“How many lives do cats get, Mom?”
“Nine, but they don’t really get more than one life. It’s more like near-misses.”
“I know. I’m just trying to figure out how many Charon has had.”
“When has Charon escaped death?”
“There was that time when she ran out in front of Mr. Jones’ car. He almost hit her, but he hit the tree instead, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. I miss that tree.”
“Then after that, Mr. Jones was riding his bike and she ran out in front of him. He almost hit her again.”
“That was when he crashed and hit his head, right?”
“He should have been wearing a helmet, Mom. In fact, he had one on when he was riding that scooter.”
“Don’t tell me. Charon ran in front of him?”
“Yeah, that was the time he broke his leg.”
“Oh dear.”
“It wasn’t long after that he came out on crutches to get his mail one day. Charon went over to rub against his leg, I think to say sorry –“
“Oh, right, and he tried to whack her with his crutch.”
“She got away, Mom!”
“But he fell and broke his arm. So how many are we up to?”
[counting on fingers] “Car. Bike. Scooter. Crutches. It’s only four. Charon’s got plenty of lives left. She’ll be fine.”
“But will Mr. Jones?”
This is my response to the Unicorn Challenge. It’s a simple challenge: write no more than 250 words and use the photo as a prompt.
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 
I love this it’s so funny poor Mr Jones 😂😂😂😂
What an absolutely clever take. This was wonderful!
I’m still sitting with a smile on my face, Sally.
That was an ingenious take on the prompt – I echo Violet – wonderful!
Sally this made me laugh!! When I was in Vet school there was a large animal student who proudly said that his “contribution to small animal medicine was that I don’t kick every cat I see.” Karma bit him hard. We were required to go on at least 4 mobile clinic calls for large animal/equine. He was one of the vet students that us technicians were riding with. He entered a stall with a large horse and when a cat came in with him, he kicked it and the horse startled and kicked him!! I’m pretty sure he had a very large bruise on his thigh!!
I felt the same.
A very clever story. It made me smile!
lol
Great take!
That’s a good question! Awesome tale, Sally! 💞
Funny stuff, Sally.
Mr Jones should maybe get himself a big dog!
LOL Sally! This gave me a good chuckle!
Final line plot twist. Excellent!