That Mischievous Little Kitten

Garth Boswell is a semi-retired old rancher. Upon finding a mother cat and her litter of kittens nesting in his hay mound inside his barn, he took his hat off and swung it at the cat, yelling "shoo!" to get her to move out of the barn. But one little golden tom, with all of his three-week-old muster, stood on his back legs and swung both front legs at the old rancher with a hiss. He won the ranchers heart. He named him Cheater. In the coming months, as Boswell helped another rancher build a new barn, he had to leave the kitten by itself during the daytime. Cheater found ways to entertain himself, and later when the old rancher brought home another young gray and white kitten he named Buddy, Cheater encouraged Buddy to help in some of their mischief. When his sister came to stay during the Christmas holidays, she asked her brother why he kept telling him she wouldn't put up with "this kind of thing for a minute." He told her, "Yes, but that mischievous little kitten belongs to me. This is his home. And I'm not giving him away."