Summary: A Cat and Hoss teach a hard-hearted boy about love and forgiveness.

This piece started out as a pinecone in August 2023, then I developed it a bit more into a short story.

It was also inspired by a story I heard long ago on the radio.

Rating: T  Wordcount: 2,228

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The cat’s name was Ugly. He was an old tom that no one wanted; his fur was so dirty that a person would be hard pressed to say what color his fur actually was. He was mangy from living on the streets and getting into fight after ferocious fight with other tom cats. He had the scars to prove it. This cat had so many scars that his fur looked like a patchwork quilt well-worn and fraying, a jigsaw puzzle with several pieces missing. His fur didn’t grow properly to cover the crisscross slashes of claws and the gnashing of canine teeth that were now a story of scars. But this was only a small fraction of how this cat came to be known by the name of Ugly.

A piece of his left ear was missing; obviously a casualty to one of his many fights. What was left of his ear looked like the gnawed off end of a tree stump. This cat had lost his right eye – no one remembers the fight – but one day Ugly showed up and the cavity where his eye should’ve been was bloodied and swollen shut. He had also been kicked around so much by the kids who got some kind of sadistic thrill from tormenting this old cat; kicked so much that he walked with a permanent limp. Such was the life of this cat known by the name of Ugly. He obviously wasn’t a candidate for winning a beauty pageant.

The people of Virginia City thought this cat was not only unwanted and unloved, but completely useless, obviously unlovable. How could anyone love such a cat?

“Hey, there’s Ugly! Get out of here Ugly,” the children would shout when they saw him near the school yard, probably looking for food – or maybe a friend – but he would find neither as the kids chased him away, hurtling rocks and tin cans after Ugly the cat.

One bright Spring morning when the breeze was a cool caress, Hoss Cartwright rode the buckboard into town. He was there to pick up supplies from the Mercantile. Mr. Bruner had the bags of feed and grain, boxes of canned peaches, carefully wrapped slabs of bacon and salt pork. All the goods Pa had ordered the week before were there; neatly stacked against the wall of the general store waiting for him. Hoss got to work piling the provisions in the back of his buckboard. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw a familiar shadow.

“Hi’ya there, Ugly,” Hoss said in his big-hearted way. If Ugly had one friend in the world it was Hoss. True, he was certainly not the prettiest sight he ever laid his eyes on. He was downright ugly just like the townspeople said he was. But saying that he was ugly was the only thing that Hoss agreed with the townspeople about concerning this cat.

Hoss felt there was something special about this cat, something no one could see. Maybe if they stopped chasing him away and throwing rocks at him, maybe if they stopped looking with the eyes in their head and looked with the eyes of their hearts instead…maybe then, they would finally see.

Hoss would be the first to admit that he was no raving beauty himself. Maybe that’s why he felt such a kinship with this cat. People had said that he was ugly too. Ugly and stupid…but there was more to Hoss than that. And over the years he proved it time and again. He proved his worth. No one had a bigger heart than Hoss. A big man with a heart that was even bigger, Hoss just knew that if people would give Ugly a chance, then just possibly this beat-up old cat would prove his worth too. Hoss believed that every life had worth. He felt this hideous creature could be capable of great beauty.  Would the cat live long enough to get the chance to prove his worth?

The day was nearing noon and the birds were singing cheerily in the eaves of the old buildings. Hoss was almost finished loading the sacks and boxes of provisions into the wagon. Rivulets of perspiration dripped from his brow and jowls. His thinning tawny hair was unkempt and disheveled from the exertion of the hard back-breaking work. The school bell shrilled. Hoss looked up as the kids were let out and scampered every which way.

But a group of boys, rough and mean, went straight to Hoss and his wagon where Ugly was resting in the shade.

“Get out of here Ugly,” shouted Karl contemptuously. Karl was the leader of the bully boys and was as mean as they come.

“I said get out of here, Ugly! Darn ugly cat! You’re too ugly to live, now scram!” Karl shouted his mean-spirited abuse as he picked up a rock and threw it at Ugly.

The cat ran.  He was used to being unwanted and unloved so he wasn’t resting as soundly in the shade of the wagon as he appeared to be. He knew he would be chased away soon. He always was.

“Dadburnit, Karl! Why don’t you leave him be? He’s not done anything to you,” Hoss glared at the teenage bully.

“That’s Ugly the cat. No one wants him around,” Karl said with a sneering laugh.

“Well, I’m not that pretty either,” Hoss said, a note of hurt in his mellow voice.

“You’re different, Hoss,” Karl said offhandedly.

“I don’t see how. Every living creature needs to be loved,” Hoss said tenderly.

“Karl, I want to go home now. Let’s go,” cried Rosie, Karl’s four-year-old sister. She pulled on his right hand trying to drag him away. After a long day in school, she was hungry and the last thing little Rosie wanted to do was stand among the dust and dirt of the street when Mama said she would have hot biscuits and gravy waiting for her after school.

“In a minute, Rosie. Stop pestering me,” Karl said, annoyed, as he pulled his hand free from his sister’s grasp.

“Karl, please come. I don’t want to walk home alone,” she whined plaintively.

“Why don’t you go home with Rosie now,” Hoss said, wishing he could help Karl to feel some tender emotion for his sister – for anyone. He was too young to be so hardened.

“Aww, she’s always pestering me,” Karl said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“Now where is that darn cat? Hey Ugly, I want to have some more fun,” Karl said with that glint of malice in his eyes.

