“Singin’ the blues while the lady cats cry,
‘Wild stray cat, you’re a real gone guy.’
I wish I could be as carefree and wild,
But I got cat class, and I got cat style.”
— The Stray Cats, American rockabilly band
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Saw another news item about big cats in East Texas last week. A huge one up near Longview that ran out in front of a police cruiser at 3 a.m.
Identified by Texas Parks and Wildlife as a mountain lion, the feline lost its battle with the law enforcement vehicle. Stirring up once again, the popular feud as to whether big cats really roam East Texas. Social media comments became a cat fight with some crying “scam” and others declaring, “See, I told you so.”
I’m not a hunter. Not even much of an outdoorsman if there’s any chance of encountering snakes, mosquitos, chiggers, or having to get up before sunrise. And communing with nature? My favorite camping style is a hotel room with a nice view of trees.
My first sort-of camping adventure involving cats was during grade school. With neighbor friend Eddie Dial on Redbud Street in Mount Pleasant. Roughing it under a tent created by throwing a couple of old bedspreads over the backyard clothesline.
“What’s that noise,” Eddie said in the middle of the night. Just as we were ready to make a run for the house, Mom’s house cats poked their noses into our makeshift tent. LIkely expressing curiosity about the backyard visitors. Or maybe they picked up the scent of our snacks.
Camping trips with Coach Sam Parker’s Boy Scout Troop never involved cats, just cat sounds. Older scouts making noises to scare the Tenderfoot campers. Even weeklong excursions to Scout Camp in the hills of Oklahoma offered nothing but a herd of wild hogs one night. Mount Pleasant High School teacher turned scout camp counselor, James Criscoe, demonstrated hog-calling skills we considered entertaining. Until a herd rumbled through camp in the middle of the night.
But big cats? Nope. None in Oklahoma.
Nor Arkansas either, I guess. Mom and Dad spent their vacations camping at Albert Pike. I joined them weekends a couple of times. Arriving the first time after dark on Friday night, I looked at their small camper and asked, “Where do I sleep?”
“Here’s a sleeping bag,” said Dad. “That picnic table under the canopy looks like a great spot.”
“But what about mountain lions and stuff,” I asked.
“They don’t have them on Arkansas,” he laughed. “At least I don’t think so.” Sleeping with one eye open, all I saw were big mountain raccoons rummaging in trash cans in the middle of the night.
It was not raccoons, however, that I heard one night several years ago visiting the lower latitudes of Shelby County. Down between Possum Trot and Goober Hill. Yes, those are real places — check your Cracker Barrell road atlas.
Air conditioning did not grace the dirt road residence I was visiting near the Sabine National Forest that night. And being Springtime, windows were open allowing pleasant East Texas breezes for comfort.
It was way after dark when I heard it. A blood-curdling, ear-piecing scream.
“That’s just a panther,” someone said nonchalantly.
That was 40 years ago, and I didn’t dare dispute my host’s opinion. Who was I to say, anyway? My big cat experience in East Texas was limited to lions, tigers, and all kinds of ferocious felines in zoos like Tyler and Lufkin. And that was my first visit to the Possum Trot, Goober Hill area.
I still remember it. A cross between the time Mom encountered a mouse scampering across the kitchen floor and the epic shower scene from the movie “Psycho.”
These days, I see cats daily. Just city cats that call my house home. They are big, only if you count extra pounds from regular feedings of good quality cat food and sleeping upwards of 20 hours a day. And I see them sometimes from the travel trailer I bought a few years ago. I’ve enjoyed many nights camping in it. Right where it’s parked in my backyard, a few steps from the house.
They’re always the same three regular cats: Lover Boy, Fluffy Bottom, and Marshmallow. And two occasional walk-ons nicknamed Scrappy Cat and Mouthy. I just set an extra place at the food bowls when they show up.
If there really are big cats in East Texas, mountain lions like the one that ventured out in Longview last week, I just hope they are not fond of good quality cat food and sleeping upwards of 20 hours a day.
I don’t need another cat … of any class, style, or size.
—Leon Aldridge
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Aldridge columns are featured in these publications: The Mount Pleasant Tribune, the Rosenberg Fort Bend Herald, the Taylor Press, the Alpine Avalanche, the Fort Stockton Pioneer, the Elgin Courier, The Monitor in Naples, and Motor Sports Magazine.
© Leon Aldridge and A Story Worth Telling 2024. Excerpts and links may be used, provided full and clear credit is given to Leon Aldridge and ‘A Story Worth Telling’ with appropriate and specific directions to the original content.
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