A genuine act of faith

Our oldest cat, Laurie, is a feral rescue- or perhaps it may be more honest to say she saved herself. The first really cold, wet day of winter ten years ago she presented herself at our patio door and demanded entry. No doubt she had seen the rest of our cats through the glass door and assumed that this was where cats who are cold and wet go.

Fast forward to last night. A record-breaking thunderstorm was pounding the city, a super cell that had spun off tornados just before hitting Indianapolis, and was now dumping hail of near-biblical proportions, mostly the size of golf balls, punctuated with billiard ball sized ones- but worse than the size was that it was not a burst of hail, but went on and on and on, completely covering the yard in white. The noise was phenomenal, making it necessary to raise our voices to talk, and all of God’s creatures were taking the advice of the National Weather Service and staying in the middle of the house, away from windows and doors and glass.

Except for Laurie. I found her in the sunroom, oblivious to the terrifying drumbeat of hail on glass roof so loud your chest vibrated with it. She was calmly sitting in her sling chair, watching the devastation outside with fascination. In her world, weather is an outdoor thing, and warmth and comfort are indoor things, and never the twain shall meet... she was not even bothered when one of the sunroom window screens was torn from its frame and blown over the house to land in the front yard- it was, after all, outdoors. Her faith in The Way Things Are was complete.

This morning we have the start of a bright, warm Spring day. Our neighbors to the north had two windows broken, and our neighbors to the south lost telephone and cable TV lines- but our only casualty was that one screen. Windshields all over the city were shattered- but not ours. West of the city winds capable of blowing over Semis on I74 had driven hailstones horizontally like cannon shot- but not at our house. Do I believe that Laurie’s faith protected our house? Well... not really. Does Laurie? No- that’s just The Way Things Are!