Re:Pet hostages

[Guest guest]

Wow. I never really connected the pet thing with this. Growing up, I was

all about kittens. Though we did have a couple of dogs when I was really

young. Frodo just dissapeared, and Chewy supposedly broke a chain collar and

jumped a 6 foot fence to run away. Impressive. Those were when I was really

young.

The cat thing was sort of ongoing. Nada always made it seem like my idea to

get a kitten. I do remember looking through newspaper ads for siamese cats.

The one time I got a tabby kitten it was gone within a week, because my

sister was supposedly allergic. The funny thing is, I sort of did think it

was my fault we got the cats. I loved them after all, and definitely wanted

them. So. Long story short, when I was about 12 the cats (we had 4 at the

time) started to dissapear one by one. The first one, I thought ran away,

so my sisters and I made posters and went around the neighborhood for hours

looking. The others, I remember thinking maybe they were hiding in the

basement? For weeks. Eventually Nada took us aside and said that Fada had

taken them to the pound because he thought they were bad for the furniture.

In the end, we ended up with the one kitten. Even the oldest cat, who I'd

had at this point for maybe 9 years, was gone. The kitten we kept 'ran

away' a few years later.

I know that Nada used the cat thing as a way to make us hate our father. He

was out of town a lot, and when he was home, he was punishing us for things

she told him we'd done. She'd then lift the punishments when he left, and

be the 'good parent.' I don't know why she needed us to hate him so much.

Last thought- she ended up getting dogs after I left for college, which,

incidentally, she still has. I was never a huge fan- they're toy poodles. My

first trip home, I realized that she'd put my old blankie in the crate.

Which the dogs obvously peed on while they were being trained. I was upset,

but she had this- you're an adult, why would you need that- attitude and I

didn't have a good response. She also used to take my childhood toys and

stuffed animals to her classroom for her students. This is after I'd

technically outgrown them, but she'd do it without asking. Then I'd visit

her school and notice the pound puppy that I'd loved when I was 5 sitting in

a bin. Oh. Yeah. My mother is an elementary school teacher. Rich, eh?