Here is a story from my childhood that never really happened. I first learned about it when I met a girl at a Ricks College dance who was taking physics from Dad and remarked, "I heard about your cat."

"What cat?" I asked. "We never had a cat."

"You know, Frank the Cat," and she gave me a synopsis. When I got home, Dad told me the full story.

It seems our cat, Frank, had a habit of jumping into the freezer when we opened the door, so we had to watch for him. One day he slipped in unnoticed, and by the time we found him, he was frozen solid. We kids were devastated, of course, crying and wailing over our dead friend. Mom and Dad tried to comfort us, but we were not willing to give up so easily, so we found some antifreeze, pried open the jaws, and poured it in. That had no effect, so we got paint thinner and gasoline and stuff and forced it all down the poor creature's gullet. Suddenly Frank's eyes shot open and he came alive with a shriek. He burst out of our arms and took off down the hall. Bedlam ensued, Frank meowing a terrific "RRRRAAAAaaaarrrrr!" and tearing around the house, the Thomson kids chasing the cat, and Mom and Dad chasing the kids. Suddenly, Frank stopped cold in his tracks and fell over dead.

At this point, Dad ends the story and resumes his lecture, leaving the class more than a little bewildered. Ultimately, one of the students can't help interrupting and raises his or her hand.

"What happened to Frank?"

"Oh," Dad explains, "He ran out of gas."

Dad often included family stories - even a few true ones - in illustrating physics principles, and he would often brag about patents or missions or awards, but he never called us his kids. We were always "The Troops." If I were to meet a former student, I would get a response on learning who I am, "Oh. You're one of the troops."

It was an interesting experience meeting girls who had been in Dad's class while I was at Ricks. It gave me a lot of extra points, since he was a popular teacher, but the girls would usually note how much they enjoyed the class and add that they got a "C." I don't know what grade this girl got who thought Frank was real. I once complained to Dad that he was ruining my social life by giving a "C" to all these cute girls, but I had to admit it's impressive that they could get a poor grade and still like the class.

In case you're still wondering, during the course of our childhood we had a dog (Casey), two rabbits (Romeo and Juliet), four chipmunks, a chamelion, a goldfish, two baby chicks, and a turtle, but never a cat, and especially not a cat named Frank.