🐱 None Shall Pass
[ca. 1975]
When I was a kid, we acquired a pet cat named Peachy. This was at our 1926 Harris Street house in Marysville.
Which means my "porno name", by one accounting, is Peachy Harris.
Peachy (named for his characteristic color) was a typical cat in that he was a roamer. Probably never too far from home, but he was definitely out and about.
It was the 1970s, so I was a bit of roamer as well, and one of my common explorations was to climb along the top crossbeam on our backyard fences. Dad had a weathered ladder he'd constructed out of 2-by-4s leaning up against the fence and this provided easy access. To picture it, though, you need to understand that the ladder was taller than the fence, so when leaned against the top of the fence just so, the ladder rose at a fairly shallow angle from the grass below.
That's not really important, but I wanted to build out the scene. I'd clamber along the ladder, rising to the top of the fence, where I'd disembark and walk along the parapet, as it were.
One day I was up there on the southwest fence and Peachy trundled out. There was a cat-sized hole at the base of one of the planks below me, and Peachy had designs to take this shortcut to the neighbor's yard. (In retrospect, this was certainly a common occurrence, but that didn't occur to me at the time.)
I felt that Peachy should remain in our yard, however, using whatever logic my developing brain was utilizing at the time.
Fortunately (for me) there was a disused fence plank leaning against the fence, well in reach. I grabbed it, and moved it rudely in front of the portal just as Peachy was about to come through. He was stymied and retreated.
Success! I'd managed to keep the cat in our yard! Which was very important to do for reasons I will go to my grave never being able to articulate!
Proudly, I climbed back down from the fence and ran inside to share my glorious victory with my parents.
All I clearly remember about the interaction that followed is that I was unexpectedly chastised for treating Peachy so poorly. I might have also been sent to the corner—that part is fuzzy. And here I thought I was doing good!
One childhood event; more valuable life lessons.