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Wednesday, June 3, 2009

A Liar Among Us

Are these the eyes of an animal you can trust?

On Sunday, the veterinarians arrived. They're a husband and wife team. They came to give Chelsea, the African Sausage Dog, and Sgt. Catman their injections. Amidst all of the needles and injecting of various liquids, the husband veterinarian revealed something that has altered my world. It has tested my faith in many things that I firmly believe in. It has shifted the path of my future.

Sgt Catman is a girl.

Yes. It is the truth. He entered my home as a male. He positioned himself as a male. We built our lives around that fact. And now what? How do we go forward?

I've grown used to seeing him as a boy, and I don't think I can change now. We've decided to ignore the vets (the wife checked and confirmed the husband was right). In any case, the Sergeant is going for sterilisation on the 27th of July, so I don't think she'll be that averse to remaining a boy in our minds, it will become irrelevant in practical terms anyway. Besides she was the one who entered our hearts under false pretenses.
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8 comments:

  1. Helen GingerJune 3, 2009 at 8:56 PM

    I don't know why, but I always think of dogs as boys and cats as girls. My dog is a girl, yet, after 15 years, I still sometimes call her "he." Strange.

    Helen
    Straight From Hel

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  2. ValJune 4, 2009 at 7:42 AM

    uhho gender issues in one so young? she (he) is beautiful :-)

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  3. LauriJune 4, 2009 at 11:07 AM

    Yes Val, imagine! I wonder if he needs cat counselling? I mean she.

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  4. AnonymousJune 4, 2009 at 11:26 AM

    I have done the same thing myself. I had a cat named Cyril who turned out to be an Edna. Poor Cyril was never the same afterwards, at least in my mind. Too funny!

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  5. omniovoJune 4, 2009 at 9:12 PM

    Nice story, lauri. Can you could mold it into a flash piece?

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  6. LauriJune 5, 2009 at 10:56 AM

    Ovo I think Sgt Catman would not be happy to have his sexual problems made light of in fiction. (Of course writing about it in the blog he's all for :)

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  7. omniovoJune 5, 2009 at 2:01 PM

    You mean her sexual problems? Anyway, it gives food for thought. I like the evocative way you ended it: 'entered our lives under false pretenses.' It's a powerful platform on which to build a story.

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  8. LauriJune 5, 2009 at 2:07 PM

    Perhaps you're right Ovo- could be a great first line.

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