The "Not A Good Move" Story

It was an ordinary day. We have almost arrived in Urbana, Maryland for a visit with my daughter and her family. We got a call from our granddaughter Courtney a few minutes ago asking where we were. After giving her an approximate time when we would arrive, she told us that they were going to take Rocco, their dog, for a short walk and would be back at the house when we arrived. Well, they weren't! Carol and I entered through the garage and after not finding them in the house, went out the back door, onto the rear deck, to see if they might be visiting with friends at the rear of their house. Nope. As I opened the back door to go into the house, a blur flew past my leg. It was Ruby, their cat. Ruby was a rescue a few years ago. She had been found in a dumpster behind a McDonald's. She has never warmed up to me, or most people as a matter of fact. I wrote a story titled "The Devil in Disguise" a few months ago describing Ruby's antics. Well, what do I do now. Carol quickly called Brynn's cell to find out where they were, while I tried to locate Ruby. I walked down off the deck, into the rear yard, and there she was, trying to hide under the deck. I could see part of her back and tail sticking out from under the deck. I told Carol I was going to try and grab her before she ran away. NOT A GOOD MOVE! As soon as I grabbed her she started to hiss and make all sorts of noises. Then she twisted her body around and grabbed my left hand in her mouth and started biting. If that wasn't bad enough, she started clawing my right arm with her back legs. I was determined not to let her get away ....... for about maybe 10 seconds. Then the pain and the sight of the blood dripping to the ground made me change my mind. Just before I released her, I felt this hot fluid, running down my leg. She had peed on me! Wow, she was using all the arsenal she had to escape! And to where? As soon as I left her go, she hustled in the open back door. Jeez, if I had only known. Carol grabbed some wet paper towels and I wrapped my right arm in them to stop the bleeding and take away the pain. She said, "I guess she doesn't like you!" Duh! I sat on the deck until Brynn and the girls returned with Rocco, holding the wet towels on my arm. When they returned, they wondered what I had done to my arm. "Ruby did that?" Courtney asked me. "Yep, Amah said Ruby must not like me," to put it mildly. At least she was save and sound inside the house! And ..... I now know not to try to pick her up again. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.