Can't Wait to Get to Heaven

A Very Nice Cat

8:40 AM

Every year on the same day Macky picked Sonny up and took him to the vet’s office for his annual checkup and shots. This morning Aunt Elner was in the living room waiting for Macky, and Sonny was already in his cat cage ready to go.

When he walked in, she said, “Ohhh, Macky, is he mad at me. He knows where he’s headed and he’s not happy about it either.”

Macky picked up the box. “How did you catch him?”

“I tricked him, I opened up a can of cat food and when he tried to eat it I threw a towel over him.”

He looked inside and he could see Sonny was not glad to see him.

“I’ll see you later, Aunt Elner,” he said as he picked the cage up.

“OK, tell Dr. Shaw hey for me.”

When Macky brought Sonny back that afternoon, Aunt Elner was out on the porch to greet him, happy to have Sonny back home.

“How did he do?”

Macky handed him over. “Just fine, he’s good to go for another year.”

“Did he bite anybody?”

“No, not that I know of.”

“Well, good, they say he’s hard to pill.”

Early the next morning Norma was in the kitchen trying to pull together a home inspection and a termite report on the old Whatley place when the phone rang. When she picked it up, it was Aunt Elner.

“Norma, you are going to have to get Macky to come up here and take this cat back over to Dr. Shaw.”

“Why?”

“It’s not my cat.”

“What do you mean, it’s not your cat?”

“It’s not my cat. He’s a very nice cat, but he’s not my cat.”

“Of course it’s your cat.”

“No, it’s not.”

“What makes you think it’s not your cat?”

“I can just tell. You know your own cat, Norma.”

“Well, maybe he’s still traumatized from having to go to the vet, give him a day or so and he’ll be back to his old self.”

“I’m telling you, Norma, this is not my cat. This cat’s hair is fuller around the face than Sonny’s was, and his personality’s not the same.”

“Honey, Dr. Shaw has treated Sonny for years, he would know if it was the right cat or not. What possible reason would he have for giving you the wrong cat?”

“Maybe they gave Sonny to some other person, and I got their cat by mistake. I don’t know, but I do know this is not my cat.”

Norma hung up and called Macky out at The Home Depot.

“Macky, Aunt Elner thinks the cat you picked up yesterday is not Sonny.”

“What?”

“She’s convinced that the cat you brought back is not her cat.”

“What makes her think so?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Macky. What makes her think anything, but you better go over there and talk to her.”

“Have you called Dr. Shaw? Who knows, maybe they did give her the wrong cat.”

“You saw the cat, Macky, didn’t it look like Sonny to you?”

“Yes, but all those orange cats look alike to me, I couldn’t tell one from another.”

Norma felt like a fool but she made the phone call anyway just to be on the safe side.

Dr. Shaw was in the back busy clipping Beverly’s new ferret’s toenails, so Norma spoke to his wife, who worked in the office.

“Abby, it’s Norma, let me ask you a silly question. Did you happen to have more than one orange cat over there the other day?”

“Other than Mrs. Shimfissle’s cat?”

“Yes?”

“Gosh, I don’t think so, why?”

“Oh, she has some crazy idea that the cat Macky picked up yesterday is not her cat.”

“Huh…well, let me check it out and make sure, but I don’t remember and I was here. Hold on…. No, no other orange cats were here.”

“Aunt Elner, I just spoke to Abby. Honey, that had to be Sonny, she said they didn’t have any other orange cats over there.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you, but this is not my cat. It’s too bad cats don’t have fingerprints or I could prove it to you once and for all. Like I say, he’s a very nice cat but he’s not my cat.”

“Well, what are you going to do?”

“What can I do, just keep him, I guess. I’ve gotten used to him now. I just hope whoever has Sonny is sweet to him.”

“Ironic,” thought Norma. They had switched cats on her in the past and she had not noticed, and now, when she really did have the right cat, she thought she didn’t. Go figure.