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Eight years old with a floursack cape
Tied all around his neck
He climbed up on the garage
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Figurin’ what the heck
He screwed his courage up so tight
The whole thing came unwound
He got a runnin’ start and bless his heart
He headed for the ground
He’s one of those who knows that life
Is just a leap of faith
Spread your arms and hold your breath
Always trust your cape
Unlike the courageous, or perhaps brazen, young lad that American folk singer Guy Clark’s sings about in The Cape, Winnipeg cat Franklin doesn’t don a sissy old cape when he soars over rooftops in his North Kildonan neighbourhood.
Nope, the bold and brash four-legged adventurer who shares an abode with married couple Dennis and Debra Maione has been flying cloakless for years.
Franklin the flying cat. (Supplied)
“He is the electric cat,” says Debra, who named the grey-haired flyer after lightning rod inventor Benjamin Franklin.
And, unlike his skittish sister Tesla, who tends to stick to four-walled, carpeted environs, Franklin would much rather ramble the great outdoors.
“We were determined Franklin would be an indoor cat, and we battled for a good couple of years, trying all kinds of interventions, costly and otherwise — including vet-sourced, to no avail,” says Debra, a 60-something civil servant who works from her home in Eaglemere.
Debra and Dennis. (Supplied)
And, as is evident in the photographs here, it’s a battle the couple will likely never win.
So, in the meantime, the Maiones and their patient North Kildonan neighbours — bless their hearts — have succumbed to Franklin and his parkour feats, which often involve leaping from fences, soaring across the sky and landing on their rooftops.
The problem, however, is that once he’s atop the shingles, he can’t seem to remember just how he arrived there.
Franklin on the roof. (Supplied)
“At least he forgets as long as he can get attention,” says Dennis.
Dennis, a writer who is currently leading a memoir-writing workshop in Beausejour, says he often uses a ladder to bring Franklin down off the rooftop, but only on the days when he’s feeling co-operative.
“Now I just call at him from the other side of the neighbour’s yard, where the fence is close to the roof,” he explains. “When I am not (feeling co-operative) I just leave him and eventually he remembers how he got up. I think he just likes the attention.”
Debbie adds that if Franklin spies them outdoors while he’s on the roof, he pretends he is helpless and asks for help to get down.
Franklin on the roof. (Supplied)
“If we ignore him, or we aren’t around, Franklin is perfectly fine figuring it out on his own,” she says.
Sounds like Franklin the Flying Feline knows that life really is just a leap of faith!
Have a great week!
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