Link to original post: [drupal=4367]How horrible (Warning: potentially disturbing content)[/drupal]
Well, it's been almost a year since my last blog entry. I find myself needing to write about what just happened, and so you, SWF will be my sounding board.
Normally, I do not panic. In just about any given situation I am able to at least see "the exits" as it were - to know the shortest route to victory, or to at least have an idea of what the hell to do. But today, I froze.
After a long night's work, my drawer checking up a hundred bucks short for no apparent reason, and my head fogging with sleepiness, I decided enough was enough. I wasn't going to find the money. I wasn't getting any less tired hanging around the store while my manager toiled to find it. She wasn't even concerned, really, because she knows she can trust me. "It'll turn up," she promised.
So with that, and being over my normal scheduled departure by about 45 minutes, I left the building, lit my cigarette, and got into my car. I turned the ignition key, put on the seat belt, and put her into reverse to back out of the parking space. As my foot left the brake pedal so that I could slowly back up, I turned to ensure there was nothing behind me.
Then...
*CRUNCH*
*THUD*
and the distinct feeling of rolling over something, like a small speed bump, but only on one side.
Damn, did I just blow a tire? That's all I need.
Then to my horror... no, it wasn't my tire. It was a cat. Poor thing had obviously been sleeping under the wheel well and the starting of my engine wasn't enough to rouse it. My car was now fully backed up and the space I had parked in had in it now a tiger-tabby as I call them, grey and black stripes, slight orange coat... there's millions of them everywhere.
To my dismay the cat wasn't dead. If it had been dead I could at least go back into the store, get a shovel, and scoop it into the dumpster, wash the lot off a bit... and move on. But no... it was alive, staggering haphazardly in seemingly random directions, its mouth gaping open, as if locked in position, blood pouring through its teeth and onto the concrete into pools as it continued to meander about. Then it sat, trying to keep the blood from pouring everywhere it seems... I couldn't tell anymore, it was all too surreal. This was really happening, I remarked. I just maimed a cat and it'll probably bleed to death or get a terrible infection, or ...
... or maybe it'll be fine. Yeah, it'll be fine, it's still moving. Cats have 9 lives, maybe this was 3 of them and it's got 6 more.
I put the car into drive and resumed my course home, thinking about how some patron will probably notice at some point and alert the manager that there's a dead or dying cat bleeding all over the parking lot.
What could I have done? Call animal control? Attempt to scoop it up into my car and take it to the 24 hour vet? Run over it again until it was surely dead? I don't know... I'm sure there's several opinions on what others may have done in this instance, but me, I didn't have a clue. I still don't, really. All I know is it's been difficult this past hour... difficult to get the gruesome image out of my head... it's been difficult to enjoy my slice of Domino's Pepperoni and Ham on original crust, and small portion of Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream chips, and dessert of Breyer's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough featuring Chips Ahoy! brand cookies.
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Well, it's been almost a year since my last blog entry. I find myself needing to write about what just happened, and so you, SWF will be my sounding board.
Normally, I do not panic. In just about any given situation I am able to at least see "the exits" as it were - to know the shortest route to victory, or to at least have an idea of what the hell to do. But today, I froze.
After a long night's work, my drawer checking up a hundred bucks short for no apparent reason, and my head fogging with sleepiness, I decided enough was enough. I wasn't going to find the money. I wasn't getting any less tired hanging around the store while my manager toiled to find it. She wasn't even concerned, really, because she knows she can trust me. "It'll turn up," she promised.
So with that, and being over my normal scheduled departure by about 45 minutes, I left the building, lit my cigarette, and got into my car. I turned the ignition key, put on the seat belt, and put her into reverse to back out of the parking space. As my foot left the brake pedal so that I could slowly back up, I turned to ensure there was nothing behind me.
Then...
*CRUNCH*
*THUD*
and the distinct feeling of rolling over something, like a small speed bump, but only on one side.
Damn, did I just blow a tire? That's all I need.
Then to my horror... no, it wasn't my tire. It was a cat. Poor thing had obviously been sleeping under the wheel well and the starting of my engine wasn't enough to rouse it. My car was now fully backed up and the space I had parked in had in it now a tiger-tabby as I call them, grey and black stripes, slight orange coat... there's millions of them everywhere.
To my dismay the cat wasn't dead. If it had been dead I could at least go back into the store, get a shovel, and scoop it into the dumpster, wash the lot off a bit... and move on. But no... it was alive, staggering haphazardly in seemingly random directions, its mouth gaping open, as if locked in position, blood pouring through its teeth and onto the concrete into pools as it continued to meander about. Then it sat, trying to keep the blood from pouring everywhere it seems... I couldn't tell anymore, it was all too surreal. This was really happening, I remarked. I just maimed a cat and it'll probably bleed to death or get a terrible infection, or ...
... or maybe it'll be fine. Yeah, it'll be fine, it's still moving. Cats have 9 lives, maybe this was 3 of them and it's got 6 more.
I put the car into drive and resumed my course home, thinking about how some patron will probably notice at some point and alert the manager that there's a dead or dying cat bleeding all over the parking lot.
What could I have done? Call animal control? Attempt to scoop it up into my car and take it to the 24 hour vet? Run over it again until it was surely dead? I don't know... I'm sure there's several opinions on what others may have done in this instance, but me, I didn't have a clue. I still don't, really. All I know is it's been difficult this past hour... difficult to get the gruesome image out of my head... it's been difficult to enjoy my slice of Domino's Pepperoni and Ham on original crust, and small portion of Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream chips, and dessert of Breyer's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough featuring Chips Ahoy! brand cookies.
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