The Minister’s Cat

The Meenister’s Log

Two small boys once appeared at the door of the Manse and asked “Is this your cat, Mr Strachan?” (obviously looking for a reward) as one of them cradled this kitten in his arms.

She wasn’t, but they got their reward…and we got our punishment!  What a vindictive, spiteful wee thing she turned out to be over the several years we had her in a sort of love-hate relationship.

There used to be an old “parlour game” called “The Minister’s Cat”, in which each player had to come up with an adjective beginning with each letter of the alphabet to describe the said feline.

We could use – for the letter ‘C’ the word Conservative, for I once heard it said “That Minister’s a Tory; only Conservatives keep cats – real socialists have dugs!”

Little did they know that a better letter for our cat would have been “A” for “Anarchist” or even “Anti-Christ”

However, Pope John II announced in 1991 that animals have souls (which is a comforting thought for many of us)  The argument now is about the immortality or otherwise of their souls.

The idea of Heaven being populated with the likes of  our “Meenister’s Cat” would make even a saint have second thoughts.