Christmas With Sandy Claws
By Audrey W.
December 18th
“So, have your kids stopped begging for a kitten yet?” John Gage asked as he and his partner Roy DeSoto returned to Station 51 after a rescue call.
“No, and trust me, it’ll be a long time before we take them window shopping through a pet store again.”
Roy wondered for the umpteenth time how he and his wife could’ve thought taking a five and three year old to visit pet store near Christmas was a good idea.
“How many days of ‘Daddy, can we please get one?’ has it been?”
Roy glanced over from the driver’s seat and with a sigh, replied, “Ten. I think this is the longest they’ve held onto one of their ‘must have’ ideas. Good thing they haven’t thought to hit Santa up for one yet, or we may just find ourselves in an awkward situation.”
John snickered. “Maybe ya oughta give it some thought. Might make a good pet for Chris and Jennifer.”
As he backed the squad into the bay at the station, Roy responded, “The dog may not think so.”
Once the truck was stopped, the two paramedics opened their doors to climb out, but found themselves closing them again when the klaxons sounded.
“Station 51, possible chemical leak, 3325 West Palm Street, three three two five West Palm Street, cross street Citrus Avenue, time out 9:45.”
The engine crew trotted out of the dayroom, Captain Stanley stopping at the podium to acknowledge the call.
Soon the engine followed behind the squad down the street, sirens blaring, as the men headed out on the rescue.
~*~*~
The house at the location was a small one-story structure. An elderly woman in her eighties, wearing a fluffy white robe over floral pajamas, stood just inside a screen door.
As the men approached, she opened the door and greeted them.
“I’m not certain you’re needed, but I just wanted to be sure, you know. . .just in case.”
“You called about a possible chemical leak?” Captain Stanley attempted to verify.
“Yes. But I don’t know if that’s what it is. It just smells different in here and I was going to just give it time, but then I thought perhaps that wasn’t the best idea.”
“Well, it’s our job to check over your home and determine if it is or not,” he offered with a slight grin. “May we?” he nodded toward the inside of her home.
“Oh yes, I’m sorry. Please, come in.”
“Maybe you’d better go out and wait across the street. You’d be safer.”
She shook her head. “No, I prefer to stay in here with my babies. If they go up in a big boom, I’d better go with them.”
The men exchanged glances before Roy questioned, “Babies?”
They were going to have to act fast to get her and multiple infants out if they found any sign of danger in the house. They certainly didn’t want anyone, including themselves, to go up in a ‘big boom’ if they could help it.
“Yes, Myrtle, Mabel, Milton, Martin, Maggie, Mickey, Mary and Harold. My kitties.”
Once again the men exchanged glances, all knowing evacuating eight cats was going to be a bigger project than if it were eight human babies.
“Well, let’s see what we’re dealing with,” Captain Stanley stated as his men began investigating the home, spreading out to the other rooms to seek out the odor she was complaining about. In the meantime the captain had the woman try to round up her cats by calling out their names one by one.
When none showed up, she shook her head, a look of concern on her face. “They don’t like strangers. They’re not going to come out from hiding on their own as long as you’re here.”
He gently placed his left hand on her right shoulder.
“We’ll figure something out if we need to evacuate them. Don’t worry. This isn’t our first ‘rodeo’.”
However rounding up eight overly reluctant cats could become a rodeo, he thought to himself.
~*~*~
John came out of a bedroom and met into Roy in the hallway.
“The only thing I smell is cat.”
“Yeah, me, too,” the older paramedic agreed. “It’s pretty strong in that room I was in with the litter box.”
The three searching engine crew members joined them in the hallway as the captain approached his men.
“Any sign of anything?”
The five men shook their heads ‘no’.
“Just cat and litter box odor, Cap,” John stated with a shrug, pointing to the room Roy had been in.
Captain Stanley glanced at them, then reluctantly stepped over to the doorway and sniffed.
“Oh, that’s strong,” he said as he tried not to wince, failing miserably.
“Could be what she’s smelling. . .?”
“I don’t know, Chet. You’d think she’d be used to it.”
“Well,” she began, having just joined them. “Do you smell it?”
The men waited for their senior officer to give her the news, wondering why she wouldn’t know it anyway.
“Ma’am, is it possible the litter box may just need cleaning?”
