Jack, your photo reminds me of the wall of regenerating kittens from my high school days.
I was in a vet program and a student kept bringing in kittens, one every other day, for a total of four. Then about a week or so later he brought the fifth one in and I got the story. Seems his dad had been remodeling an old house, and one day heard a mewling behind a section of drywall. They tore it up, and found a kitten, with no indication of how it got there. Rescued it, put the drywall back. So the kid brought it in to our class to take care of, as often happened.
Two days later, the same thing happened again.
Two days after that, again. This time they didn't put the drywall back. And it was a good thing, too, as there was another kitten about two days later. By this time it was making them a bit crazy, so dad started tearing the house apart (again) to figure out where the kittens were coming from. There were no holes to the outside along that section of wall, and nowhere he could think of that the kittens could be coming from, to say nothing of the fact that these could barely walk. He even stopped work on the house for a few days— he was a compassionate guy and it was more a hobby than a business anyway— during which time no new kittens appeared.
Finally, it occurred to him to check the attic, and as he shone his flashlight into a dark corner he startled something which immediately ran over, picked up a small bundle from under a pile of rags, and dropped it into a hole in the attic wall. As a startled mew descended rapidly about twelve feet, the mother cat looked puzzled, sniffed the hole, sniffed the pile of rags, and then ran off.
Dad went back downstairs to the hole in the drywall. And voila! the fifth and final kitten.
Seems that while momma cat was protecting her babies in the attic, the sound of the workmen would startle her. She'd found a hole in the attic wall which she judged to be just the right size to hide her kittens in if there was ever an emergency, and when the construction noise reached emergency levels, she would grab a kitten and drop it into the hole. But the hole went all the way to the ground floor, and when the cat realized that her kitten had just disappeared, she would wisely not put any more kittens into the hole. But about two days later, she would have forgotten... Hence the mysteriously reappearing kittens behind the wall. Unfortunately, the incompetent mother never returned and so couldn't be reunited with her offspring, which were placed in foster homes for their own protection.
Heartily sorry for the sequitur. Again, I should be asleep. |
