The Cat’s Meow: A Fresh Perspective on the Cat Show

by Creative Nonfiction Students of the Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference

If you were sprinting in the rain across the University of the South’s campus in search of the Fourth of July cat show, you just might have missed it. It was a small tent with only a handful of felines.

This year, the contributors to the “Cat’s Meow” cat show were Shelley  Cammack and Joan Hurst. Shelley was the host of the show, as well as the owner of four of the six participants: Diamond, Moses, Pearl, and Callie. Joan, who was also one of the judges, brought Lily, only one of her six cats, to the show. 

These five cats were truly experts at show etiquitte, unflinching as the little hands of children reached through the bars of the cats’ cages to pet and prod them. Though loving owners brought these first few competitors, the sixth and final participant brought himself.

Small and grey, this wandering tabby captured the attention of the whole show as soon as he made his presence known by following a man walking his dogs. Shelley demonstrated how the six-week-old kitten, “just skin and bones,” was small enough to fit in someone’s cupped hands. 

Shelley and Joan were hesitant to show favor to their own cats, as they were the only two owners in the cat show. The sharp little drifter made their jobs far easier. He proved his worth when he demonstrated his natural intuition and intelligence by knowing how to be in the right place at the right time. In fact, he walked away with every single prize the show offered: smallest cat, largest cat, longest hair, most unusual markings, best owner/cat look-alike and best-decorated cat carrier. 

Shelley named the little creature Trump, “after [presidential candidate] Donald” she said, because “He showed up, entered himself into the competition and won.”

However, this cat won more than titles. John Bordley and Carolyn Fitz adopted the stray for their granddaughter Vie Virkhaus. The young girl preferred the name Sandals, so his official name became Sandals Trump. Everyone in the crowd was happy to see him win something even greater than the blue ribbon: a loving home.

This story was written by Sylvia Bosco, Molly-McGill Carter, Julian Chapin, Marc deFontnouvelle, Boe Farmer, Naomi Graver, Norah Madden-Lunsford, Katha Sikka, Lily Snider and Sarah Yang for their creative nonfiction class taught by Marjorie Gellhorn Sa’adah.