Whiskers, Wit, and Wisdom by Niki Anderson

Author:Niki Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2009-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

PURR-rayer:

Dear God, make me steadfast in my pledge to those under my care, and deliver me from the unprincipled trait of indifference.

Connie Christilaw has nursed for thirty years, but her caring nurture began years before that and has extended beyond human perimeters; she has rescued and treated many a feline. Experience saving cats has taught her that placing a rescued animal is a journey of both red and yellow lights.

In high school Connie adopted Amos, her first cat. Thereafter, she was a confirmed and fervent cat lover. When Amos was gone, big gray Jake brought Connie lots of joy. She longed for another cat. Without Jake’s permission, Connie acquired Sophie, a gray- and-white striped kitten with cotton-white paws and matching belly.

Sophie loved two things: Jake and shoes. Her infatuation with footwear kept her happily entertained, and her attachment to Jake made her lastingly devoted.

But Jake did not reciprocate. Sophie’s arrival made him furious. Consequently, he was even less disposed for the advent of a third cat, soon to come.

During a break from nursing, Connie was living at a mobile home park. From her porch step one morning, she heard a melancholy meow. The cry led to the community center, where she spotted a tortoiseshell cat dangling from a tree limb. Seizing the opportunity, the cat dropped onto Connie’s head and held on with a panic-stricken grasp.

What does one do with a cat for a hat? Suddenly, Connie was now in charge of a cat’s future. Suspecting that Jake and Sophie might not be sympathetic to the hapless cat, she braced herself as she headed back to the house with a furry skullcap.

Jake and Sophie met the intruder with sharp hisses. Averting a further squabble, Connie placed the cat in a carrier. She reasoned that temporary confinement for the stray cat was safer than confrontation with Jake and Sophie. The relieved cat purred in agreement and surrendered to sleep.

After work Connie drove to a vet clinic. The electronic scan showed no microchip lodged under the skin of the collarless kitty. The vet treated her for fleas and ear mites and wrote “Fleabag” on the new patient’s record. Later she became Phoebe, a name more feminine and flattering!

Of special interest in the vet’s diagnosis were injuries that gave clues to Phoebe’s dispatch alongside the highway near the mobile park. Torn hind toenails and lacerations on the flanks are commonly the result of a spinning fan belt whipping a trapped cat under the hood of a moving car. Had she fallen from a vehicle?

The good news was that Phoebe’s virus-free blood sample approved her for a temporary stay with Connie. But Jake and Sophie were unduly threatened, and Phoebe was the object of blatant rejection, so Connie advertised her in the newspaper.

One respondent informed Connie that she drove every weekday on the highway running parallel to the park. Despite her inquiry, she sounded unaffected about reuniting with her cat. Yellow light number one.

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