Kathy's Gift

Kathy was a joy to be around. Her smile was large and contagious. Even though she wasn’t the beauty queen type, she had that charming, girl next door look that drew teen boys from all over town to our house. A father’s nightmare. I’ve known for years this time was coming but I’m still not keen on sharing my little girl’s affection with boys. I know what those boys are thinking. Afterall, I was a boy once too. But I digress. There is not a rebellious bone in Kathy’s body. That’s why I didn’t understand why my wife was making such a federal case out of our young lady’s request.

In addition to her love for people my little girl adores animals. She’s like me in that way. I’ve always had animals around. We had a kitten when Kathy Ann was born, and it slept in her crib with her. My mother used to tell us that cat would “suck the breath right outta that baby”. I didn’t put any stock in such superstitions. I loved to watch the two snuggle up together while they slept. As they both grew, they were connected. BFF’s. I had never seen a cat sit still and let a child dress it up before. But every Halloween that cat would allow itself to get dressed in a matching costume. One year they were Tom and Jerry, the next it was Dorothy and Toto. Then she would put that cat get in an orange, plastic pumpkin and go Trick or Treating down our block. The first time I ever saw cantankerous old Mr. Stedman smile was when little Kathy and Speckles went to his door. “Twick o Tweet” I heard her say. Mr. Stedman not only gave her a double portion of candy but went back into his house and came out with cat nip for Speckles.

That cat lived for 14 years. He is buried under Kathy’s bedroom window. She made a wooden headstone for him in wood shop last year. It says, “You left a paw print on my heart that will be there furever.” Kinda sappy but that’s Kathy.

I wasn’t thrown off when she came to us in a family meeting and asked to get another pet. Alice, however, seemed flabbergasted. She never liked animals in the house, but she loved me and knew that I was an animal person even before we married. Guess she thought it was a package deal. A BOGO. Get a husband and we’ll throw in a dog for free. We still have a family dog and it is possible that my wife thought that would be enough for Kathy. But that old hound was my hunting dog and she is a one-person dog. Ignores everyone else in the house. Lays on me like a dog blanket anytime I sit down.

I tried to play referee. Saying things like, “Let’s hear her out, Honey.” And “What kind of pet is it that you want?” Now this is the part I really wasn’t ready for. My sweet little girl wanted a snake! What was she thinking? She knew her mother. They’ve been living together in the same house for almost 16 years now. How did she think her mother would react? I’m an animal person and yet, I’m not sure how I feel about having a reptile for a pet. In my humble opinion, pets should be furry and cuddly.

Alice reacted about how I thought she would. She stood up, gave me “the look”, then left the room. I was supposed to take care of this for her. I was supposed to talk some sense into our daughter. I think my wife realizes just how different she is from her daughter, but I wonder sometimes if she sees just how much they are alike. Reasoning with Kathy would be just as daunting as reasoning with Alice. The one thing I had going for me this time was that I was the dad, and this was still my house. I stood up. My daughter stood and faced me. She was just an inch shorter than me at this point, so we were basically eye to eye. All I said was, “No.”

Kathy followed me around the house all weekend telling me how the science teacher had successfully bred his boa constrictors. The class got to watch the eggs hatch. Now that the baby snakes were old enough, they were being sold. She had already talked to Mr. Schnyder and he was willing to work with her on the price. For two days the only thing I said to my daughter was, “No.”

She must have gotten the idea because we didn’t hear anything more about it. Yesterday was Christmas. As a gag gift I bought her a cage and put a rubber snake in it. We all got a big laugh out of it. That is until Marcy came over.

Marcy was Kathy’s best friend. They met in Kindergarten when the teacher seated them alphabetically. Pritchard and Puckett. Side by side. They’ve been in class together ever since. In second grade we found out that Marcy lived just a block and a half away. Now it’s hard to tell which house the girls actually live at. Sometimes I even hear Marcy slip and call me dad. Not that I mind.

Every Christmas they exchange gifts. These two are highly creative. They’ve given handmade books, personalized sweatshirts, and coupon books for girl’s night out kinda stuff. Last year it got even more creative. We told Kathy that we would not subscribe to Netflix because we already paid for cable. Guess what Marcy gave Kathy for Christmas? Yep. And it goes both ways. After Kathy took Marcy to the mall to get her ears pierced as a Christmas gift, we found out that Mrs. Pritchard had told Marcy that she wasn’t allowed to get her ears pierced. As I stood there remembering all these past gifts, I began to wonder what gifts they would exchange this year.

Marcy pulled a box out of her over-sized bag and handed it to Kathy. It had holes in it. How odd. Wait! I leapt forward reaching for the box. I knew better than to allow her to open that in front of her mother. I didn’t want to have to pick Alice up off the floor. I didn’t make it before I could get to her, Kathy opened the box. A little head popped out. I moved quickly to stand between Kathy and her mother so she wouldn’t know that it was a live animal. Then I stopped and looked back at the box. The head was furry and brown with a white stripe down its nose.

I laughed. I laughed so hard I snorted and sat down on the carpet in front of the girls. When Alice saw what was in the box all she said was, “What is that?”

“It’s a Jenny Pig, mom. Isn’t it cute?”

Alice was so relieved, all she said to Kathy was, “Just keep it in room and for goodness sake keep the door shut. I don’t want to even see that thing.” Then she walked into the other room. “Wish your parents a Merry Christmas, Marcy” she said as the door closed.

The girls were so pleased with themselves they giggled and played with Jenny the guinea pig for hours. Later, I stopped by Kathy’s room to see how Jenny was getting along. They had taken the rubber snake from the cage and declared that it was a perfect house for Jenny. “Hey Kath, what did you get for Marcy this year?”

“Remember that snake I tried to talk you and mom into?”