Houston
My grandfather told me this story of what happened when he worked as an electric meter-reader with the New Orleans Consumers' Electric Power Company, probably back in the mid-1920's:
"I was making this call downtown over on Exchange Alley. It was a Chinese restaurant, located upstairs. As soon as I walked in, there began an uproar: It seems as though a cat had messed in a barrel of sugar. Sugar was expensive back then - very expensive. Now they'd have to throw away the whole barrel.
These guys were very upset, and running around with meat cleavers, trying to catch this cat, who led them on a merry chase through the kitchen. Pots and pans flew as the hapless cat was trying to avoid the missiles directed his way.
Finally, one of the cooks got hold of the cat by the tail, swung him around and around - all the time screaming at him in Chinese "非常不好的貓! 非常不好的貓!" (My grandfather didn't tell me exactly what they said, so I'm quoting somewhat loosely what I THINK they said!)
Then he let the cat go, and the poor little feline was propelled out of the upstairs window and into the dank airspace of Exchange Alley. What goes up MUST come down, and indeed after a bit of outward sailing, down the kitty came, hard, right on the back of a drunk man passing by."
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That was the yarn my grandfather spun, as he entertained his little 8-year-old grandson one summer afternoon. I did some thinking about the situation there and concluded that for a day or two afterwards, there were three things to be said about this Exchange Alley incident:
1. There were several very angry cooks to be found at the local Chinese slop-chow salon.
2. There was one very traumatized cat running around loose after using that nice, round sandbox in the kitchen.
3. There was some drunk guy who awoke the next morning wondering how the heck he got all those scratches and claw marks all over him.
4. I often wondered exactly what a cat was doing in a kitchen in the first place. I figured a cat would be handy to have around to catch mice, and also as a back-up if they ran out of meat!
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