Anoushka, The Beetle & The Incredible Blandness Of Gerber’s Turkey & Veg
Now for fans of my Darling Kitty Anoushka, a wee story.
Earlier this week, the day after my surgery, I was trying to eat a jar of Gerber’s 3rd Stage
Turkey and Vegetables baby food. Let me tell you, there’s nothing quite so horrid as cold, gelatinously smooth baby food, though I can now
vouch that the Green Beans and Rice was quite possibly the worst of
all. It had to be cold because I was icing my mouth - no heated foods.
Also as far as Gerber was concerned, no salt, no spices, no seasonings
of any kind for baby’s wee tum. It’s great food to eat when you’ve
stitches in the roof of your mouth and even soft rice or bread would
scratch, but interesting and fulfilling for the gourmand, it was not.
Crappy as it was, Anoushka wanted it for her very own. She sniffed
and pawed at the jar while I was taking a break from the vast blandness
of it, her eyes went all wide and she knocked the partially eaten jar
off of the table. The kitchen door into the garage had been left open
so kitties could play and before I knew it, she had rolled my turkey
dinner all the way to the opposite side of the garage.
When found, she was busy trying to stuff an errant beetle into the
jar. (extra protein and flavor, I’m sure) The beetle, just as
industriously, attempted to flee every time the furry paw was
extracted. Anoushka was using the beetle as a spoon. The beetle ran out
covered with turkey and veg, which kitty licked off before stuffing the
poor beetle back into the jar. I watched incredulously as this
procedure was repeated several times.
In my drooling and not terribly coherent state I yelled “Anoofka!
Annnooffffka! Get you fuwwy buh’ in hya NOW, yun wady!”. They were the
first words I’d uttered since the operation. I’d been a bit reticent to
open my mouth and speak but found that it didn’t hurt, and felt
actually somewhat pleasant after a day of not opening my mouth but to
rinse. Cat dropped jar and beetle escaped utterly under the garage
door, bedraggled, and smelling of dinner. Anoushka looked at me
reproachfully, turned her back and washed a forepaw defiantly.
Had she not made off with what passed for dinner, I might not have
spoken for another few days, by which time it would have been more
difficult. It was a small favor, but one I appreciated. Small blessings are sometimes the best. Anoushka is the kind of kitty who will take up a social cause at the drop of a kibble, and excels at making people and animals believe in themselves again. Bless her…
Moral of the story: Help will come from friends in out of the way places. Be grateful for ALL blessings, however small!
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