Garnet Hunt White
Venture makes her life adventurous. Her mother gave birth to her on the rafters as the carpenters constructed our new home. Venture left her brother and sister kittens and climbed over the framework of the building as soon as she could crawl. Nothing seemed to scare her.
I called her Adventure, but nicknamed her Venture.
Orange, yellow, white and black spotted hair mingles among her silky gray fur giving the illusion that she has played on the artist's palette.
Glenn and I put this four week-old kitten in one of our jacket pockets and took her in the pick-up with us to the farm. Ventures chased grasshoppers and butterflies. After this first experience, she expected to go to the farm each time the pick-up went. Soon she expected to go along on other trips. This began her challenging experience in traveling. She amazed us with her canny ability to know when we were taking to the road.
When Glenn and I sat in our favorite chair, Venture always seemed to know which of us would go to the chair first. This four-pound cat would be in the chair waiting to curl up in his or my lap. Sometimes, I call her Computer instead of Venture. When I'm working on the computer, she jumps upon my desk, walks over my papers, steps upon the on-switch of my printer, then hops on top of the computer. She may take a bath, curl up to sleep, or hang her head over the edge and focus her emerald eyes on me.
Venture never starts trouble with the other cats; however, Boxer Cat slaps her when she walks near him. She runs to Glenn or me then turns around and spats at him.
One day, Glenn sat reading the newspaper. Suddenly, Venture leaped onto his paper, gave a 360 degree turn-about, bristled, and whacked at Boxer.
"Venture can whip all the cats in the country from my lap." Glenn said. "She uses us as her back-up army."
Last spring, I attended the Missouri Romance Writers conference in St. Louis, Missouri. I had planned to have an enjoyable time with my writer friends. I never realized the chaos in store for me. In the rush to get my work done before I left for the city, I had no time to go to the beauty shop. My brittle hair needed a hot oil treatment, shampooing, and shaping. I put my beautiful red-auburn wig in its case and set it in the back of the station wagon.
Venture wanted to go, too. Glenn always let her run free in the wagon, but he put her cat carrier in. He would take her to his parents' home after he left me at the meeting.
Glenn and I enjoyed the travel across Missouri to St. Louis on the Mississippi River. We arrived at the conference just in time for me to rush to the first meeting. I turned to the back to get my wig case and to don my beautiful red-auburn hair.
"Glenn," I uttered as I climbed over the seat and scanned the back of the wagon for the case. "I know I put my wig case in."
"Garnet." Glenn had turned the rear view mirror to look in the back. "What's that gob of red hair that's moving."
"Oh! Glenn." I screamed. "Oh! Venture has torn up my wig!"
Venture pressed against the back of the wagon and peered at me through tangled red hair. I cried. I crawled over a hair-covered floor.
"How did Venture get the case open?" Fury choked me. I threw a shoe at
her. Tangled in the ball of hair, she took refuge behind a suitcase.
Her green eyes clawed me like talons.
"But my hair! It stands on ends. I've been taking hot oil treatments to get it back to normal." I wailed. "What'll I do?"
"Your hair looks fine." Glenn soothed me. "Powder your nose and draw a red line across your lips. You look great."
I saw a sensuous flame in Glenn's eyes; a glint of humor crossed his face; he tried to hide a devastating grin.
I poked him in the ribs. He threw back his head and let out deep jovial laughter.
"It's not funny." I seethed. "Take me home. I'm not going."
"Now wait a minute." He leaned over and kissed me. "Forget about your hair. Go in there and have a good time. I'll bet you've had a more traumatic experience today than any of your friends. Write about it."
His kiss wiped away my turmoil. Glenn pointed to Venture and said. "That's the first red-headed cat I have ever seen."
We both laughed.
"Well, she got her name for her adventuresome antics." I said. "And today, she has proved that the name fits her."
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