Geonerd...

I noticed your signature line reads:

"A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. ~ Mark Twain."

I whole heartedly agree. We learned at a young age that is oh so true.

Somewhere along the line we Cash boys had heard a story of someone tying two cats together by their tails and hanging them over a clothes line. I guessing the ensuing cat fight was suppose to be something grand. And being Cash boys, we were always out to dispel old wive's tails and stories. We were the practical engineers of our old dirt road. We knew what was real and what was poppycock. Did you know you a lit cigarette will NOT ignite gasoline? At least not gasoline spilled out onto a concrete floor. We also found out that a lit cigarette thrown into half a coffee can of gasoline will light up the night sky...and scare the tar out of half a dozen kids. Lucky nobody went to the ER on that one...

Anyway, we were all in on the cat thing. A preliminary engineering feasibility study indicated that the cats probably wouldn't cooperate for long and securing their tails together would best be done by some sort of tape. Trial and error with a rope and a single cat proved the tape necessary. We also discovered that if one of the cats spied the other, all bets were off.

We hatched a plan where each of two kids would confine a cat under their arm with the cat tail facing behind. The two cat-holders would then back slowly toward a third man who would quickly tape their tails together. This was to be done directly adjacent to the clothes line. In a perfect world, neither cat would see the other until they were hung properly over the clothes line with tails secured to each other. What could go wrong?

I was holding a Siamese tom named "Hey Boy". I don't remember the other cats name, but he was just as mean. Apparently everything went well until the other cat broke loose and tried to climb up my back. Hey Boy took offense and we had a premature detonation. This was aggravated by the fact the other cat had tape on his tail that had now become secured to my brother's hands. I remember watching him try and sling a cat away like a 10 pound yo-yo. There was four of us and two mad cats wrapped up in tape and we all wanted to put some distance between each other, quickly....

It probably only lasted a few seconds, but I didn't think it would ever end. I lost my best t-shirt and a good amount of blood. I had no idea a cat could have such an unpleasant disposition. We cancelled the project and moved indoors in search of band-aids and Merthiolate.

Mark Twain is speaking the truth.

I just really want to know how he knew??