Bobcat in the Pantry

Bobcat in

the Pantry

Debbie Barry

2 Bobcat in the Pantry

Published by:

Debbie Barry

2500 Mann Road, #248

Clarkston, Michigan 48346

Copyright © 2013 by Deborah K. Barry. All

rights reserved.

Cover photo: Moses and Mary Townsend at

their home in Nineveh, from the photo

collection of Zoa Townsend Fletcher. Used

with permission of the owner.

Illustrations by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted

by any means without the written permission

of the author.

ISBN-13: 978-1482085204

ISBN-10: 1482085208

Bobcat in the Pantry 3

Bobcat in the

Pantry

This is a story about my great-

grandfather, Moses Joy Townsend,

also known as Gramp Townsend, as I

heard it from his daughter, my

Grandma Fletcher, when I was a little

girl. Gramp Townsend was a great

storyteller. He loved to tell the

stories of his own adventures to his

children and grandchildren. The story

of the bobcat in the pantry was a

great favorite with all of his children

and grandchildren, and it was told

over and over again. My grandmother


heard it from her father, and she told

it to her children when they grew up,

and one of her children grew up to be

my Daddy, and now it is my turn to tell

the story as I know it.

~ * ~

A long time ago, about the time

of the Civil War, the Townsend family

lived in a house in Nineveh, in the

mountains of Vermont. The old house

has since come to be known as the

Pollard place, since Mr. Pollard bought

the house from Gramp long after this

adventure happened, but it was the

Townsend farm then.


At this time, Gramp and

Grandma Townsend just had one baby,

Bessie, since their first baby, Moses

had died, as happened in many, many

families in those days. Bessie was a

strong, healthy, happy baby girl, and

her parents were delighted with her.

One morning when Gramp went

out to do the chores, he accidentally

left the back door open. Grandma

Townsend was busy tending to the

baby, so she didn’t notice the door.

When Gramp finished his chores in

the barn, he headed back into the

house to wash up for breakfast, since

feeding and watering the livestock

always came before feeding himself.

When he got to the house, he


discovered the open door, and he

became worried. The northern

mountains of Vermont were still quite

wild then, and the woods were filled

with panthers, bears, wolves, bobcats,

wolverines, and all sorts of creatures.

As Gramp approached the open back

door, he noticed a long-eared bobcat

eating garbage in the wood shed.

As Gramp entered the open

shed, which was attached to the back

of the house, hoping to get the door

safely closed, the bobcat jumped out

of the garbage pile and dashed

through the open door into the

kitchen. Gramp ran after the bobcat,

shouting to Grandma, “Mary, get the

baby! There’s a bobcat in the house!”


Grandma screamed with fear

and scooped Baby Bessie into her

arms. She cowered with the baby

against the wall in the bedroom.

Gramp tried to catch the

bobcat and get it to run out the door,

but the small cat was too fast for

him. From the kitchen, the bobcat

scooted into the buttery, which is

sometimes called the pantry. Gramp

quickly shut the pantry door, making

sure the latch clicked into place. He

drew a deep breath and let it out in a

long sigh of relief, knowing that the

bobcat was caged for the time being.

Father went through the parlor

into the bedroom where Grandma was


clutching Bessie. Grandma’s eyes

were wide with fear. She knew how

dangerous a bobcat could be. She had

already lost one baby, and she was

afraid the bobcat would hurt Baby

Bessie.

“Hush, Mary,” Gramp said

softly, gently taking Bessie out of

Grandma’s arms and laying the baby in

her cradle next to the bed. “There’s

no need to be scared. I’ve shut up the

bobcat in the pantry until I can figure

what to do with it.”

“Oh, Moses!” Grandma sobbed,

sagging against the wall and trying to

hold back her tears. Are you sure

we’re safe?”


Gramp pulled Grandma close

and wrapped his arms around her until

she was able to quiet down and stop

crying. “I’m sure, Mary. I wouldn’t

let anything happen to you and the

baby.”

Grandma nodded and sat down

on the edge of the bed. “Whatever

will you do?” she asked.

“Well,” Gramp replied slowly, “it

can’t stay in the pantry forever, but I

just don’t see how i can get it out.”

“You won’t shoot it, will you?”

Grandma asked. “I don’t want you

shooting it inside the house with the

baby.”

“No, Mary, I’ll find another

way,” Gramp assured her.


Gramp sat in the bedroom with

Grandma and Bessie for several

minutes while he thought about the

problem of the bobcat in the pantry.

Father then secured Mother

and the baby in the bedroom. Finally,

he sat up a bit straighter and patted

Grandma on the shoulder. “I have an

idea,” Gramp said. “You keep the baby

here in the bedroom until I tell you

it’s safe to come out.”

Grandma agreed to wait in the

bedroom until Gramp told her it was

safe. Gramp secured Grandma and

Bessie in the bedroom, then he went

to work to deal with the bobcat.


Gramp went out through the

woodshed to the barn, taking care to

close the back door firmly behind him

so no other forest creatures could

get into the house. One bobcat was

quite enough for a morning!

