On the night I shared my bed with four cougars and one husband!
You can read all about it on the first two pages of my favourite book Love Affair with a Cougar which is being reprinted right now in response to reader requests. Here are the first few lines:
“It was well after midnight and I was alone in the house. A sudden scrape and rattle of a window being slowly raised and I was instantly awake. Above the bed the window curtains moved. Someone or something was climbing into my house!
I froze, too terrified to scream or turn on the light… Something flopped on to my stiffened legs. I bit the pillow to stop myself from crying out…..”
I spent that night in bed with four cougars and one husband and I thought, “Somebody should write a book about this!”
At the time I didn’t know it would be me. Eventually, I did write two pages of a first chapter on a vintage typewriter and I still have those old yellow pages somewhere on this messy minefield of a desk.
I fell in love with one cougar especially, Tom. He was blind. See the picture of me sleeping with Tom on one of the Gulf Islands near Vancouver Island where I live. You can see more pictures on www.youtube.com/LynHancockwriter Look at the video of me taking the four cougars to school the following day. At that time I was a teacher as well as a mother to orphaned animals.
It would scarcely be allowed now, but I as an enthusiastic Aussie newcomer to Canada, let two of the kids in my grade four class take two of the cougars home. One little boy only eight years old was changed forever. Read Stephen’s poems in the book “Love Affair with a Cougar”. In the video, look for Tammy the runt of the litter crawling into the dark of Stephen’s desk then read his poems.
I kept Tom with me. You can see a picture of me sleeping with Tom on one of the Gulf Islands near Vancouver Island where I live. It is a picture that appealed to Jimmy Fallon who featured several of my books on his midnight talk show from New York. He asked his live talk show audience, “Who’s the cougar? The woman or the animal?” We all laughed even me who had never heard then of an alternate meaning of the word ‘cougar’!
Many years later, I would return to university, Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, as a post graduate and spend several years studying cougars again. My thesis is called Cat of Many Names and Faces. Those four cougars flopped through my bedside window changed my life as well.
You are a insatiable writer of all events embraced within a fascinating life, as for you, everything seems to yield a story. I for one am looking forward to the re-release of “Love Affair with a Cougar”. May I encourage you to never cease providing us with your wonderful stories.
As long as I have readers like you Daryl there is hope for me to continue to write published print or audio books, thank you so much,
Hi Lyn, Greetings from Lions Bay! I am just finishing your book “A Seal in my sleeping bag”. I found it in thrift shop in 70 Mile House, called SMAC & recognized the title from many years ago. I have been loving your stories of your adventures in B.C. I grew up in North Vancouver, trained as an elementary teacher & worked in an ecology/forestry centre, giving tours. So many of your travels around Vancouver Island & the Gulf Islands, (Savary recently) are familiar, but your experiences are definitely more rugged. I love to explore both in B.C., and around the world. I look forward to seeing much more our province, specially Sointula, Bella Bella, Klemtu & many of the remote areas that you described.
I look forward to reading more of your books. Glad to see you are still exploring!