The bewildered tom sent a few more air-raid siren noises into empty air. Then he fell silent. At last he wandered off in another direction.

After that Buster was accepted as a neighborhood cat in good standing.

BUSTER HELPS ME UP AND OUT

Buster woke me in morning by bouncing on my waterbed. I would dream I was in a small boat in a choppy sea. And gradually wake to find Buster leaping straight up in air and briskly landing on all fours on waterbed. KER-THUMP, KER-SLOSH. KER-THUMP, KER-SLOSH. The waterbed waves grew higher and higher as Buster briskly bounced . . . until, groggy and seasick, I rolled onto solid ground.

BUSTER AND THE ESSENTIAL KINDNESS OF AUTOMOBILES

Buster believed in essential kindness of people and automobiles. When summer arrived, I began hearing cars honk in front of house. And looked out to see Buster waking from a nap, which nap was taking place in middle of street. He found sun-warmed blacktopped pavement ideal for that purpose. Fortunately ours was not a through street; drivers were honking at Buster and waiting for him to leisurely wake up and move out of their way. But how long could that last?

Whenever I saw Buster napping in street, I yelled at him to get out. To which he paid no attention. I had to go into street, pick up his warm, luxuriously limp body, and carry him indoors.

And next day I’d hear a car honking again.

“Why didn’t you keep him indoors, you idiot?” you are thinking.

Well, with 20/20 hindsight I know I should have. But I hoped that honking cars would teach Buster not to sleep in street. They would have taught any other cat.

And, while I dithered, came heartbreaking day when Buster didn’t return from his happy neighborhood rounds.

I of course made inquiries -- and learned about his tours of home snack bars.

But he hadn’t been to any of them that day.

I asked a group of kids if they had seen Buster.

“Is he cat who chases cars?” they asked.

Chases cars?

And then I recalled a half-forgotten memory: that of a little grey and white figure bounding joyously in wake of an automobile.

“That’s him,” I said.

But they had not seen him lately either.

I will never know for certain what happened to Buster, but clearly he trusted in essential kindness of people and automobiles one time too many.

Place your submersible heater into water. Remember, most heaters of this type have to be submerged for a while before turning on unit, at least twenty minutes. When you turn heater on set it to about 80-82 degrees. Also add a thermometer, plants, a rock to hide behind, and half a Styrofoam cup for male to build his nest under.

You’ll want to place chimney in center of tank for female. The chimney is a great place to let two fish get acquainted before actual spawning begins.

Place male in spawning tank a day ahead of female. Let him get acclimated to water. When he seems comfortable, it’s safe to add female to chimney. Leaving a light on will stimulate a hormone that will encourages spawning activity.

When you first release female she may hide from male. But, most likely they will swim toward one another and try to find right position by swimming in circles around one another. It may take them a couple of tries to get it just right. As male squeezes female she’ll probably release about thirty eggs. After she expels these eggs both fish may stop moving, and that is normal. Once they start moving again male will start blowing eggs up into bubble nest; most females help with this process, too. The spawning process can last many hours and they will continue this cycle until she has released all her eggs.

Once eggs have all been released female can be removed from tank. The male will continue to care for their bubble nest and eggs until they hatch in about 24-48 hours. Once fry are all free and swimming male must be removed or he may eat them.

Remember that you should be offering food to Betta’s throughout spawning process.

There! You’ve done it! You’ve just bred your first Betta fish! All of fry may not survive but as long as temperatures are kept just right you’ll end up with more than a handful for which to care.