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Monday, October 24, 2011

Who Let the Cat Out of the Bag?, Medford, Massachusetts, USA

Where did that old saying come from, "the cat's out of the bag?"  Apparently, during medieval times, an unscrupulous merchant might have substituted a cat for the piglet the buyer thought he was purchasing.  If the cat got out of the bag, the scam/secret was revealed. In any case, this blog is more accurately about a cat in the bag.

In our house, the cat gets out of the bag when he damn well pleases. You only need to try to reach in there once to coax him out to understand why I would say that. I think he must become intoxicated by the brown paper smell (he also demonstrates similar behavior when jumping into any cardboard box left open). Each and every time a bag or box is left open, he will jump or climb in - almost no exceptions.  And since we are in the middle of packing and moving, danger lurks when we try to pick up what we thought was an empty bag or box.

Because if you get too close to the opening after he is inside, you will regret it - guaranteed - every time. His lightening fast paw with rapier sharp claws will swipe at you faster than you can pull back. Although science has specific definitions of an "animal,"  colloquially we seem to refer to any unpredictable or wild behavior as "animal behavior."  Rational behavior is to be nice to the hand that feeds you -  animal behavior is not always so nice - I guess this is one of the reasons they're called animals.  Cute but vicious - reminds me of an old girlfriend in my youth .......but that's another story .........



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