Cat Tails by Daniel M. Weiss

Stories of life with Frankie & Johnnie

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Johnnie, Frankie and the Plastic Bag

by Daniel M. Weiss

In describing the following incident hopefully, you'll appreciate the shock, scare, and sadness along with the feeling of guilt I had at its conclusion.

I was in the kitchen doing something that is gone from my memory. Worry was the catalyst that made me forget. Suddenly, hearing a terrible ruckus behind my back, I turned around a plastic bag flashed past me so fast, then into the downstairs den only to come racing upstairs again and back into the bedroom.

What uncontrollable mischief had Frankie and Johnnie gotten themselves into?

Frankie was hurt as she ran up the steps into the living room from the downstairs rec room. I could see her right hindquarter limping along. She was squatting; I'll bet her heart was racing along as never before. I could see no blood; that was a relief, my heart was racing, too, wondering what happened?

Going into the bedroom, I found Johnnie squeezed under my dresser about three inches above the carpeted floor. Fully stretched out and I'm more than certain out of sorts with the handle of a plastic bag around her neck, the bag following her every move. Not able to get out of it, Johnnie began the ruckus that caused Frankie to get hurt running up the steps to get away from this strange monster.

With a little difficulty, I removed the bag from her neck. She did not leave the safety of the dresser for a while. When she finally came out of the bedroom, I could see she was not injured; except for her initial shock of the bag around her neck. Thankfully in her urge to escape this trauma, she did not strangle herself.

However, Frankie worried me.

Getting down on my hands and knees, Frankie let me touch her right side. I did not feel any broken bones and she did not try to escape my probing hand. Letting me massage her right quarter. I felt a little better thinking that she may have strained a muscle in trying to get away from this strange thing trailing around Johnnie's neck

I decided to call the Animal Hospital the next morning to have her checked and X-rayed.

She was walking with a decided limp and that was not good for either Frankie or me.

The next morning, thinking things over, I did not call the hospital. Wait a few more days and let's see how she feels. It could be a muscle strain.

The few days have now turned into a month or so, and Frankie is almost normal again. She leaps and does anything that calls for using her right quarter. Johnnie suffered little more than a shock to her dignity. To this day, she runs away at the sight of a plastic bag.

A lesson well learned, with guilt, no more will plastic bags be left lying around.

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