AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A CAT ON A JOURNEY FROM CAPE ...

suspect it was the usual human backassward effort. It is my belief that they did not decidewhat they needed and then acquire it. What they did was to see how much space they hadand jam it full of whatever they could get their hands on. Things just kept coming untilthe boat was full and then new areas would be found and more things were brought to fillthem. I soon decided that it would be impossible for me to check on everything and sorestricted myself to those items that concerned me directly. I made sure they had plentyof food for me by carefully examining what they called Chris's stock. I could see at aglance that it would be insufficient, but decided it could be supplemented by the tuna andsardines they had bought for themselves. I was very worried about my box of sand for awhile. Every day while we were tied up to the wall one of the children would empty itand bring fresh sand from the shore, but where was the sand going to come from whenwe were at sea? That question was answered when Fatso found a big plastic drum in thelazarette and lashed it to the rail on the after deck. Then he took two buckets and began tofill the drum with sand. It took him hours. He had to fill the buckets from a pile of sandway down at the end of the quay, carry them to the boat and down the ladder and thenscoop the sand into the drum. I had a lovely time watching him sweating away, especiallywhen little accidents would occur, like when the ladder shifted and he dropped the bucketinto the bay and had to fish it out, dry it off and fill it again. Or when he tried to poursand into the drum and spilled most of it on the deck, which he then had to sweep clean.It was good for my soul to watch him persevere and to reflect that all that effort was forme.When the boat was finally full, we moved away from the wall to the club jetty totake on water and fuel. That was a terrifying experience for me, or at least a very nervousmoment. In the first place there must have been about a thousand people cluttering up thedecks. Lampie was there, several of Phlop's friends, several of Rink's. Tony's wife andsome of their friends, some characters who had been helping Fatso drink beer while wewere getting ready, Janet's parents and family, friends of Rick, and a lot of people whostood around the dock saying that they would never put to sea in that boat. The confusionengendered by all those people was staggering. Each had something to say about me, too,and the need to spread my attention was no small part of my concern.In the second place, there was the engine. This is located right in the middle of thesalon and makes a terrible racket when it is going. It stinks, too, which makes itespecially offensive. When they started that thing up I had to run away and the only placeto run to was the deck, and, of course, that was surrounded by water. I do not know whatwould have happened to me if the children hadn't needed my reassurance. They musthave been very nervous, too, because they picked me up and it calmed me when Iremembered my duty was to keep an eye on them. That is what is good aboutresponsibility. In moments of stress one is reminded of the indispensable nature of one'sbeing.It took ages to get away from the jetty. The water tanks had to be filled, as well asthe fuel tanks; a last shower had to be taken and a final beer to be consumed before all thefriends and relatives were kicked off the boat and the lines let go. Some idiot on the shorebegan ringing a big bell, which gave me quite a fright, and people on the other boats blewtheir hooters and shouted inane greetings as we motored out of the yacht basin. That'swhat humans do when anything happens. Make lots of noise. Fatso was the worst of thelot. He was so busy shouting and waving and blowing his hooter that he nearly crashed27