This HCH ranch story is about a long-time hay customer and her wilderness pet.
Miss B didn’t even know her latest pet was dining uninvited. She was exhausted after another long day of work, made even longer with her many chores.
Miss B had her headlamp shining and was completing the last chore of the night. Her beloved kitties were hungry and begging to be fed. After all, it was a cold night and someone was late with dinner.
After scooping several cups of cat food into the waiting bowls, she began to call her cats to supper. She noticed that most of the cats were sitting several yards away and glaring at her with slitted eyes. One kitty was crunching treats and brushing its tail along her upper calf. Miss B reached down and stroked the fluffy tail. A tiny detail was tickling her brain as she gave the tail a gentle pull.
Suddenly, Miss B slid all the pieces of the puzzle together and froze. Ever so slowly, she tilted her headlamp toward the ground and took a good look at that loving kitty with the bushy tail. The kitty stopped, lifted her tail, and backed her tiny posterior into Miss B’s lower leg. Miss B closed her eyelids tightly, took a deep breath, and tried to remember how many cans of tomato juice were in the cupboard. Zero came to mind.
Miss B slowly scooped another cup of treats into the dish and almost slumped to the ground with relief when she heard the crunching continue. She raised onto her toes and quietly danced away from the kitty dining area and to the house to find her sidearm. She returned and quickly uninvited the white, striped kitty, who left an unpleasant odor behind as a hostess gift.
As Miss B holstered her weapon, she swore she heard a voice tell her to look up a picture of a skunk and study it for future reference.