Day 139: The day Greyson scared us half to death

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 139: The day Greyson scared us half to death

There are people who complain that their life is boring, that nothing ever happens. In my opinion, those are lucky people. Here there’s always something happening and none of it is good. Take the past weekend for instance …

After a long hot summer, last Saturday the temperature dropped to about 18 degrees C (64.4 degrees F). Not exactly cold, but the air was definitely chilly. Still, I saw no reason not to let the cats out on the balcony. Dieter even took a nap in the swing there, joined by Halley and Greyson.

Saturday evening Halley and Greyson were playing, as usual, racing in and out of the living room to the balcony and back again.

This continued on Sunday morning. Halley and Greyson were playing while I showered and got ready for the day. And then suddenly things went wrong.

When I presented my fur kids with breakfast, Greyson didn’t take one bite. Thinking that he didn’t like that type of food I scooped meat from another can on a plate, but he didn’t want that either. Instead, he curled up on the couch.

When I remarked “Oh this is no good,” Dieter thought I was panicking for nothing. “So Greyson doesn’t want to eat, so what?” he said, “perhaps he’s just not hungry.” This sounded absolutely ludicrous to me. Greyson is always the first one by his plate and the last one to leave. That kitten has an appetite that makes me wonder where he puts it all.

For the rest of the morning, Greyson remained on the couch. Dieter thought he was just tired and sleeping, but I knew something was wrong. I know the difference between a cat who rests, who sleeps and who doesn’t feel well. Still, maybe he just had a cold from being in the chilly air the previous day, so I tried not to be overly concerned.

Dinner time came and went and again Greyson didn’t want to eat. Okay, so now even Dieter had to admit that something was wrong. I called out vet, but unfortunately, the doctors at the clinic were fully booked.

Now it so happened that Greyson had an appointment today, Monday, at 9:30 a.m. for his second inoculation. If he couldn’t see the doctor on Sunday afternoon, at least he would be able to be seen the next day. He wouldn’t be fit to receive his inoculation, but at least he would get a doctor’s attention.

By 6:00 p.m. his situation turned into an emergency. Greyson became unresponsive and we decided to take him to the emergency hospital. I called a cab, we put him in his carrier and took him downstairs to the lobby of our building.

And then something strange happened. While we waited for the cab to arrive, Greyson got up on his feet, took an interest in his surroundings and seemed so much better. He clearly wasn’t as sick as I thought he was so I canceled the cab and we went back upstairs.

Back home again Greyson curled up on a blanket on Dieter’s bed and went to sleep. Thinking that he had to eat at least something, I opened a tin with lots of gravy and let him lick my finger. After licking my gravied finger perfectly clean a few times I switched to a spoon. I loaded the food onto the spoon, presented it to Greyson and he licked/ate the gravy and meat. Ten minutes later he had finished his plate.

That made me feel a whole lot better. He had eaten and with this food, he would get his strength back.

From there on it got better and better. About an hour later Greyson came and ate from the big plate, a little later went for seconds and finished off his dinner with some kibble and a drink of water. Another half an hour later he was playing with Halley with a ball.

Today he’s back to his usual self. He eats, drinks, grooms himself and plays. It’s hard to believe that this is the same kitten that was so sick yesterday to the point that we thought we had to take him to the emergency room.

 www.connymanero.weebly.com

Day 115: Battle with the Bottle

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 115: Battle with the Bottle

Everyone will agree that children need to be protected from harm, but where it comes to medicine bottles, they are not only designed to be childproof, in many cases, they are also adult proof.

You should have seen me wrestle with a bottle of cough mixture this morning. If this battle had been captured on video, it might have received thousands of views with people laughing their head off.

The instructions on the bottle were quite clear … push down and twist. So, I pushed and twisted, pushed and twisted some more but other than a clicking noise, the cap didn’t budge.

With a ‘fine, have it your way’ I pushed the bottle in the corner of the kitchen counter and went to sit down to rest. That battle with the bottle cap had left me exhausted.

Never one to give up easily, some fifteen minutes later it was time for round two. I grabbed the bottle by its neck and was gonna show it who was boss. I pushed and twisted, pushed and twisted and after a few failed attempts I had to admit that the bottle was boss. We each retreated to our corners.

As I sat in my chair, making coughing noises that would have scared a bulldog, I eyed the bottle on the kitchen counter. Why did the manufacturers make it so difficult for people to open the darn thing? Surely, they realized that those who needed cough mixture were not feeling too great to begin with, so why make things extra difficult for them?

I was not gonna be defeated though, I would persevere and that bottle better watch out because I was coming and this time I wasn’t leaving until I had its top severed from its body. “Come here you,” I said. “I’m gonna push and twist and you’re gonna open or I’m gonna throw you off the balcony.” The prospect of taking a flying leap 11 floors down must have filled the bottle with panic as he released his cap on the second try.

Now that the bottle was open I faced a second challenge … was this stuff safe to drink? According to the label, the syrup could cause serious kidney and liver damage, was not recommended for patients with heart problems or asthma, while in bold letters the label stated that pregnant women should not drink this. Holy smokes … cure a cough, run the risk of developing more serious problems.

In the end, I decided to risk it. It wasn’t as if I was going to drink copious amounts of this stuff. But still, why does it have to be this way? Why can’t the scientists come up with safe medication?

Some might say that there are natural ways of healing a cough and believe me, I’ve already researched and found that honey has healing properties. So, I’ve been sipping honey water, but I’m sorry to say it doesn’t work. I still cough and cough, or shall I say, I bark and bark.

Still, if you have any suggestions for how to calm a cough, I’m all ears. Thanks in advance.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

When enough is enough

Linda (not her real name) is considering suicide.  After being unemployed for over a year, and having applied to more jobs than she can remember, she finally had a real chance for a job.

She anxiously waited for three weeks while the company screened more candidates and tried not to get her hopes up.  Something that’s easier said than done.  On the one hand she knew that an interview didn’t promise a job, but the interview had gone so well and she was perfect for the job.

This morning she found out that the company has hired someone else and through dumb luck she found out who had beaten her …  a 25 year old woman (Amanda) with 3 kids, all under 5 years old.

Linda doesn’t have the will to carry on anymore.  It’s bad enough to lose out on a job, but to a woman with three young kids!

Of course, the organization who hired Amanda has no idea of her family situation.  After all, asking a job candidate how old she is, whether or not she’s married, if she has any children and their ages is against the law.

The organization is about to find out though, when the kids get sick and Amanda needs time off.  It’s bad enough when one get measles, chicken pocks or another child’s disease, but in this case it’s times three.  Not to mention a number of other things that can go wrong with a child that age. 

Linda on the other hand is a 59 year old woman with no family ties.  She has no kids who will keep her awake at night, get sick or have accidents at the playground.  She will show up for work on time, every time and the word “time off” is not in her vocabulary. 

Is it wrong for Linda to consider packing it in and leaving this world?  Maybe, maybe not.  It sure would send a message to all those stupid employers who see a pretty girl and hire her, regardless of her qualifications, experience and family situation and throw a perfectly qualified older candidate to the curb.