Poor Wee Thing – a trip down a blind alley off memory lane

It surely paints a few more grey hairs on the picture of my head to admit to remembering this movie. Toss in a few more for hearing the music intro to “The Wonderful World of Disney” and seeing my family gathered around our tv set to watch.

I remember the little girl with the cat and the beautiful woman who was thought to be a witch. And Patrick Mcgoohan as the doctor and father of the little girl. And a cat in the rain that brought them all together.

It’s the ginger tabby, huddled under some bushes with rain pelting down that sits strongest in the 6 year old girl section of my memory vault. And the beautiful woman, blonde of course, with a brogue you could spread on a scone, leaning in, saying, “Poor wee thing”…

That phrase has stayed with me and plays every time I see my cat looking at her empty food dish and then to me with great expectations. Or rolling at the end of the driveway, attempting to lure me within reach of scimitar laden paws.

With my own wee girls, when they brought home their scrapes and cuts and tales of terrible bullies at school, “poor wee thing” was all I could think of as I kissed or hugged it better.

In those moments of needing a kind word for me, when no one else seems to be volunteering to offer them or even notice I may be in want of a little verbal warmth, “poor wee thing” floats up and gives a bit of a hug…enough to get through the next few minutes till it all passes and life returns to normal.