Author: Edward Guenther
Written: 1/9/2014

When Aunt Rebekah was a little girl she loved flowers.  She often picked small bouquets for her mother.  So it was no surprise when she named her first cat Flower.

Flower was one of a litter born in a friend’s barn.  The mother was a barn cat, more or less wild.  Perhaps that accounted for the unusual love Flower displayed for its master, Aunt Rebekah.

Aunt Rebekah loved Flower and played with her all the time, but being born of a barn cat the call of the wild was the way of this cat too.  When she was fully grown she began to stray. Gradually she strayed for longer and longer periods of time, and then one day she was just gone! Rebekah look everywhere for her precious pet. Realizing Flower had strayed again Rebekah waited and waited for Flower to return again.  Day after day Aunt Rebekah watched out the window but Flower didn’t return.  Rebekah had to face the fact that her wild friend return to the wild.

A year passed and as Rebekah was playing outside she saw a familiar cat at the edge of the briers in the upper meadow looking at her.  Rebekah slowly approached and the now wild cat walked up to her and greeted her.  They spent hours together. Flower rubbed her head against her old master, rode on her shoulders as Rebekah walked around and thoroughly enjoyed their time together.  Rebekah was hoping that Flower was back for good, but after their visit Flower rubbed her head against Rebekah a last time and walked back into the wilds of the McDowell Creek country. 

It was a happy and sad time for Rebekah. But she treasured the precious memory as she had to face the fact that Flower wasn’t back to stay.  Another year passed. Once again there was Flower, waiting for Aunt Rebekah in the upper meadow.  Again they played together all afternoon, but as the sun disappeared, so did Flower.  It was almost as if the girl was the pet and not the other way around.

Once again another year passed and there she was in the upper meadow again. Flower became a legend, showing up once a year to see her beloved Rebekah in the meadow, but she would never come nearer to the house.   She was not a tame cat, you know.

Then one year Flower appeared but wouldn’t leave the briers. As Rebekah approached, Flower lead Rebekah a little ways and proudly presented Rebekah with a fat little bundle of fur.  This time when Flower left, she left behind her gift, appropriately named Tubby. Somehow Rebekah knew Flower would now be only a memory.