I’ve been minding my good friends’ pets while they are at a wedding. It keeps me popping back and forth from my place to theirs. I always let Joe the turtle have run of the apartment. When I call him, he may take his time, but he comes out, and I put him back in his tank. Well one day, he just disappeared. I called and called. I checked out every hiding place and resting spot he hangs out in. Nada. He’d been gone 24 hours and for him, that is too long. When he didn’t answer, I tried the thing that never fails to get him out: the vacuum cleaner! It’s a Mighty Mite, a slick little yellow-and-black affair that rolls low to the floor. It’s got a very long, black cord with extensions so I can move around the whole place without having to re-plug it in. He loves it. I think he thinks it’s one of his long-lost relatives. After 30 minutes of vacuuming, still no Joe. So, he has to be stuck somewhere. I make the whole place very quiet. I call him, and I go by the window where he sits on his log or his tropical island—and I hear his scratching claws. That little rascal had climbed up inside the air-conditioner hose! Easy to climb up, impossible to back out! He spent 24 hours in there! He was freaking out for sure. I had to catch him, to stop him from leaping right out the top for a three-foot drop to the floor! The total panic I felt thinking he would go into the unit nearly floored me, but thank God, there is a fixture there to prevent that. I put him right in his tank and he ate three helpings of his food sticks. He’s 29 years old and still making kid mistakes!
Kathryn Vaughn
January 19, 2021
December 9, 2020
November 19, 2020