In a former life, long ago, I lived on a busy farmstead in Oregon’s Hood River Valley. I remember the time a sweet little stray kitten appeared outside my kitchen. Because she was adorable and friendly and we needed another “mouser” for the barn, I decided to keep her.
My husband wisely suggested we get her fixed so as not be overrun with cats. So I took her in to the local vet.
Returning the next day to pick her up after the surgery, the vet met me with a look of consternation. “There’s a problem,” she said. “When we opened up this cat, we discovered that she is actually a he, and he has already been fixed.”
You can imagine the look of horror on my face as it began to take on a slightly rosy shade. “Oh my,” was all I could think of.
But she looked horrified too. “Uh, we won’t charge you anything … if you don’t tell anyone that neither of us caught that mistake,” she pleaded.
“OK,” I stammered, and quickly headed out the door with my very confused cat.
The next day I ran into a neighbor as we were picking up our mail at the end of the road.
“Say, have you noticed anything strange happening with your cats?” she asked.
“Like what?” I said.
“Well, our kitten came home after disappearing for several days and someone had shaved his belly!”
After a long, uncomfortable pause, I simply said, “How weird is that?”
I took my mail home and never said another thing about it to anyone. But it later it became a legend in my extended family, where for some reason I’m asked to repeat it — often.
Everybody Has a Story welcomes true, first-person tales by Columbian readers, 1,000 words maximum, and relevant photographs. Send to: neighbors@columbian.com or P.O. Box 180, Vancouver WA, 98666. Call “Everybody Has an Editor” Scott Hewitt, 360-735-4525, with questions.
