Kari says, “You don’t have to shut up, just quit talking to me.”
*NOTE: This story is fiction. There are no names to change, and no animals or persons were harmed.
A friend of mine was going to be out of town for a few days. No problem at all when he asked me to watch his cat. It’s a cat, what could go wrong, eh? “Oh, by the way,” he says, “Would you check in on my grandma, too?”
I agreed to check in on his Grandma. I mean, she’s an elderly lady, what could possibly go wrong? It’s not like she’s going to run out the door and get hit by a car. That’s what that crazy cat did. As I’m walking in, this cat shoots between my legs, out the door! One bounce each: porch, steps, yard, sidewalk, street. The driver had no way to avoid … catastrophe.
As expected, my friend calls and asked about his cat. I learned something that day. I told him the truth; the cat is dead. He seemed more mad at me than upset about the cat. Here’s what I learned.
He’s mad, telling me that was not a decent way to break the news about the poor animal’s demise. He says that I should have shared the news a little bit at a time. “Huh,” I said.
I get an explanation about a kinder way of breaking the news.
First, just say that the cat got out, was up a tree and wouldn’t come down. Then say something like, the fire department got the cat down, but she jumped from the fireman’s arm and ran off. Then maybe a day or so later, break the news that the cat had been hit by a car, but was at the veterinarian’s office, working around gradually to the fact that the creature had passed on. 
Gee, I understand. “By the way,” he says, “How’s my Grandma?”
I told him his Grandma had climbed up a tree and wouldn’t come down …
I hope Y'all are well.
I will pray you stay that way.
Don't climb any trees.
Peace, Y'all!
da6d