In the barn, Gramp gathered up

all of the steel traps that he kept for

trapping bears, wolves, and coyotes

that came to close to the farm and

threatened his sheep, cows, and

steers. Gramp hauled all of the traps

into the house and checked to be sure

they were all working properly. Just

in case, Gramp also loaded his gun.


A Bear Trap


Then, after checking to be sure

the bedroom door was still secure,

Gramp started setting his traps. He

set steel traps in all of the doorways.

He set more traps all through the

kitchen. He opened the back door and

set more traps in the woodshed and

out through the sheds to the

farmyard. When Gramp had set every

trap he owned, he opened the pantry

door.

Gramp expected the bobcat to

want to get out of the pantry, and

Gramp thought it would run out the

moment the door was opened. Gramp

stepped back from the door, careful

not to step in any of his own traps.

Gramp waited, but the bobcat did not


run out of the pantry. There was no

sight or sound of the bobcat.

After several minutes, Gramp

decided the bobcat must be hiding

behind the flour barrel, since there

was nowhere else to hide in the

pantry. Gramp walked into the pantry,

keeping his gun ready in case the

bobcat came after him. Gramp walked

up to the flour barrel, but still the

bobcat did not run out. Finally, Gramp

kicked his foot into the small opening

on the side of the barrel. He thought

that might scare the bobcat out of

the corner behind the barrel.

Instead, the bobcat swatted the foot

with his big, furry paw and his four

long, sharp claws. Luckily, Gramp was


still wearing the long, thick, rubber

boots that he wore to do the barn

chores. Even though they were thick

boots, the bobcat tore a chunk right

out of the toe of Gramp’s boot!

Gramp shouted in surprise at

the attack, but he quickly saw that

the bobcat’s sharp claw had only

grazed his toe. When Gramp shouted,

the frightened bobcat finally leapt

out from behind the flour barrel. It

dashed out the open door of the

pantry.

The bobcat bounded right into

the midst of Gramp’s steel traps. It

was so scared, and moving so fast,

that the traps didn’t stop it. The

bobcat dashed through the kitchen,


one steel trap after another closing

on its legs as it dragged the traps

along with it.

Gramp watched, amazed, as the

bobcat ran through the room, jingling

like sleigh bells with all the traps

clinging to it. The bobcat got out the

open back door and into the sheds. It

tried to escape the traps by climbing

the shed posts. Gramp was stunned

to see the bobcat, laden with all those

traps, jump three or four feet up onto

one of the posts before it finally

collapse. All the while the bobcat was

escaping from the house, the chains

and traps clanged and banged

Remembering Grandma’s

request that Gramp not shoot his gun


inside the house, and deciding that

the back shed was awfully close to

the same as being in the house, Gramp

had to find another way to kill the

bobcat. Even if it hadn’t been badly

hurt by the traps, Gramp couldn’t let

a bobcat go on the farm, where it

would be a danger to his family and

his livestock. Gramp found a long

piece of log near the wood pile and he

used it as a club to kill the bobcat

with one stroke.

Gramp put the club back by the

wood pile and went to the bedroom

door. He opened the door, calling out,

“It’s alright, Mary. It’s safe now.”


“Oh, Moses!” Mary cried with

relief. “I’m so glad. I heard such

awful noises!”

Gramp nodded, then hugged

Grandma close. “That was my steel

traps,” he explained. Then he told her

the entire story.

Once Grandma was sure it was

safe, she left Bessie sleeping soundly

in the cradle and went to the kitchen

to make breakfast.

While Grandma cracked eggs

and fried sausages in the iron skillet,

Gramp went out through the sheds

and pried the traps off the bobcat.

He cleaned the traps, oiled them

carefully, and put them away again in

the barn. Then Gramp skinned the


bobcat, since there was no sense in

wasting the soft, spotted fur. Gramp

buried the bobcat after that so it

wouldn’t attract more dangerous

animals to the Townsend farm.


That was the end of Gramp’s

adventure with the bobcat. Now you

know the story of the day a bobcat

got into the pantry and scared

Grandma Townsend and clawed a hole

in Gramp’s boot. Bessie grew up safe

and sound, and one of her sisters

grew up to be my Grandma Fletcher.

Grandma Fletcher told this story to

her children, and one of those

children grew up to be my Daddy, and

he told the story to me. You can tell

the story to your children when you

grow up, too.


The End


Also look for:

Gramp’s Bear Story

When Mary Fell Down the Well

The Red Notebook

Zoa Has Her Way

Grandma Fletcher’s Scrapbooks


Debbie Barry

and her husband

live in

southeastern

Michigan with

their two sons

and their two cats. The family enjoys

exploring history through French and

Indian War re-enactment and through

medieval re-enactment in the Society

for Creative Anachronism (SCA).

Debbie grew up in Vermont, where she

heard and collected many family

stories that she enjoys retelling as

historical fiction for young audiences.

Bobcat in the Pantry

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