Lucy set the cat carrier down and shut the front door. Then she took the carrier into the living room and set it on the couch. A little black cat mewed from inside the carrier as she rummaged in her large purse.
A tortoiseshell cat wandered into the living room and over to the couch. She looked up at the carrier and asked the black cat, “How did it go at the vet, Salem?”
“It wasn’t too bad, Patches,” Salem replied. “I don’t remember some of it, for some reason, but Mom says my big boy surgery went well. So I guess now I’m a big boy.” He purred a little at the thought.
Patches seemed to smirk as she said, “Oh, yeah, you’re a big boy now, Salem. Do you even know what happened during that surgery?”
Salem stopped purring abruptly, not liking Patches’ tone. “No. What?”
“Don’t you feel pain in a certain location?”
“Yes, a little. They gave me some drugs, I think, to dull the pain.”
“Think, Salem. What’s in the area where you’re feeling the pain?”
Salem focused his attention on the location where the pain was. After a couple of moments, he realized what Patches was referring to and understood finally what had happened at the vet.
Salem began yowling from the carrier, upset at what he’d been put through, and Patches watched in amusement.
Lucy then found what she was looking for in her purse and pulled it out. It was a clear, plastic E-collar that the vet had given her to put on Salem to keep him from messing up the stitches from his surgery. Patches saw it and her amusement grew.
Lucy opened the carrier and took out Salem, who squirmed in her hand and yowled more. She put him in her lap as he continued to struggle, and with minor difficulty managed to fit the E-collar around the black cat’s neck. Then she set him on the couch and took the carrier away.
Salem sat on the couch, miffed at his situation and biting at the collar as he tried to figure out a way to get it off. Patches laughed at him.
“What’s so funny?” Salem asked grumpily.
“You look like a satellite dish, Salem. Or a lamp.”
“Ha ha. Very funny, Patches. How about you do something a little more comforting, huh? I mean, I did just have you-know-what done.”
Patches jumped up on the couch, went over to Salem, and leaned against him. “I love you, lamp,” she quipped.
Salem rolled his eyes. “Shut up, Patches,” he replied.
This post is part of the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, “collar”:
Jeanne Owens, author 
September 12, 2020 at 5:26 pm
Poor Salem!
LikeLiked by 1 person
September 12, 2020 at 5:35 pm
Yeah. Shadow wasn’t too happy after his “big boy” surgery, either. He never liked going to the vet after that. It was always like he was saying, “they already took those, what else are they going to take?”
LikeLiked by 1 person