Some years ago, our family were on
our way home after a beautiful winter hike. We had climbed mountains to view
the ocean and passed countless cows grazing on our way down. The cold air
outside had chilled us to the bone, and now the heater in the family car warmed
us.
The drive was long, and night had
fallen. My husband was driving, and I was in the passenger seat, while our two
children sat in the back. The conversation was lively, but at a certain point
our daughter dozed off in her car seat. It was more than her then-three-year-old
body could manage to remain awake. Her older brother and her parents continued
to speak, noting her soft sleeping breaths.
At some point, even we had rested
our conversation, when out of her slumber our daughter’s sleepy voice
interrupted the silence.
“Would you pet a cat that had no
tail?” she said.
It was a non sequitur to beat all non
sequiturs.
“The Dormouse has spoken,” my
husband said.
The Dormouse is a character in "A Mad
Tea-Party", Chapter VII [1] from the 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. The Dormouse sat between the March Hare and the
Mad Hatter. They were using him as a cushion while he slept when Alice arrives
at the start of the chapter. The Dormouse is always falling asleep during the
scene, waking up every so often, to insert some unrelated comment and doze off
again.
After that day, our daughter began
to call herself Dormouse, and she and her brother developed this alternate
identity further, making up stories that bore little resemblance to Alice’s tea
party associate or to nature’s dormice. Our resident dormouse kept this alter
ego for some years before it, too, dissipated into the family lore of yore.
But so many years later, I woke up
thinking about the question posted long ago in the dark car.
“Would you pet a cat that had no tail?” never got an answer back when.
Today, it seems to me the question
deserved a reply. The way I understand it, it has a deep meaning. It’s another
way of asking, “could you love and care for someone who isn’t perfect?”
Dear Dormouse, it was a perfect
question perfectly asked. We got sidetracked but your question deserved an
answer.
My belated answer is YES, ten
times yes. I’d pet a cat that had no tail. Would you?
