Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years.
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During the 1970s when we lived on Sherwood Avenue, there were several cats in our neighborhood. We even had one ourselves, a longhaired Persian cat named Cher.
Then one day, our next-door neighbor, Don Johnson, brought home a kitten to add to our neighborhood cat population. It was beautiful, with short, coal black hair and green eyes. I think it was one of the prettiest cats I had ever seen.
Its name was Michelle, and she soon became the most popular cat in the neighborhood. All the kids loved her, and she got more attention and more affection than any other cat on Sherwood Avenue.
Michelle was born with some sort of abnormality in her hindquarters. As a result, she walked with a noticeable limp. And when she ran fast, her hind legs flopped from side to side.
Don took Michelle to a vet to see if the problem could be corrected. The vet said there was nothing he could do, but he assured Don that she was feeling no discomfort and could lead a normal life with the other cats in the neighborhood. So Michelle lived a good life for years with the Johnsons.
As fall approached and the temperatures cooled a bit, Michelle started lying in the street now and then. I think she liked the heat that the blacktop had absorbed from the sun. That was pretty dangerous, however, because it was hard to see the black cat on the blacktop street.
Then one Saturday afternoon at just about dinnertime, a car came down Sherwood Avenue driven by Lya Snider. She and her husband, Jim, lived on Grand Avenue near the Legion Park. I don’t know where Lya was going, but as she drove past the Johnson house, she suddenly saw Michelle lying in the street. She slammed on the brakes, and the car came to a screeching halt only an inch or two from the cat.
That scared the daylights out of Michelle, and she started running at full speed into the Johnson’s front yard with her hindquarters flopping back and forth. When Lya saw that, she immediately thought she had hit the cat. She was heartsick.
Lya got out of the car and went to the Johnson’s porch and rang the doorbell. When Don came to the door she was almost in tears as she said, “Oh, I am so sorry. I didn’t see your cat lying in the street.”
Don didn’t have any idea what she was talking about until she said, “I ran over your cat.” Then she pointed to Michelle, who was limping across the lawn, and said, “Oh, just look what I have done.”
With a smile on his face, Don assured Lya that she had not hit Michelle. He told her that she always walked with a limp. Lya let out a sigh of relief. She was elated to hear that she had not hit Michelle.
I was pretty happy about that myself, because Michelle was a really nice cat.
Those wishing to contact Bill Boyd can e-mail him at bill@davidwboyd.com