Form letters are just that, forms, printed in the thousands and sent to everyone who dares to apply. Not even so much as a personal rejection to note that one made it out of the dreaded slush pile. One publisher went so far as to return my query UNOPENED and stamped “Submissions only accepted in November.” Well thanks, thanks a lot. So I was bummed last week.
One day last week, Thursday, I think, I got THREE form rejections the same day. That was just the whipped shit on top of what had been a completely crappy day. And subsequent to that, I’ve had worse days. Friday we were supposed to take K and K, two boys about GG’s age to pick strawberries with us. After driving about 25 miles, we find that the strawberry field is now a development--houses as far as the eye can see! So we went back to the boy’s house where the kids played and their mother and I gabbed... and horror of horrors! Their 120 lb. Akita bit Jonah on the face!
It wasn’t a bad bite, but off we rushed to the hospital where they glued and taped (literally) her back together. Likely, she will carry a small scar on her cheek. All in all, it was NOT a successful week.
But today was a good day.
Today, I went to Pets-Mart to get some PetZyme. It’s an odor remover that I use in our laundry. Works like a charm. GG was at tutoring and I had only the little girls with me. And they HAD to look at the kitties that were for adoption. There were about 7 kittens there and 3 were out in the cage room for some exercise. So the girls played with them while I petted the adult cats in the cages. I was there that I met Dune.
Dune is a 1 to 2 year old male cat, peach and sand tabby. He was delightfully affectionate, rubbing my fingers through the bars. When i stopped petting him, he laid down in the cage and reached through the bars all the way to the shoulder(!) and put his paw on my forearm, velvet soft and tugged on my arm. Then he switched paws and did it again!
I was charmed.
Dune’s story to this point is not a happy one. He was taken from an abusive home where he apparently suffered fairly serious injuries. He has scars on his neck and he’s blind in one eye where his eyeball was ruptured. His head there is slightly misshapen. Blunt force trauma will do that.
I wanted him then and there. But we have four cats already. I knew my husband would never go for a fifth. So I left PetsMart knowing that it was unlikely that poor injured Dune would find a home. Everyone wanted the kittens. No one wanted an adult cat no matter how nice he was.
After I finished my errands, I met my husband at Home Depot where we were buying picket fence panels for the yard--that’s so domestic, isn’t it? I pretty much begged for us to take Dune home. And he was not happy about it. But he agreed to meet me at PetsMart and meet the kittie.
It took two minutes.
But the lady who was there was from another shelter. There were four phone numbers on Dune’s cage tag and I got answering machine after answering machine. Finally, the last number was a person and the lady said we would have to come back the next day when someone would be there. We were so disappointed! But the lady from the other shelter said she would do the paperwork if Dune’s shelter lady said it was okay. And it was! Dune’s difficult days are done and there is no gas chamber in his future.
Welcome home, Dune. Welcome home.
Yes, today IS a good day. Today, I got a post card from Houghton Mifflin (a big 5 publisher) asking to see a manuscript for Nobody’s Hero.
