Just looking for the cat

 

Just looking for the cat




A longtime favorite from far back in Gate history is this tale of my young and horn-dog brother who did what many boys do when their testosterone makes them become naughty. Stephen was maybe a young teen and we still lived at 9400 Annetta with our two sisters and a dog named Gretel. My big brother was aware of the allure of girls very early and even went out on a kid date when he was in 5th or 6th grade wearing a terry-cloth Hoppalong Cassidy t-shirt. Being this was mid-50's we had a swimming pool, car port, and rumpus room in the rear of our lot thanks to me burning the garage down in 1955. Big sister Cheryl was maturing earlier than we boys and invited a girlfriend over for a sleepover that gave Stephen some ideas. Having an the impossible opportunity of seeing the opposite sex in their birthday suits made him lose good sense and he crept out into the back yard and quietly stationed himself under Cheryl's window right where a hibiscus plant grew which protected him from detection by the girls who were changing into PJs. The story varies and now in his dotage he has added all kinds of bells and whistles but the original as told to me portrays the boy crouching in the hibiscus and possibly commiting the sin of solitary vice. At that same moment my Mom happened to look out of her bedroom window opposite of the naughty lad and said to him "Stephen what are you doing out there?" Busted, sort of red-handed, he stammered out "just looking for the cat" which no one believed. Over the years he has invented some additional dialogue but what I write is the plain truth. It was every boy's dream and every boy's nightmare all at one time

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