“You mean that’s what it is? You know, I did forget to clean it out when I got up this morning and Mickey is an aging cat. . .his urine has gotten stronger in odor. Oh good grief, I’ll bet that is what it was. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, ma’am,” Stanley assured. “We’d rather it be something this simple than needing to evacuate the entire block.” After a very brief pause, he added, “With eight cats, do you suppose you might want to add another litter box or two?”
“Or three,” Gage muttered quietly to his partner.
She put her right index finger to her lower lip in thought before replying, “You know, my daughter’s been telling me the same thing. I guess it would make the babies happier.”
“I’m sure they’d be grateful, ma’am.”
The firemen were just going to be grateful to get out of the house. They returned her ‘Merry Christmas’ verbal send off, almost sounding like the Waltons saying good night to each other by the time the six were sure they’d each responded adequately.
~*~*~
As they climbed back into the squad, John turned to face his partner.
“Rule number one if you get a cat. Always keep the litter box clean.”
“Right. I’ll put that right under the rule ‘never buy a cat’.”
Gage snickered. “Good luck with that one. Day twelve is waiting for you tomorrow when this shift is over.”
“Oh ye of little faith. I’ll handle it.” When he saw John’s look of doubt on his face, Roy assured, “I’ll handle it.”
~*~*~
It wasn’t long before the paramedics found themselves on another unusual rescue. As Roy drove the squad into the lot of an automated car wash they’d been dispatched to, the two men surveyed the lack of activity. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for the fact the car wash itself appeared not to be running, yet there was a car inside it. A small crowd of onlookers lined up on a sidewalk were staring at the opening from a distance.
John and Roy scrambled from their vehicle, only to be stopped by one of the employees who stepped out from the gathered people.
“I don’t know if you guys can help, but I sure hope so. So does the guy who owns that car covered in suds.”
“Well, what’ve ya got?” Gage asked, glancing around. Nothing still was obvious.
Roy wondered, “Did someone get injured?”
“No, at least not yet. We’ve got a small problem and we’ve tried everything to solve it. Nothing we do works.”
“You’re going to have to be clearer,” Roy explained. “We can’t help if we don’t know the details of why we’re here.”
Just then the reason appeared at the entrance of the car wash before heading back in. The employee pointed with a look of disgust.
John’s mouth dropped open. “A rabbit? We’re here for a rabbit?”
The man shrugged. “Look, we’ve tried chasing him out, scaring him out, luring him out, calling him out. He only gets as far as you just saw, then goes back in. We can’t run the wash as long as he’s in there.”
The men couldn’t believe it. How were they going to write this one up? As a rescue of a car from a rabbit? Or a rabbit from a car wash? Even more important was how were they going to do it? The others there had obviously tried everything.
“Shoot it!” One man hollered.
The two paramedics and the employee looked over in disgust. There were some children amongst the observers, killing the bunny was not going to be an option. Just the mere mention was bad enough by the shocked expressions on the youngsters’ faces.
“Whataya think we should do?” John asked his partner.
Roy shrugged. “You try blowing it out with an airhose?” he asked their ‘guide’.
“No, but--” He stopped in mid sentence when a casually dressed man with white hair and a long white fluffy beard, carrying a red velvet suit with white fur trim, stomped out from the group and went straight for the car wash. “Hey, Mister, you can’t go in--” he continued as he ran toward the straggler.
Before being stopped the ‘Santa’ yelled into the car wash, “Hey, rabbit! You either come out of there now or you and I are going to have to have a serious conversation. This isn’t your time right now, this time belongs to me!”
“Ha, like that’s gonna work,” Gage mumbled.
All mouths dropped open when the small wet animal came running, this time continuing on out of the lot.
“And don’t come back till Easter!” ‘Santa’ yelled at him.
John looked at Roy. “I don’t believe it.”
“It’s the season of miracles, Johnny. What else would you expect?”
Gage rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything. He did wonder if the next miracle might be Roy getting a cat for his kids after all.
~*~*
Roy glanced at his partner in the passenger seat of the squad. He appeared deep in thought as he gazed out the windshield.
“Still thinking about the rabbit and the Santa?”
“I just don’t get how that bunny understood what he was sayin’.”
“Look at the bright side, Junior. We didn’t have to do anything, we don’t have to figure out how to write it up in our log book.”
