‘ol Crook Tail

 

 

There was this one time, I was asleep in bed.  I always slept late…..Real late, past noon late.

When all of of sudden I awoke to screams.  This was in a split second.  I mean it was ten, maybe a hundred times faster than when I got in the car wreck.

The best I could decipher was that there was a gaggle of kids 4-6 years old in the backyard and they were all getting sucked into a wood chipper or something all at once.  Seriously, it was like the seventh level of hell.  I’m not kidding.

Anyhow, I shot up like a rattlesnake and bolted through the house towards the backdoor.  I don’t even remember that part.  I ran so fast that the blanket I was sleeping under stuck to me like I was trying to run through it.

Within an instant I was at the backdoor and there she was, standing.  My baby, my doll, the most precious thing in the world to me.

The dog was on the other side of her jumping back and forth, barking and screaming at the door.  My girl was completely flustered and trying to get around the dog.

That’s when the blanket dropped to the floor, and I realized all the commotion was coming from the cat.  Apparently when the three of them were coming back inside from a nice afternoon in the yard, the aluminum screen door had caught the cat’s tail when it bounced to shut before letting the air out of that little arm at the bottom of the door that looks like a piston and keeps it from slamming shut and cracking the storm window.

That poor cat was caught right there at the hinge with all the weight of the door pinching it’s tail in the metal door frame.

The foyer to the backdoor was more like a narrow hallway and I couldn’t get past my girl.  She had no idea what the cat was going on about and thought the cat and dog just erupted into a fight for their lives.

So I put my hands under her arms and picked her up then backed up and set her behind me in the kitchen then reached out to push the door open and release the poor cat.  We had adopted the cat about a year ago when we had noticed it hiding in the tall grass of a vacant house stalking grasshoppers and mice as we strolled past on the way to work.

We would bring leftover pieces of salmon or tuna, maybe some steak we saved from the trash bin and leave it in the empty driveway on the way home.  Eventually it started following us home and sitting outside on the window sill in the evenings.  She was jet back and made a perfect silhouette in the window.  It was Halloween time and it just seemed apropos to let her stay.  She soon became part of the household and best friends with our dog.

We had a little shih tzu and they would chase each other around the yard taking turns tackling each other in the clover and then shoot off in the other direction, waiting for the other to give chase.  It was really cute, and they loved each other.

Back to the moment at hand though.  There we were, wide eyed at all the excitement, my girl still trying to figure out what had happened and me standing there stark naked with a quilt on the floor ready to give my life and fight hordes of demons and throw my body into a wood chipper to save little children and my darling love from impending doom.  Our dog was looking around trying to find the culprit that had attacked her best friend, the cat.  Who had shot off like a rocket the second her tail was free from the door.

We didn’t see the cat for about three days or so maybe even a week when she came home one day to get her dinner.  There was no noticeable difference in her demeanor or attitude and she was just fine.  With one exception, the end of her tail was bent off to the side at an angle and over the coming months continued to heal that way.

I miss my darling love and cherish the memories we created in our little house, it was a beautiful time, as was she.  I’m sorry I let you leave that night, I hope you can love me where you are now the way I still love you.

I miss you so much Rosie.