oldtimeycats: My title: Bro Elbow with Book. Photograph by…
Saturday, November 7th, 2015My title: Bro Elbow with Book.
Photograph by Clara Middleton, ca. 1905. Madison, Wisconsin. Source: Wisconsin Historical Society.
A cat, which appears to be dozing, is posed with an open copy of Ernest Seton-Thompson’s “Wild Animals I Have Known.”
When I was six I bought a paperback copy of this book at the school book fair. I told my dad about it that night, and he made an unusual-for-him suggestion: Would I like him to read it to me?
I don’t remember making any connection between his offer and my parents’ recent divorce, my mom’s moving away, but looking back I wonder: Was he making a conscious effort to fill the void by playing a more nurturing role?
We picked “Raggylug: The Story of a Cottontail Rabbit”. I snuggled next to him in a big chair in the living room. I remember how special it felt, the whole experience, listening to my dad, being drawn into the story.
[SPOILER ALERT]
At the end of the story Rag’s mother Molly, fleeing a fox, drowns in an icy pond. I was devastated, sobbing uncontrollably. “But why did she have to die?” I kept asking. I don’t remember my dad’s answer.
He must have felt so betrayed, having his nurturing impulse sabotaged like that.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1NVzQqr.