John eyed him a moment. “You aren’t even curious how he did that?”
“Sometimes you have to take it for what it is.”
“A miracle?”
“Or coincidence.”
Gage nodded slightly as he returned to gazing out the windshield, wondering.
~*~*~
On the way back to the station, John and Roy noticed two little boys on the side of the street, waving to them from an empty dirt lot with just a few small cement pipes and boards lying around.
“I wonder what that’s about.” Gage stated.
“Maybe they just like waving to fire department vehicles.”
The other shook his head. “I think they want us to help ‘um with somethin’. Pull over.”
Roy did as requested, agreeing with his partner after all.
As soon as they were out of the squad, the paramedics were bombarded with the seven year old boys telling them everything all at once, their anxious voices overlapping. The only parts that were clear were that there were kittens somewhere and they apparently were trapped.
“One at a time, one at a time,” John said, motioning downward with both hands to calm them.
“There’s kittens stuck in a pipe over there and we can’t get ‘um out.”
Both men looked at one another. What were the odds they would have another animal just over stepping its boundaries?
“You sure it’s not a rabbit?”
Roy rolled his eyes at Gage’s question. But he had to smile at the baffled expressions on the boys faces.
“It’s kittens!” One youngster insisted, irritation in his voice.
“Rabbits don’t meow,” the other boy said with an eyeroll.
“He’s right about that,” Roy agreed.
“I think we could use Santa about now.”
“Santa’s at the North Pole,” one boy said. “He doesn’t rescue kittens.”
John grinned, thinking about their last experience. “I think you’d be surprised what Santa can do.”
“Well, let’s get these kittens out,” Roy prompted.
They walked over to one of the rather narrow drainage pipes that was lying underneath boards haphazardly strewn across it. They could hear the kittens mewing from inside.
John got down on his hands and knees and peeked inside. He could see the silhouettes of the baby animals’ ears with the backlighting from the other end.
“Looks like two of them.”
One boy stepped forward. “Yes, Rocky and Winkle.”
Gage sat back on his heels as he glanced up at Roy. The story had just become clearer.
Roy rubbed his chin. “Son, are these your kittens?”
“Yes,” he sheepishly replied, his left foot kicking at the ground.
It was John’s turn to question.
“Did you put them in the pipe?”
The youngster paused, then pointed to his friend. “It’s Franky’s fault! He dared me ta do it.”
“You know, you don’t have to do something just because someone dares you to. If you know it’s wrong--”
“I know,” he said, interrupting Roy. “My dad told me last time.”
“You’ve done this before?” Gage wondered.
The boy sighed. “Yes.” He then started crying. “Don’t tell my dad. He said he’d take ‘um away if I did it again. I’m sorry, I promise I won’t do it again. Just don’t tell my dad.”
The paramedics exchanged glances again. Seems the kid had forgotten they didn’t even know who his dad was. Roy decided to take advantage of it.
“We’ll make you a deal. We won’t tell your dad if you really promise that you won’t do anything to put these kittens in harms way again.”
“Okay.”
“Good deal,” John said as he peered in the pipe again. The little silhouettes had moved. In fact, they were so close, they were visible as furry kittens instead, one calico and the other black. “I think you can reach Rocky and Winkle now.” He motioned for the boy to come over.
In just a few minutes the two seven year olds were on their way home, each carrying a kitten in their arms.
“You think he’ll keep his promise?”
Roy shrugged. “I hope so for the kittens’ sake.”
He just knew that his partner was not about to talk about cats and children being a good idea at the moment.
~*~*~
The next couple of rescues did not involve anything to do with an animal. But late in the evening that changed when the squad was dispatched out for an unknown type rescue. Since it was after sundown, a patrol car was also sent on the call. When the paramedics arrived on scene, the officers there briefed them on what they had already found out.
“We’ve got an elderly lady who refuses to accept she needs to go to the hospital but her son and his wife are here and said she bumped her head on an open cupboard door hard enough to knock her silly. Apparently she ended up on the floor dazed. She’s got quite a lump and bruise on her forehead from it, too. They couldn’t get her to go anywhere with them, so they called for you.”
The paramedics grabbed the equipment they’d likely need from the compartments of the squad, then followed the officer inside.
~*~*~
It hadn’t taken much effort to convince the mother that she needed to go to Rampart General Hospital. But there was one concern she still had.
