When you hear that knock on the door (March 13)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
The other day when I was fixing a bit of lunch, I heard a knock on the kitchen door. I went to the door and looked out the window to see who was there and didn’t see anybody. I turned back to finish stirring my vegetable soup when I heard the knock again.
I looked through the window again and didn’t see anybody. Then, I heard a yowl. I peeked down at the steps, and there was the culprit — the cat. Somehow, she had figured out how to knock on the door.
She is just an average-sized cat, and not all that smart. About all she wants to do is eat, sleep and watch TV. In that way, she and I have a lot in common. So I was surprised she had learned this new skill.
I peeked through the window, down at the porch again, and she put her paw up on the door and pushed on it. The door moved just enough to knock-knock against the sill. I opened it to see what she wanted, and she ran into the house between my feet and headed for the heat register.
It was a cold day outside, and apparently she was not aware we were undergoing global warming. She snuggled next to the heat register so most of the hot air coming out of it was blowing on her first.
I seem to remember somewhere some stories about 100 monkeys. Supposedly if at least 100 monkeys learn to wash sweet potatoes, pretty soon all the monkeys will learn to do that. Another monkey story is that if you put 100 monkeys into a room with 100 typewriters, eventually one of them will write a newspaper column. (Perhaps this very column is being written by a monkey while I take the day off. Think about that.)
I wonder whether the same is true of 100 cats, and also whether our cat is the 100th cat that learned to knock, or will she teach 99 others to knock on the door as soon as the weather warms up a little. If your cat starts knocking on your door, you will know why.
