A Boy’s Love for his Cat

My son sleeps and sleeps. He assures me this is normal behavior for a person his age, a teenager and since my own memory of that time has long floated away, I say, “ok” as I close his door and let him sleep some more. His room is dark, like a cave from the blackout curtains he bought online. Only the computer glows on his desk. His beloved cat, Gingersnap lay at the end of his bed. Gingersnap who is the photo on screen saver on all devices and when he had to give a presentation in Spanish on his family took up a full three slides to the one he squeezed both his mother and father onto.

“Did you tell Kara to give Gingersnap the medicine?”. “No”, I scoffed back while lying in the lounge chair in Mexico on our family vacation. “WHAT?” He demanded. Our cat had recently been sick and was taken to the vet where they discovered she had a virus which antibiotics cured but also an underlying heart condition that required daily medication in a syringe, into her mouth with sharp teeth and claws preventing such action. As a result, my son was in charge of that task. We had forgotten a to give the cat its medicine a couple of times, so I did not think it was a big deal to skip a few days while on vacation and a friend came by to feed the cat. I have always underestimated the feelings my son had for our cat, perhaps the result of having no siblings himself. “You need to ask her, NOW!” he demanded, blocking my sun, standing over me. “I am not asking her to put a

syringe in the cat’s mouth to give the medicine. She will survive a few days,” I responded. He did not move and the warmth that the sun was no longer providing started to chill me.

 

“Really, she will be fine,” I responded in a more gentle tone, hoping to reassure him. “She Will Not!” he spit out as he walked away and back into our hotel room. Being a teenager, he retreated to the world of online feedback. He posted his frustration on Reddit and immediately got confirmation from other users that his mother was evil and out to kill his beloved cat. From the hotel room to my spot beside the pool he began to flood my inbox with articles on the cat’s condition and imminent deterioration.

 

“Kara, I know it is a lot to ask, and I know you already were at our house, but can you go back and give the medicine to Gingersnap?” I asked over the phone. She did. The cat survived. But my son’s faith in me was not as quickly restored. He is now considering colleges, and at the top of his criteria are colleges that allow pets, cats in particular.

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