“Will I be home for Christmas?”
John gave a warm crooked grin in response. “Well, Christmas is still a few days away and this is mostly a precautionary trip for you. I’d say if everything looks good, you will be.”
“Either way, you can bet they’ll make sure you have a merry one,” Roy added.
With that said, they got her off the couch she’d been lying on and onto a gurney.
As the entourage headed out toward a waiting ambulance, an orange tabby kitten could be seen sitting by a line of bushes at one edge of her yard.
She looked over, then reached out to grab her son’s right arm to stop him in mid step as he walked along side the gurney with the others.
“Billy. I forgot about Billy.”
“Billy?” Roy wondered.
“The stray kitty. I feed him.” She eyed her son, who was as baffled as Roy at the name Billy. “Mark, could you please take care of him?”
“Sure, Mom,” he appeased. “Just worry about yourself right now.”
“You know, you can’t judge a cat too quickly,” she said as they continued on. “Billy’s a bit wild, but I don’t want him going to a pound. He might be misunderstood and well. . .you know.”
John watched the kitten a moment while their charge was lifted into the ambulance. He heard her tell Roy, “If you can give him a good home, you can have him. For free.”
Gage could not see or hear his partner’s response. He wondered if she could talk Roy into it before they reached Rampart.
~*~*~
John got his answer about Roy and the cat once they met up at the hospital. With the victim in the good care of Doctor Early and Nurse Dixie McCall, they were on their way out of the ER doors when the subject came up.
“C’mon, man. She said you can have it for free.”
Roy looked at his partner with doubt. “There’s no such thing as a free cat.”
“Whatayamean there’s no such thing? She offered it to ya. I heard her with my own ears.”
Roy nodded, then began with, “The kitten may start out free, but then you add in the cost of food, the cost of a vet. They need to be fixed and don’t forget the vaccinations they have to have. Then there’s the toys, a bed, litter box--”
Gage put up a hand. “All right, all right. So it’s not exactly free in the long run.”
“Not even the short run. It starts on day one.”
His partner rolled his eyes. “Okay, I get it. But, Roy, this is your chance to at least not have to buy one in a pet store. Face it, I think we found your cat. And it’s young, to boot.”
“Are you out of your mind? Didn’t you hear her? That kitten is wild.”
The two paramedics climbed into their squad, Roy on the driver’s side, John the passenger. The latter was not ready to give up.
“Ah c’mon, Roy. If anybody can calm it down, you can.”
“I’m not sure what you’re implying there, but I don’t think so.”
“Roy, you have kids. What cat doesn’t like kids?”
DeSoto thought about the image of the feline that seemed to want to stay a distance from people.
“If I had to guess, I’d say that one.”
John rolled his eyes again. “Just give it a chance. You heard her. If he doesn’t get a home soon, he might be going to the pound. We all know what that means.”
“If I take that little beast home, I may be going to the pound. Or the couch, at the very least.”
“Just go see if he’s there, Roy. No one is saying you have to take it.”
Roy was wondering if John had even been listening to himself because he was certainly getting to be a bit demanding.
~*~*~
John motioned toward the kitten that was now lying on the porch of the house they’d returned to, eyeing them. There was a plate and bowl on the porch with him, the son obviously holding up his promise.
“Look, he’s not so bad. Maybe he’s just misunderstood. Like she said. Don’t forget, she said that, too.”
“Yeah, misunderstood for giving in when he’s really just cooking up an attack.”
The younger man shook his head. “I’ll even help you grab him. C’mon, man. He’s just a baby,” he shrugged.
As Gage stepped forward, Roy sighed, then followed.
“You know you’re going to be adopting this kitten if you catch it, right?”
~*~*~
“How’s your hand?” Roy asked as he glanced at the gauze bandage that covered three long random scratches Gage had acquired in their endeavor with Billy. He’d cleaned them up for him afterward, but cat scratches had a tendency to sting for awhile.
“You don’t hafta rub it in, ya know.”
“What? I was just sincerely concerned. They look pretty painful.”
Gage eyed his right bandaged hand, then responded, “It hurts still, but not as bad. Man, I never realized how vicious a kitten can be.”
“Obviously. Good thing you let go as quick as you did.”
The younger man shifted in his seat, facing the other.
“No kiddin’. But now you’re rubbing it in.”
