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My wife Tracey had to have a pet when we got married.  She always had a pet cat and she wanted one that her mom kept for her while she was traveling.  Unfortunately, that cat died, so she wanted another one.  I told her that a cat would not live in my house or any house that we owned.  That was when Smokey “Rascal” Robinson, who was raised in a barn at Mrs. Reba’s, came to live at our home.

When I came home from work that day there was this little kitten and he proceeded to steal my heart.  Rascal went behind the television and hid from me. He stole my heart that night and from that day forward he continues to do so.

He has his own chair (Big Boy Chair) and his own room! Rascal wakes ME every morning at 5:00 and but never Tracey, wanting to go outside after he gets his “tummy loving” and I tell him to be careful outside.

We talk to him like he is a human being and when we call him at night our neighbors think we are crazy, but he comes in when we call him.  Sometimes before dark, Mom calls it dark thirty. We feed him turkey slices and gets in his big boy chair and falls asleep. Rascal is afraid of rain and thunder and he will go under the bed until it stops storming.

I talk to him while he eats and drinks his water like he understands what I am talking about. I never thought it was good to see a kid eating by himself in the lunchroom, so I would sit with them every day.  That is the way I feel about my cat Rascal.

Tracey has proven to me that I was wrong about cats.  They are the cleanest animals in the world. They have a potty box and they use it every time or go outside. If you ever see Rascal you will agree with Tracey, he is the prettiest boy in the world!

I never knew that a person could get attached to an animal so much like I have my buddy Rascal.  He is lying in the floor beside me as I type and has rubbed up against my legs to let me know he is in the room, after all, I am in his room. He does this every time I start typing because my computer is in his room.

They were the best of times with the best of friends and in the best of places, Washington, N.C!  The Original Washington!

Harold Jr.