JOE THE CAT III
Joe walked on light feet down the driveway with his tail
straight up in the air. He cautiously
turned toward the side of the house when he heard a commotion and made his way
to the corner. He sat down, picked up a
front foot, licked his white sock. But
he got curious about the noise and peeked north.
The brindle Great Dane, Freddy, tossed a box turtle he’d found
into the air. He caught it then sat for
a minute as if to think about what to do with it next. He shook his head back and forth. The turtle’s back feet waved about
frantically inside the left side of Freddy’s lips, which covered all but the
turtle’s toes. Its head had disappeared
inside its shell, nearly covered by black dog lips on the right side of his
mouth.
Freddy tossed the turtle again. Joe walked casually toward Freddy until he
was inches behind him. When the dog
suddenly sat down, Joe put his foot gently on the dog’s tail, which Freddy did
not notice as he caught the turtle in mid-air.
Joe extended his claws into the tail.
Freddy’s eyes distended, the turtle dropped to the ground
with a crack. The dog’s head darted
between his own two back feet as the turtle spun downhill like a hubcap off a
car’s wheels. Freddy ended upside down
in the dirt.
Joe sauntered south until Freddy got his feet under him
again.
Joe went up a tree.
Taking to cats, eh?
ReplyDeletePast tense. Memories of forty years of cats--one at a time.
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