This is Deputy Digby Pancake.  I go by many names.  Deputy.  Digby.  Dirty Digby.  Diggy.  Digby Butt.  I also answer to Stop That.  Don’t Eat That.  And Horse Poop.  The latter, just because I want to and I like the sound of it.  I also like the taste of it.

Here at Memaw Macaw’s house, there is a lot of talking. There is a lot of fixing things.  And there is a lot of shady characters in the yard. No.  Not me.

Meet Tom.  Or Tommy.  He goes by both according to Memaw.  Seems as though he has some secret identities.  And the Deputy part of me is not too keen on that.  I am also not too keen on him sneaking around the corner while I am laying in sunshiny, scaring the Sheriff, and making me lose my concentration on sunshiney time.

Tom is a strange one.  Girl Person tried to explain to Sheriff Brickle and I that Tom has been here a very long time.  But she said that no one knows where Tom came from.  And so I started doing my research.  Who was this character…Tom?  What was his last name anyway?  Tom is too short of a name to be official.  Tommy is too short of a name while trying to be casual.  And so you might as well just say Tom.  But who was he?  I had to find out his last name.  Was he…Tom Cruise?  I have heard of that guy.

Nope.  This is not the Tom.

So.  Is Tom’s last name Selleck?  Tom Selleck?  Is Tom Magnum PI?  No.

And then I even thought about Tom Hanks.

But nope.  Tom wasn’t that fast.  He couldn’t dance.  And he didn’t have a mustache.  And then, since I ascertained who he was not…it was up to me to figure out who Tom in fact was.  And that is when I heard Boy Person.

Boy Person explained that Tom was a barn cat.  He said that Tom has been here a long time, and that he preferred to spend his days chasing things and getting fat.  Huh.  Not so bad.  He said that Tom didn’t like to socialize much…kind of like Sheriff Brickle.  So.  This was his gig.  He was Tom Barn Cat.  He had three names like us.  He lived in Memaw Macaw’s yard.  She had him fixed.  She feeds him.  But he just takes the food and goes with just a casual meow.  A casual, occasional purr.  That is Tom.  Tom Barn Cat.

What I find interesting about Tom Barn Cat is that he is happy on his own terms.  He may not be everyone’s idea of what a cat should be.  But Tom Barn Cat knows who he is.  He lives to eat and roam around like a cat should.  Girl Person says that they all worry about him, but Tom Barn Cat says that he chooses to live life to the full.  He would rather be free.  So who are we to judge how Tom Barn Cat wants to be?  In my mind, I wish that all animals could have a little bit of Tom’s life.  I would like to be free sometimes.  But our world makes it too dangerous Girl Person says.  Tom Barn Cat has experience.  He has smarts.  He has it all.  And Tom Barn Cat?  As long as we are parked here at Memaw Macaw’s house, we hope we can have a few chats.  I would like to hear more about you.  Even if it is from afar.

Life has many characters that pass through our days.  If we expect everyone to fit in the way we think that they should, how boring is that?  We all have a little bit of Tom in us.  What makes us happy? What makes us free?

-Deputy Digby Pancake

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