THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 2, 1994 TAG: 9407010089
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
TALK ABOUT SOME purrfect letters. Every one is up to scratch.
We're talking about response to the Cats Contest sponsored by The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star. Our readers are sending in stories about their cats.
The letter writers mailing in the 20 best stories will receive two tickets each to the off-Broadway production of ``Cats'' coming to Chrysler Hall July 26.
Can your cat play a harmonica? Does it sing? Can it refinish furniture? If you have more than one cat do they enjoy doing precision marching routines?
Whatever your cat does it is probably interesting. So let us hear from you. T.S. Eliot once said that a cat is something that's always on the wrong side of a door. That was no problem for Moses, a cat owned by Debra A. Keane of Dawley Road in Virginia Beach.
``Moses did some pretty incredible things,'' Keane writes. ``My favorite was his mastery of the doorbell. He would jump up on the ledge and push the bell with his paw when he wanted in.''
Ever hear of a cat that did cartwheels? Yes, as incredible as it sounds, a Virginia Beach cat named Calliope specialized in cartwheels. Astonishing to watch, her owner, Lois Curry of Glanmire Drive, reports.
``Calliope would go sprinting off down the hallway and in one fluid motion place her front paws near the edge of where the wall meets the floor and then flip on her hind legs up and over. She would do this for hours.''
And then there was Star, a cat owned by Pat Hoosack of Blivens Court in Norfolk who loved children and school buses.
``Star liked to go up to the corner each morning and wait for the school buses with the children,'' Hoosack writes. ``The children would give the cat tidbits from their lunch boxes and talk to her.'' Then, at 3 p.m., the cat would rise from the floor, go outside and walk to the bus stop waiting for all the buses to return, her owner said.
Scott and Jen Fowler of Terrace Avenue in Virginia Beach have a cat named Rippy that has a Q-Tip fetish. She kinda barks whenever she wants one, they say.
``If we don't give in to her demands, she takes matters into her own paws by removing them from the package. Rippy carries the Q-Tips in her mouth like cigarettes, throws them in the the air and bats them under floors, furniture, and the refrigerator. Best of all, she fetches them.''
I don't know whether you're ready for this or not, but Chris Long of Orkney Drive in Virginia Beach has a cat that loves to swim and does a very nice Australian crawl. The cat's name is Clarissa. Clarissa writes the letter in her own hand and encloses a photo.
Clarissa writes: ``I look like a cat and people think I'm a cat but actuality I am a dog/fish hybrid. In short, I love water. I get in the shower, play in the sink and toilet but my main talent is swimming in the pool in the summer and walking on water (on the cover) in winter.'' Clarissa says her owner has a video to prove it!
And then there's the incredible dog-frightening cat owned by Josephine Clay Laposata of Sterling Point Drive in Portsmouth. The cat's name is Little Man Tate. Ms. Laposata writes:
``When I take the dogs on a walk, I usually go the same route. Little Man knows this. So he hides behind the same bush every day and waits. He waits for us to come down the street because he also knows I let the dogs off the leash to run home. As they approach the bush, he jumps out at them and scares the dogs to death. He never misses a chance to scare the dogs.''
If you have a good cat tale, please enter The Virginian-Pilot Cats Contest, telling us yours in 100 words or less. Simply mail your entry - name, address, and daytime phone number - to: P.O. Box 2494, Norfolk, Va. 23501. Entries must be received by July 11. ILLUSTRATION: The 20 best cat tales will win tickets to "Cats" at Chrysler
Hall.
KEYWORDS: CONTEST by CNB