Gail Wahlstrom
Logan, Utah
January l980

"The Microwaved Cat"
Legend

Informant:
Gail Wahlstrom is my friend. She is 20 years old and lives at home with her family while she is attending Utah State University. We went to Sky View High School together, graduating in l977. We take many of the same classes together. Gail is a history major.

Context:
I was eating lunch with Gail in the Carousel Square. She brought a sack lunch and had gone to the microwave to heat up something. When she returned to our table, she was chuckling to herself. I asked her what it was all about, and she told me she was thinking about a story her brother had come home with the other day. I thought the story was very funny. We laughed thinking about the bad situation for the boys in the story. Here is the story Gail told.

Text: (This section should be double spaced.)
There were two brothers about l0 and l2 years old who were home alone while their mother was out shopping. The mother had a pet Persian cat that she prized highly, and before she left she instructed the boys to not let the cat get out of the house. It was raining very hard, and she didn't want the cat to get drenched. Well, sure enough, when one of the boys went out, the cat got out, and when it finally returned it was soaking wet. The boys knew that if they didn't quickly get the cat dry, they would really get in trouble with their mother. One of them had the bright idea of putting the cat in the microwave, which they did. The mother walked in the house just about the same time the cat exploded in the microwave!

Texture:
This legend was told in a matter-of-fact conversational tone, but it had the feel of "Well, do you think something like this could have really happened? Is anybody that dumb?" Since we know some people who are that dumb, we sort of shrugged it off as one of those strange-but-true tales you often hear from people.

Laurel Matthews
USU
History l24
Professor Gardner
Winter l980

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For reference questions: randy.williams@usu.edu or phone (435) 797-3493. Fife Folklore Archives, Utah State University Libraries, Logan Utah 84322-3000