Tami collects magnets from all of the states we have visited and keeps a map on the front of our chest freezer. For the longest time, we would get up in the morning or come home from someplace and we would find North Carolina out of place. Sometimes it would be on the floor. This led to all manner of theories. Maybe the magnet was weaker than the others. Maybe something was coating the freezer in that spot that made the magnet slip. Maybe the magnet was somehow heavier than the others. None of these theories held up under rigorous scientific investigation (which consisted of me standing in front of the freezer, staring at it while stroking my chin).

Then the historian in me came up with what I believed was the ultimate explanation. North Carolina was attempting to secede from the Union. Now it all made sense. There has always been some ignominy attached to North Carolina for being the last state to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy during the civil war. North Carolina only left the Union after President Abraham Lincoln called on it to attack her sister state of South Carolina. So, on May 20, 1861, North Carolina’s legislature officially voted to secede and join the Confederacy.

Technically speaking, Tennessee did not officially join the Confederacy until nearly three weeks later, on June 8, 1861, but they claim to have had an informal secession on May 7, which preceded North Carolina, conveniently providing Tennessee with a loophole and a means of escaping the embarrassment of being the last to the party.

The “Secession Theory” was the prevailing theory for several weeks until Tami happened to walk into the kitchen one evening and discovered the real truth behind the mystery. It seems that our cat is not a Tar Heel fan, and was slapping at North Carolina in an attempt to dislodge it from the Union.

When Tami called me at work to tell me about the cat’s strange animosity toward North Carolina, at first, I was puzzled. As far as I know, the cat has never been to North Carolina and doesn’t know anyone from North Carolina. Did he lose money on a game between Duke and Wake Forest?

Then it hit me. The light came on and illumination flooded my soul. Our cat has always been a Carolina Panther’s fan. The strange behavior started after their last season in which the Panthers went a pathetic 5-11. I considered trying to get the cat to adopt another “cat” team as his favorite, but none of the other “cat” teams did any better. The Detroit Lions were also 5-11, the Cincinnati Bengals were 4-11-1, and the Jacksonville Jaguars were the worst of all at 1-15. No wonder the cat was so upset.

Mystery solved.