[Major Tom, a big grey tabby wearing a purple harness, sits in a blue cat stroller, looking out to the right of the camera.]
Tom’s been wiggly with spring coming in, so Jasper & I decided to take him along to run errands.
He was … not entirely sure about this, but it did get him out of the house, & he got a pup cup from the local coffeeshop, so he was pretty good with that.
[He’s still sitting in the stroller, now looking up and off to the right.]
We took him wandering around Evergreen to a food truck that sells burgers & shave ice. He got petted by several people & admired by several more, & enjoyed this as his due. He’s really getting GOOD at dealing with people he doesn’t know; he even gave one person stinkeye when they walked past without *gasp* stopping to pet him.
But then he got bored while we were eating burgers & shave ice, & decided that he was gonna jump through that railing THERE.
[A wooden railing running up alongside a set of stairs. The uprights still have some green paint on them, but most has worn off. The spacing between the uprights is perhaps four inches.]
Yes, THAT railing.
He did not fit.
He EXTREMELY did not fit.
He decided that OBVIOUSLY the only possible solution was to kick in with his hind claws & climb the ENTIRE railing, on the theory that he could then go over the top, which, to be fair might have worked, except for the part where he was STUCK.
Fortunately Jasper was available to extract him, because I was laughing too hard. Jasper got stabbed, but only lightly. The base of the stairs also got stabbed, or at least slashed.
[A closer view of the board supporting the steps. Rough purple ovals have been drawn onto the photo, surrounding claw marks scored vertically into the wood.]
Tom was unrepentant, but also, extremely embarrassed. He didn’t even want the pieces of burger I’d saved for him. He wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the trip in his safe spot:
[Tom’s hunkered down in the footwell, at my feet. The same footwell that has the gas and brake pedals. He’s looking up at me piteously, but most of him is shoved under my leg.]
Surely nothing could go wrong with that!
