Black Cat Confessions

Black cats have a bad reputation. In fact, many folks avoid them if they can.

In animal shelters, the black cats are always the last ones to be adopted. Like the scrawny, uncoordinated kids in gym class, they wait with slumped shoulders and pleading eyes while even the psycho Siamese with a twitch gets picked for the home team.

Sadly, no governmental agencies have taken up their cause.

However, hope is on the horizon. One vet I know gives a free pizza with every black cat adoption. Many shelters offer lower adoption fees for those “shadowy” felines. I also read a story about a young shelter volunteer who took things into her own hands by giving all the black cats new name tags. Each was dubbed with the moniker “Jelly Bean”. In an instant perceptions were changed, and the “Beans” were snapped up in a flash. Now that’s creative thinking!

As the adoptive mom of a black cat, I can completely, undoubtedly affirm that black cats are NOT unlucky…

Unless…

You are a unicorn.

For reasons unknown, our black cat LOATHES unicorns. Of all the animals, stuffed and otherwise, residing in our home, he has decreed that it is ONLY the unicorn

WHO. MUST. DIE.

Trust me, I’ve tried everything to save the unicorn. I’ve washed it 37 times. I’ve kept it on a high shelf. I’ve even attempted anger management classes, implosion therapy, and past life regression on the feline. Nothing has worked.

Maybe he’s just not a fan of the fantasy genre.

And while rodents of all shapes and sizes can saunter in and set up High Tea in my living room, I can sleep like a baby each night knowing that I will never experience the horrors of a unicorn invasion…

Another one bites the dust.

PROMPT: Let’s let pets inspire us today! Do you have an animal with an interesting “quirk”? A parrot that sings Puccini, perhaps? Maybe you have a duck that escorts you to the school bus stop – my sister did! How about a dog with excessive flatulence? If you are a children’s writer, you know that a million dollar industry has been built from that last one. Seriously.