Learning from the Cat

Percival Fauntleroy III, the NFL Hall of Fame receiver, was in town to visit his uncle, Zeke Dombrowski I. It’s not likely there will be any other Zeke Dombrowskis, since Zeke has no children, but he likes putting I after his name.

Since Claire Nathan was his teacher in high school cooking class, and Percival became a chef when his concussing days were over, he and his uncle and Zeke’s bloodhounds, Old Blue I, II, and III, met Claire for lunch at Buddy Mutts Café.

“How did you ever think of that thing you did whenever you scored a touchdown, where you acted like you were trying to kick the ball into the stands but it missed and just rolled around?” Claire asked her former student.

“Well, the first time I did it, I really intended to kick it into the stands, but I just plain missed. I couldn’t admit that, though, so every time after that, I had to do it exactly that way again, so everyone would think it was what I intended.”

“Wow, that was smart,” gushed his Uncle Zeke.

“Not really,” said Percival. “I got the idea from my cat.”

“Thank goodness you didn’t do the same thing the cat does when it wants to make it look like that was what it had in mind all along,” said Claire Nathan.