A scary moment this evening. Thomas and I were on the front lawn waiting impatiently for the garbage truck to make its weekly appearance when the neighborhood bully cat showed up. Thomas wanted to pet him, but the cat was stalking Babbington, so I distracted the boy. Clearly I did not distract him enough, however, because a few minutes later Thomas ran towards the porch steps - and right between the two cats.
Before I could even see what was happening, the orange cat jumped at Thomas and ran away.
Then there was one of those crazy moments in time where everything seemed perfectly normal... until it was very clear that it was not: Thomas started to scream, Babbington attacked the orange cat, and I realized that Thomas was bleeding.
The cat had scratched T's forehead - luckily the scratch ended at his eyebrow, but it took me a minute of trying to wipe away the blood and pry open T's eyes (which were screwed shut as he screamed) to determine that his eye was unscathed. As I did all this, I cradled his head in my hand and moved toward the kitchen to get a clean cloth. Once there, I reached for the cloth only to realize that my hand was covered in blood.
I'd just like to say that the rational knowledge that "heads wounds bleed" is cold comfort when your child's blood is all over your hand. Or at least it was for me. I felt dizzy - so I quick picked up the phone & called a neighbor - thank the heavens for speed dial!
By the time Karine arrived - breathless with her two-year-old son tucked under one arm - I had regained my cool. There was a lot of blood on T's clothes, but I'd determined that he really just had a couple of ugly scratches. To help me maintain my new-found calm, Thomas touched his head and said, "Meow" then began to play with his buddy. Apparently he thought this was some elaborate plan to get him a play date!
André came home & after we talked it over he went to the neighbors and politely asked if the cat has its shots and if they would consider neutering it (since it is truly a menace). He does have shots but is sadly unlikely to lose his manhood anytime in the near future. Since André spoke with the husband, I'm hoping that the wife (and mother of their two small children) will be suitably horrified at the story to insist that the cat be neutered - but I'm not holding my breath.
I'm still a little surprised by how horrible it all felt in the moment. I guess that's why I'm writing about it. The short story is that my kid got scratched by a cat - and that's really not much of a story - but I'll tell you what, I was pretty shaken up by the whole thing - the surprise cat attack, the blood... I don't know what it was, but I know that I don't really want to repeat anything like that in the near future!
(And by the way, it has not escaped my attention that today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall - an incredibly momentous occasion which I remember very clearly. And yet when I felt moved to write tonight it was about the minutiae of domestic life. I suppose that's what this blog is all about - it's certainly where my life is right now.)
