I was recently at home in Delaware (that's the state, not the county) visiting, vacationing, and just generally relaxing. I took sometime to visit my sister who is living with her fiancee and just recently bought a cat for their house. The cat was borderline psychotic; it would constantly attempt to tear your finger apart should you try to touch it; it would run rampant around the house chasing after anything you threw at it; and my sister had stories to share of it killing bunnies. Now this is not to say that it is a horrible creature, just mischievous; which means it is probably well suited for my sister.
When I first entered the house I was introduced to the cat (yes, I had to be formaly introduced to the cat) as Uncle Mike. This kinda threw me off a bit. I was not prepared to be an uncle, especially of a cat. What do I get to do as an uncle? What is the special right of an uncle? You know, like the parents get to yell at their kids; the grandparents get to spoil the grandchildren. What does an uncle get to do with their nieces and nephews? The only thing I know about uncles is that every family usually has one that is in jail. And I, being the only male in the immediate family would be a prime candidate for that one.
Before I could even think to much about it the cat was promptly picked up and thrust into my arms by my loving sister. Me, not quite knowing what I was doing, held that cat up by grasping it just under the front paw; and the cat, not quite knowing what it was doing, squirmed in an attempt to try to get me to let it go. I finally figured out that I had to hold the bottom of the cat too, so I attempted to cradle him. The cat rewarded my intuitiveness by continuing to squirm, obvioulsy wanting to get down. As I told my sister this she just told me that he was happy to be in my arms. At this point I had enough of the cats claws in my shirt and decided it was time to let him down. I again picked him up by underneath the front paws and unhooked him from my shirt. Then I slowly lowered him to the ground. Apparently the cat did not like this because his squirming intensified untill I could no longer hold on to him. In a moment of shear terror I dropped the cat. Fearing the worst I remembered that cats always land on their feet and watched as the cat landed and ran off. Needless to say after that experience I had some trouble getting the cat to come near me for the rest of the night. Mostly he would just run away from me then sit next to my sister and naw on her hand.
Now that the cat would not come near me I had a little more time to reflect on my uncle problem. My first experience as an uncle was being the uncle of a borderline psychotic cat. And the meeting did not go to well either, could this be a sign of things to come? Was I doomed to be a bad uncle? After thinking about it for a while I came to the conclusion that I would not have to worry about for a some time. My sister is starting graduate school in the fall and I am sure she will wait untill that is over before she starts a family. So in the meantime I will just concentrate on being the best uncle of a borderling-psychotic cat that I can be while being glad that my sister did not get a monkey.
To cite this page:
Well I'll be a Cat's Uncle
<http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu>
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