way it was pronounced. I never said 'Miz-zez Kitty'. Oh, no, it was 'Miz Kitty'.

Besides, the use of 'Mrs. Kitty' makes for a more interesting intro.

Mrs. Kitty was a savvy feline. When my parents got our other cat Tigger from the pound, Mrs. Kitty pawed at my parents through the cage, and that was that, we had two cats.

For the record, that was the most endearing thing that Mrs. Kitty ever did.

She would tolerate petting enough to feel she had paid her obligations.

This is when we lived in Roswell, New Mexico. I was in fourth grade, and my sister just started kindergarten.

Every afternoon when I came home from school, I watched my favorite shows, Adam West's Batman and The Three Stooges.

I didn't realize that Batman was a bit of a parody until later. I was always in suspense to see if Batman and Robin would survive their captors at the end of every other episode.

I don't think The Three Stooges are all that funny anymore.

In between the sofa and the big black and white Curtis Mathes tv, which eventually became a color Curtis Mathes tv, but then turned back into a black and white tv before we got another Curtis Mathes color tv, was one of those corded oval carpets, the kind that if unravelled would've reached from Roswell to the distant planet that visited Roswell in 1947.

And yes, it really did happen.

But I digress.

Once, during a rousing episode of Batman, while the Joker was giving the dynamic duo a run for their money, a pregnant Mrs. Kitty stationed herself in the middle of the carpet.

I first assumed she was about to negotiate a hairball, but as Mrs. Kitty began to move into position, I feared a bowel movement, so I think I was about to make a comment to her about that.

As I did she began to shake and sound off, I began to notice the little rats that were coming out from behind her.

I came to realize of course that these weren't rats, but newly born youngling cats! My understanding at the time was that animals weren't supposed to do this kind of thing in public...anything related to the propagation of life or the end of it was supposed to be done in secret....

I exclaimed to my dad(who was taking a nap)that Mrs. Kitty was having kittens on the carpet. Whenever this story comes up, my unbridled enthusiasm has always been noted.

Similar outbursts were to occur when Henry Winkler won an Emmy for his role as 'Fonzie', and, later, whenever re-runs of 'The Jeffersons' were on.

We procured a box that Mrs. Kitty found acceptable and we made her a place that she could get her fledgling family started.

The curious sort that my sister and I were, we took two of the kittens out of the box, and watched them crawl around on the floor in the light.

Mrs. Kitty unceremoniously and calmly came and took them, one at a time, back to her abode.

Save for her performance on the carpet, that was Mrs. Kitty-always understated and reserved.

Perhaps she spent her whole life preparing for that one moment.

Later that evening we went to Sambo's, where we decided not to eat.

The restaurant was open, but the roof was on fire.

I'm not sure if the people inside were ever informed, but eventually the fire department was called and the concern was tended to.

Neither do I remember where we ate that night or whatever became of Mrs. Kitty.

Sambo's survived, we ate many more meals there before we left for Big Spring, TX.

I do remember that we gave away the kittens, and Tigger ran away from the new owners when we gave him away several years later.

That was the worst move of my life.

"Hey Brian, we're going to move back to this dinky little town we used to live in and we're going to give your cat away."

But I digress.

Thank you Mrs. Kitty, where ever you are, for giving kittens life and for letting me be apart of it.

I wonder what became of The Joker and Batman in that episode?