Two Blocks from Slab TownTurpentine Catby Joey Boon 
A couple of hours later, Dad came in the house with Marvin Hobbs (a guy that worked for Dad, from time to time). The first thing he did was to say to Mom, "Amy, do you have any idea what happened to that cat out in the driveway?" Well, Mom was quicker than anybody ever gave her credit for and, with a puzzled look, said, "Well, Morris, what are you talkin’ about?" Now, Dad had the puzzled look, too, and replied, "I’m talkin’ about that darn cat out there in the driveway - didn’t you see him?" Mom went over to the window, gazed out a bit, and exclaimed, " What in the world?" She looked a little closer and yelled, "That cat’s not dead, Morris, he’s standing upright!" Dad said, "oh yeah - why don’t you look a little closer?" Well, she figured out what happened, alright - but, with Marvin Hobbs standin’ right there and listening to everything that was bein’ said, she didn’t want it to get around that she was the "cat killer" of the neighborhood. So, with a gasp and a tear in her eye, she said, "Oh my goodness, that poor little thing!"
Oh yeah, that cat was indeed standing on all fours, alright. The only thing was that it stopped dead in it’s tracks (and breathing at the same time). The three of them went outside to take a closer look. My dad went right up to it’s face and said to Mom, "Amy, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a look like this one on anything I’ve ever seen, before!" Marvin Hobbs jumped in and said, " He kind’a looks like he’s grinning and yelling at the same time, don’t he?"
Well, as soon as he said that, all three of them felt a cool breeze surround them, and then lift into the air. Dad said, "I think that must’a been his spirit rising!" So, all three just stood there in amazement for a few more minutes. Then, all of a sudden, the cat started breathin’, again - that gave them all goose bumps. The next thing ya know, he darted off in the direction of Mr. and Mrs. Nichols old house. You see, they used to have a bunch of crazy ole’ cats that always seemed to be hangin’ out over there.
All of a sudden, Dad looked over at Mom and said, " You know something, Amy, I think we all know what came out’a that cat, right. But, what was it that went back in?" After a short pause, Marvin Hobbs ( who claimed he’d been abducted by aliens, once) said, "You know what I think, Morris?" Well, Dad was pretty sharp and quickly responded, " Aliens, right?" Marvin replied, " Oh, yeah!"
After that day, every time they would drive by the old Nichols house, they’d look over and think about that cat and wonder if Marvin Hobbs was right - maybe he was -and more than that, he just might’ve been telling’ the truth about that alien abduction, after all.
My mother told me and Cissy this story when we were a little bit older. But, when we were younger, we used to be afraid to even go into the Nichol’s yard. We thought them cats acted strange and too weird at times - of course, the Nichol’s, themselves, were even stranger. I guess that’s another story I’ll have to tell you about, later. As for now, Cissy and I still get chills when we go by that old Nichol’s house. We still think about that turpentine cat and wonder what ever happened to him.
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