Roy rolled his eyes. “Let’s just get back to the station and hope you don’t require a trip to Rampart later.”
After a brief time riding in silence, John offered, “I still think you should get your kids a cat. A nice cat.”
“Just please don’t go picking one out and surprising us. Because if you think what that kitten did to you was painful, you don’t want to try your luck with Joanne.”
John nodded, then faced his gaze out the passenger window. Roy was right. Joanne was not someone he wanted to get upset with him.
~*~*~
The following shift, Roy had not changed his mind about a cat for his children, which left John wishing he could talk him into it still.
“I really thought Jennifer and Chris would’ve got you to change your mind after two days with them.”
Roy shook his head. “Chris is onto wanting fish now and Jennifer was busy with her baby dolls.”
“Well, see? At least they’re seriously displaying the ability to care for something, maybe that’d carry over onto a cat.”
“Apparently you missed the fact that Chris has his mind on something else and Jennifer seems to, too. There’s no sense in bringing the idea of a cat up to them and starting the whole thing all over again.” Roy stood beside open compartments on the passenger side of the squad and looked at his partner with narrowed eyes. “How come you’re so determined to make a cat a part of our family, anyway?”
The other shrugged from where he was squatted in front of the open drug box, in the middle of inventorying it. “I just want your kids to have somethin’ of their own to care for and play with, somethin’ that’ll interact back. That’s all.”
“Well, when you have kids of your own, I’ll buy them a cat.”
John laughed slightly. “Ya can’t say that, Roy. Ya just can’t,” he shrugged. “You have no idea if we’re gonna live where pets are allowed, if the kids are allergic to cat fur, or if they even like cats.”
Roy appeared thoughtful before replying, “Funny, I thought for sure your first argument would be that hypothetical kids don’t count.”
The younger man looked momentarily baffled, then rolled his eyes. Why didn’t he just think of that . . .?
~*~*~
It was a slow morning with just one rescue involving an automobile accident with minor injuries, only one female driver had to be taken to Rampart for treatment.
It seemed as though the entire crew of A-shift was going to make it through lunch without interruption when the klaxons sounded.
“Squad 51, possible heart attack, fifteen thirty five Citrus Lane, one five three five Citrus Lane, time out thirteen ten.”
The paramedics pushed away from the table in the dayroom, then quickly trotted out to their truck in the apparatus bay, while Captain Stanley acknowledged the call.
~*~*~
The possible heart attack turned out to be difficult breathing. A woman had gotten her credit card bill from Christmas shopping in the mail and was overwhelmed with the amount all her gift buying had totaled up to.
As she hyperventilated on the couch in her livingroom, the oldest daughter had called for the fire department out of concern, thinking it was the onset of a heart attack.
“Do you have a paper bag?” Gage asked the teenaged girl as he glanced around while kneeling in front of the still hyperventilating mom. Roy took one from her that she quickly brought over. He handed it to John before getting the victim’s vitals.
Once they had the woman’s breathing back to normal and she appeared to be okay, the paramedics prepared to leave after recommending she see her own doctor soon.
As he closed the biophone, John felt a nudge against his right arm. He turned to look, hearing at the same time, “Mister fireman, do you want a sandwich?”
A young boy was holding a half of a sandwich on white bread out for him.
“Uh, sorry, we gotta run.”
The older sister grabbed it from her brother. “Nick, did you get into the cat food again?” She looked at Gage, who had just stood up, Roy beside him. “He thinks it’s the same as tuna. We keep telling him ‘no’, but you know how kids are,” she finished with a sigh.
Both paramedics cracked a grin.
“Yeah, we do,” Roy agreed with the girl he’d still consider a ‘kid’. “We do.”
~*~*~
On their way back out to the squad, Gage sarcastically commented to his partner, “Just think of all the cat food sandwiches you’re missing out on since you don’t want a cat.”
Roy grinned. “I’m pretty sure I’m better off for that, too.”
“Ah, c’mon. Where’s your sense of adventure?” Gage teased. “Your love of a good challenge?”
“Only when it’s worth going through. For a cat I don’t want?” He shook his head. “Not even close.”
The two put the equipment into the compartments on the passenger side, then climbed into the truck, Roy on the driver’s side.
