Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 00:03:28 -0500
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
From: Elspeth Kovar <EKovar at worldnet.att.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Elspeth's cat . . .
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

At 01:37 AM 1/11/2006, Ted White wrote:
>Elspeth Kovar wrote:
>
> >  Folks,
> >
> >  One of my cats had been on an iron lung AND dialysis and, while she
> >  was doing well, all things considered, subsequently died. It was
> >  rough all around and I really do appreciate the kind condolences and
> >  apologize if I took them poorly.
> >
> >  The thing is, I just looked down at her and asked her how she felt
> >  about her trials, tribulations, and death. To which she replied,
> >  "Myap". That could mean any number of things but given her position
> >  I expect that this time it means that she waiting for me to stand up
> >  for any reason so that she can steal my chair. Both she and I seem
> >  to have missed all this excitement.
>
>I feel you must've left out at least a sentence and maybe a paragraph
>between those two paragraphs.  In the first you say your cat has died.
>In the second you discuss the fact that "she" is currently alive.   What
>is entirely missing is the transition from one dead cat to another
>living cat.  You know what you're talking about, but an uninformed
>reader might get a jolt.

There was no transition thus no transitional sentence or paragraph: it's
the same cat.

I got a jolt as well when I learned all those things about my cat by
reading the minutes of two meetings.  I believe that one was shortly after
Capclave and the death of my cat was reported at a December meeting along
with the fact that my father-in-law, my ex-husband's father, had broken his
neck in a car accident.  His neck is still broken and I'm very worried
about him and the family especially since I can't go visit because of the
divorce.

But my cat is very much alive.  Both of them are, in fact, but the one who
was ill is doing so much better that she's back to being a pest, which she
hasn't been in a very long time.  The second one is simply a pest.  I
wouldn't have them any other way.

The announcement that she was "on an iron lung AND dialysis" caught me by
surprise.  Both of those are very expensive.  Both are very
uncomfortable.  Either one would so decrease her quality of life that I'd
let her go.  And doing well when on both an iron lung AND dialysis?  (The
capitalized 'and' is the way it's in the Journal, presumable reflecting the
intonation of the person giving making the announcement.)

And a cat?  On - or in -  an iron lung?

I got a severe case of laughter and then giggles.

Then I came across the next reference to my cat (I actually have two but
only one has been ill) at which point I lost it again, and that's when I
asked her what she thought of all of this.  "Myap" was the best I could do
to transliterate her reply.  And suddenly the expressions of concern made
sense and I thought that I should explain.

While explaining I should have realized that anyone reading 'my cat died'
would be paying attention to that rather than the absurdity of the
treatment.  It would have been much better to start "I just learned that .
. . " and I do apologize for the jolt that it must have given you.

I hope that I'll be somewhat forgiven due to the fact that whenever I think
about those announcements, especially the first one, I still start to
giggle out loud.  Which, of course, puzzles the cats.

Elspeth