“You’ve had your fun, now I’m telling ya, go home with Rosie before I tan your no-good hide,” Hoss said sternly.

From a hole beneath the General Store, Ugly the cat watched this exchange. His single golden eye never left Karl and Hoss…and little Rosie who finally gave way to forlorn lonely tears.

Rosie, always being the sensitive child that she was, hated conflict and Karl’s bullying ways, his cruelty to others and the malice that he wielded against Ugly the cat really bothered her. It felt like a knife twisting into the tender tissue of her heart. She couldn’t bear it anymore. Not that day when she was hungry and yearned for the security of home.

“Karl, if you’re not coming then I’m going home by myself,” Rosie spoke bravely to her brother, hoping that he would remember Mama telling him not to let her walk home alone. It was too far for a youngster such as Rosie as it was on the other side of town and she would have to walk through some of the rowdiest parts of Virginia City. Danger lurked behind every corner if Rosie went alone, but Karl didn’t seem to remember what Mama had told him. Or maybe he just didn’t care.

“Karl, go with your sister,” Hoss said as he saw Rosie back away from the boardwalk, ready to venture off on her own. “You can’t let Rosie go alone.”

“Aww, she’s always saying that, but she never goes far,” Karl said roughly without a wrinkle of worry.

“But I think she really means it, this time,” Hoss said, growing concerned. Karl just shook his head.

Meanwhile, Rosie was feeling hurt by being so callously ignored by her older brother. And she had every intention of going home, even if she had to go by herself. So, without even looking, little Rosie stepped into the street at the exact moment that a carriage pulled by two horses came speeding by.

“Oh no!” Hoss said with his heart thumping in his throat.

“Rosie! Watch out!” Karl shouted.

Then, a grey blur came racing by and knocked into Rosie – actually knocking her out of the way of the speeding horses that were about to run her down. She fell to the side, while the grey blur was now still, mangled from being run over by the horses. Hoss and Karl ran over to Rosie.

“Are you alright, honey?” Hoss asked urgently as he picked up the crying little girl. She was crying so much that all she could do was nod her blonde head. Hoss continued to hold her while terrified sobs wracked her four-year-old body.

“What was that thing that knocked Rosie out of the way?” Karl asked as he looked his sister over. She was unhurt besides having a few scratches. She was terrified by the close encounter more than anything. It happened so fast that neither Hoss or Karl had a chance to act. But something did.

After a few moments calming Rosie down, Karl looked around. And he saw it. That grey blur that ran into the street and knocked his little sister out of the way from the speeding horses. It was Ugly. The cat was laying in the street right where his sister would’ve been if not for him. That ugly cat had saved Rosie’s life.

Karl didn’t know what to do or even what to feel. But a new emotion was bubbling up inside him and choking his very breath. His eyes stung as tears pricked them open, open to the new emotion of gratitude that the once hard-hearted boy was now experiencing for the first time. With tears staining his cheeks, Karl went over to Ugly still lying in the street. Broken and bloodied, but alive for the moment.

“Hey Ugly,” Karl said softly as he kneeled down beside him and gently stroked his matted fur, now streaked with dirt and blood. The cat mewed just as softly and gave a small lick to Karl’s hand. The same hand that once threw rocks at him. Ever so gently, Karl lifted up Ugly’s broken body and cradled him in his arms. The cat looked at him with his one golden eye.

This time, it was Karl who didn’t feel worthy to receive the cat’s lick of affection and forgiveness. Tears streaked their way down the boy’s cheeks, tears that were for so long held in check and never given the freedom to express any soft-hearted tender emotion. Now, they flowed freely and landed with a splash onto Ugly’s bloodied fur.

“Thanks for saving my sister,” Karl said, all choked up. He couldn’t say anything more. His throat had a painful lump in it that hindered talking. All Karl could do was allow himself to feel…as he continued to hold Ugly.

Then something else happened that had Karl crying even more, and Hoss too. The moment Karl had picked him up and cradled him in his arms so tenderly…Ugly started purring.

This cat who had lived such a rough life, unwanted and unloved, teased and tormented, beaten and bullied, this cat had rushed into the street to save the life of the little sister of the one boy who had tormented him most of all. And now as he laid dying in his tormentor’s embrace, he was purring.

“Why? Hoss, why? Why is he purring after everything I did to him?” Karl sobbed, not even trying to hide his tears.

“I guess he’s purring because you’re holding him,” Hoss said softly. “And he forgives ya. All he ever wanted was a friend. Someone who wanted him and would give him some affection. To show him love. And now you’re doing that, Karl. Now you’re holding him and showing you care the way he always wanted,” Hoss said with his own tears streaking down his flushed cheeks. “All he ever wanted was a friend, and now you’re being a friend to him,” Hoss’ voice broke, he couldn’t go on, but he didn’t have to. Karl understood. And for the first time, he was feeling a tender emotion for another living creature.

During the last few remaining moments of his life, Ugly continued to purr as Karl held him. The cat that no one ever wanted, the cat that was unloved and people even declared was unlovable…the cat whose name was Ugly. He finally had a friend and he finally was shown love and affection…and so he purred. With his dying breath he purred.

~~1~~

The Cartwrights were so moved when Hoss told his family the story that they buried the cat on the Ponderosa. His tombstone had this inscription:

Here lies Ugly

The most beautiful cat who ever lived.