Fans of Sprite will of course recall that the vet was scheduled to attend her yesterday, for the purpose of administering rabies and distemper vaccinations.
Sadly, Her Princessness had assumed that, as the mountain to Mahomet, the vet would come to her. She was Most Displeased to find that this was not the case, and that she was going to be required to submit herself to the inconvenience of a Winter Journey.
She made her Displeasure known by throwing herself out of the bedroom window when The Steve entered the room with the intent of having her down. She dodged under the bed, zoomed down the hall, knocked Trooper over and fled to the window in the kitchen.
The Sharon arrived and again an attempt was made to have her down, which she thwarted by hurling herself over The Sharon’s shoulder, hitting the floor with a stumble and a zoom, knocking Trooper over again as she sought sanctuary in The Steve’s office.
Followed a chase perhaps merrier for the Princess than her lackeys, as they pursued her up and down the hallway, and up and down the basement stairs, closing doors as each room was cleared, until there was only One Option left.
The Princess flew into the bedroom, meaning to make a sharp, high-speed U-turn and head down the hall for the living room, and perhaps the lower back corner of the cat castle. But the lackey Sharon was hot on her heels.
Before the Princess could turn, the varlet had closed the door.
Thwarted, yet our Princess kept her wits about her, and handily dove under the bed. Whereupon The Steve was heard coming down the hall, bearing the Loathly Cat Carrier. He placed his hand upon the knob, and called out —
“It’s locked.”
“What?” quoth The Sharon. She rose from her knees and tried the knob. It was, indeed, locked.
Here is the doorknob in question. Note the lack of any locking mechanism.
The Steve began to laugh. The Sharon, pluck to the backbone, had a hanger from out the closet on the instant, and set to work with the bolt.
The Steve said, “I’ll be back.”
Valiant Princess Sprite, in the meanwhile, ventured out from underneath the bed, the better to observe this extraordinary happenstance.
The Sharon’s efforts with the hanger had yielded no results save colorful language by the time The Steve returned with his hook.
“Let me try,” he said, and The Sharon stepped back, dropping the hanger on the bed, and going to one knee on the floor.
The bolt shot back like magic, and Princess Sprite stood, enrapt, as the door came open. . .
. . .and The Sharon swooped upon her, scooped her up, and stuffed her into The Loathly Box.
And with all of that, we actually got to her appointment on time.
Photo by Sharon Lee