pet connection

I ran over a black cat the other night. It was a fake cat, made out of cardboard that was painted black and in the shape of a medium-size feline with shiny tinfoil buttons for its eyes.

It was the end of a night out with some friends and all six of us were seated comfortably in the new Dodge Grand Caravan I was test driving.

As we started down onto a dark country road with only the minivan’s headlights to guide us, suddenly there it was: A black cat in the middle of the road! It appeared in my headlights so quickly that I didn’t have any time to react quickly enough to steer clear of the motionless meower.

So I rolled directly over it, being careful not to let it hit a tire.

Then, just as quickly, I realized that the thing in the middle of the road was not a cat at all. It was a picture of a cat on a piece of cardboard. Its shiny eyes made it look spooky, but it clearly was not a real, live cat.

After taking a breath, I turned the Caravan around and shined the headlights on the fake kitty, which was now tipped over in the middle of the road. Somewhere in the bushes or on a nearby hillside, I could almost hear the teenage pranksters laughing at our folly.

The next day, my teenage daughter confirmed that she knew of some friends who had been into the cardboard kitty prank. They think it’s harmless, she said.

Harmless? It could potentially cause someone to swerve into the path of an oncoming car. How harmless is that?

Of course, teens don’t think that way. They see a way to spend time making fools out of us adults and our desire to preserve a life.

With Halloween on the horizon, I advise you to be extra aware when driving at night on dark roads. There may be some teenage pranksters out there waiting to get their jollies by scaring innocent adults.

But if you keep your wits about you, everyone will be safe. Everyone, except perhaps the poor little cardboard kitty.

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