~
Calling in Sick ~
We've all had trouble with our animals, but I don't think
anyone can top this one:
Calling in sick to work makes me uncomfortable. No matter
how legitimate my excuse, I always get the feeling that my
boss thinks I'm lying.
On one recent occasion, I had a valid reason but lied
anyway, because the truth was just too darned humiliating. I
simply mentioned that I had sustained a head injury, and I
hoped I would feel up to coming in the next day. By then, I
reasoned, I could think up a doozy to explain the bandage on
the top of my head. The accident occurred mainly because I
had given in to my wife's wishes to adopt a cute little
kitty.
Initially, the new acquisition was no problem

Then one morning, I was taking my shower after breakfast
when I heard my wife, Deb, call out to me from the kitchen.
"Honey! The garbage disposal is dead again. Please come
reset it."
"You know where the button is," I protested through the
shower pitter-patter
and steam. "Reset it yourself!"
"But I'm scared!" she persisted. "What if it starts going
and sucks me in?" There was a meaningful pause and then,
"C'mon, it'll only take you a second."
So out I came, dripping wet and butt naked, hoping that my
silent outraged nudity would make a statement about how I
perceived her behavior as extremely cowardly.
Sighing loudly, I squatted down and stuck my head under the
sink to find the button. It is the last action I remember
performing.
It struck without warning, and without any respect to my
circumstances. No, it wasn't the hexed disposal, drawing me
into its gnashing metal teeth. It was our new kitty, who
discovered the fascinating dangling objects she spied
hanging between my legs. She had been poised around the
corner and stalked me as I reached under the sink. And, at
the precise moment when I was most vulnerable, she leapt at
the toys I unwittingly offered and snagged them with her
needle-like claws. I lost all rational thought to control
orderly bodily movements, blindly rising at a violent rate
of speed, with the full weight of a kitten hanging from my
masculine region.
Wild animals are sometimes faced with a "fight or flight"
syndrome. Men, in this predicament, choose only the "flight"
option. I know this from experience. I was fleeing straight
up into the air when the sink and cabinet bluntly and
forcefully impeded my ascent.
The impact knocked me out cold.
When I awoke, my wife and the paramedics stood over me.
Now there are not many things in this life worse than
finding oneself lying on the kitchen floor butt naked in
front of a group of "been-there, done-that" paramedics.
Even worse, having been fully briefed by my wife, the
paramedics were all snorting loudly as they tried to conduct
their work, all the while trying to suppress their
hysterical laughter......and not succeeding.
Somehow I lived through it all. A few days later I finally
made it back in to the office, where colleagues tried to
coax an explanation out of me about my head injury. I kept
silent, claiming it was too painful to talk about, which it
was. "What's the matter?" They all asked, "Cat got your
tongue?"
If they only knew!

Why is it that only the women laugh at this?