When Eric Hertlein went to visit his grandmother one day, something was a little off about her trio of furry felines.
Eric’s grandmother is an animal lover who has three cats. Or so she thought. It turns out that what Eric’s grandma thought was a kitten when she had taken it in, was actually an opossum!
Obviously Eric’s grandmother’s eyesight is not what it used to be. Taking the creature in as a baby, grandma named the opossum Tete. When Eric pointed out the discrepancy to his grandmother, “She reassured me it was one of her cats,” he told the Dodo. “I told her it wasn’t what she thought it was.”
“I laughed for a good five minutes,” he said. “She didn’t realize what I was laughing about until I started pointing out the pointy nose and skinny tail. She didn’t realize he wasn’t a cat.” The Kansas woman had been taking care of the opossum since it began sleeping outside of her house door. Now it has a cozy “cat” bed to occupy. In the moment, Eric’s grandma snuck closer to Tete and then “slowly looked up at me with the biggest grin on her face and said, ‘Well, he hasn’t bothered me yet, so I’m OK with him being here!'”
Grandma’s love of animals has benefited the opossum, as he seems very snug as one of the bunch. Even the cats seem to have accepted his presence. It is anyone’s guess how Tete came to be orphaned and found Eric’s grandmother’s home, but we sure are glad he has found food and warmth with the kind woman.
Eric is proud of his grandmother. “She loves animals and taking care of them whenever she can. It kind of just motivates you to do better and treat other beings better too.”