~*~*~
John dropped the cat subject the remainder of the shift. It was clear that just like his children, Roy had moved on from the topic completely. The younger man just hoped the DeSoto kids really were done with the idea and that his partner wasn’t misreading them.
As he and Roy ate a late lunch without the engine crew, John noticed the other appeared lost in thought as he took a spoonful of soup to his mouth.
“What’sup?”
Roy lowered the empty spoon, as he glanced at the younger man beside him. “Huh?”
“You look like you’ve got somethin’ on your mind.”
“Oh.” He nodded. “I do.”
Gage smiled slightly at his own ability to sense things, but that smile quickly faded when his partner continued with, “I was just wondering what you were up to since you’ve been so quiet all of a sudden about the cat.”
John splayed his right hand on his chest. “Roy, I’m not up to anything. I’m not,” He assured when he got a look of doubt. “You said no, I simply dropped the subject.”
“You’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay.”
“I just hope you know your kids better’n I do.”
Roy just shook his head. He could say more on that, but it was two days before Christmas. No need to turn the conversation into an argument. At least the feline topic was in the rearview mirror.
~*~*~
December 25th
John knocked on the front door of the DeSotos’ home. He had been invited over for the morning and afternoon to celebrate since he otherwise would be alone. He shifted a bag of wrapped gifts for the family from his right hand to his left as he patiently waited. The neighborhood was quiet with everyone in their homes for Christmas morning.
Soon Roy opened the door, then motioned for him to come in.
“Be prepared, you’re in for quite a surprise.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked as he entered, handing the bag to Roy. “So what’s the big surprise?”
He was hoping perhaps his partner had set him up with a blind date for the day, perhaps a neighbor who also would have been alone on Christmas.
. . .if she’s cute and not a dog, he thought to himself. Yes, it was Christmas, a time for good will towards all, but he still had his standards.
“You’ll see.”
They went from the foyer area into the livingroom, where Jennifer and Chris were playing on the floor near the tree with. . .
“You got me a kitten?” He shot a look at Roy. “I thought you were gonna wait till I had kids! Besides I’m not even allow--”
“It’s not for you,” Roy interrupted.
“Well who’s kitten--” His face brightened as he came to the realization. “You did it, you got a cat!”
Perhaps all his work in trying to get his friend to adopt a feline for the kids was a success after all.
But Roy shook his head, his gaze on the happy youngsters with the grey kitty. “We got up this morning to that little furball sleeping near the tree with our German Shepherd, they already seem to be best friends. Not sure how she got here, maybe through the dog door.”
“It was Santa, Daddy,” Christopher said, partially listening to the men’s conversation. At age five, he was still a believer in the jolly red-suited man. “He got it! I told Santa I wanted a cat an’ he got it, just like I knew he would.”
“She’s our kitty,” three year old Jennifer reminded him with a pouty face. “I asked, too.”
Roy shrugged. He hated to admit the next part, it was going to give his friend a rather large ego for the moment, but. . . “Joanne and I didn’t know they asked Santa for a cat. But they seem to have gotten one that’s perfect for our family. The food bowl, small bag of food, and a litter box were on the front porch. She went next door to see if they can spare some cat litter. If not, dirt’s going to have to do till stores open tomorrow. ”
“I knew it. I knew your kids still had hope, didn’t I?”
“Yes, I have to admit you did. Apparently, so did somebody else.”
“Well, who do you think it’s from?” He whispered out of the corner of his mouth so the little ones playing with their new pet and ignoring their other still-wrapped gifts wouldn’t hear.
Again Roy shrugged, then answered just as quietly, “Unless someone comes forward, I guess it’ll remain a mystery. In the meantime, that’s Sandy Claus. The kids named her.”
John wasn’t sure which he was more amazed at, Roy and Joanne accepting the kitten as a gift or how the kitten arrived. Both would qualify as a Christmas miracle. He figured now was not the time to tell Roy that he kind of mentioned Christopher and Jennifer wanting a cat to a store Santa, just as a ‘what harm could it do’ thing. Instead he decided just to enjoy the Christmas with Sandy Claus and her new family, there would be time to figure the rest out later. For all he knew, the 'Santa' he'd talked to could have known of the DeSotos and pulled it off.
At least the holiday didn’t end in a cat-tastrophe, he thought to himself, a crooked grin on his face at his own humor.
This was inspired by being a cat lady. :o)
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