En la mañana when Grama Cuca came down to la cocina, she found de que Canutito was sitting in a silleta by the kitchen stove with el gatito pardo on his lap. He had una pasión por los gatos. He was stroking the gray kitten llamado 'Fluffy' and talking to it. De repente, grama noticed de que Canutito was doing algo to the cat. She asked him, "¿Qué estás haciendo con el gatito, m'hijo?"

"Oh grama" began Canutito, not even looking up, "it is real frío outside y las paws del Fluffy están todas chapped. I am putting some 'Vaseline Intensive Care' lotion en sus patas so that they won't hurt him cuando he walks en el gravel."

"¡Ay, m'hijo!" Grama Cuca replied, "Don't you know que if you make las patas del Fluffy todas soft con lotion, he isn't going to be able to walk outside? Why don't you just put him down para que pueda walk around?"

Canutito stroked el gatito one more time and then he released him onto the floor. Pero algo seemed to be terribly wrong con el gatito. First the cat ran into the leg of the kitchen table y luego he bumped his head en la refrigerator. Grama looked al gatito con curiosidad. It seemed to her de que el gato was disoriented. Then she noticed de que there was a pair of scissors lying next to Canutito.

"M'hijo," she questioned him, "what have you been doing con esas tijeras?"

"Oh, nada, grama," Canutito replied. "Pero esta mañana I noticed de que las whiskers del Fluffy were a little largas and so I trimmed them down con las scissors."

"No wonder que el gato is all disoriented!" Grama Cuca exclaimed. "Los gatos use their bigotes como feelers to find their way around. If you cut off las whiskers de un gato he won't be able to find his way around."

"Then I'd better keep al Fluffy adentro de la casa until his bigotes grow out again," Canutito stated flatly. Grama Cuca forgot about Canutito and Fluffy as she sat at the kitchen table. She started pasting some S&H green stamps en un libro de estampas. She was planning de usar her S&H stamps para comprar un coffee table pa'l livingroom.

Grampo Caralampio was allá afuera dándole un tune-up a su Studebaker. After sitting en la mesa with S&H green stamps por un tiempecito, Grama Cuca suddenly noticed de que it was a little too quiet y de que she hadn't seen Canutito por una half hour. She got up y fue into the next room where Canutito was sitting con el gato. Fluffy's long hair was all slicked back and it looked como que it was all stuck together.

"M'hijo," Grama Cuca began cautiously, "¿por qué está el pelo del gato all slicked back?"

"¡Oh, grama!" Canutito began all proud, "Yo estaba watching un commercial en TV por 'Brilcreem' que decía 'Brilcreem' a little dab will do ya, 'Brilcreem' a little halleluia,--or something like that--, and I thought de que if I put some 'Brilcreem' en el gato he would look real pretty también pero all it did was to make him sticky."

"Ay, m'hijo," Grama Cuca said patiently, "Leave the cat alone. You are going to hacerlo todo neurotic."

Canutito put the cat down y Grama Cuca went back into la cocina. Todo el día she worked making cookies para Valentine's Day con el Canutito helping her ponerles frosting pink y sprinkles reds. Suddenly it occurred to grama de que she hadn't seen Fluffy en todo el día. She sneaked over to the bedroom where she found el gatito todo passed out in a cage made out of tinker toys.

"¡Canutito!" Grama Cuca called out to him.

"¿Sí, grama?" Canutito said as he came into the bedroom lambiéndose his fingers.

"Why did you put al Fluffy into a tinker toy cage?" she asked him.

"Es porque I had put some whiskey into his bowl to keep him from getting cold y el gatito got all pedo so I put just him aquí so that he wouldn't bump into la estufa..."

¿Le gustaría compartir sus propias anécdotas o comentar con Torres sobre esta columna? Envíele un correo electrónico a lartor@unm.edu