the story of P. Miller and Turtle: a thanksgiving story

p. miller has a cat named turtle. she and turtle have been together for 10 years, since turtle was a kitten. lately, turtle hasn't been feeling quite right. hasn't been acting quite right. p. miller, being a realist, feared the worst. braced for the worst. she brought turtle in to the vet on Monday morning. she was pretty sure it was cancer. she braced for the news; she was prepared to put poor turtle down, if need be, rather than watch her suffer.

but the vet had good news; it wasn't cancer at all. there were some things wrong with turtle, but nothing that a new diet and some medicine wouldn't fix.

p. miller was thrilled. she'd thought she'd lost her cat forever, but here they were, leaving the vet together, a new lease on life. she put turtle in her car, walked around to the driver's side, opened the car door.....and turtle jumped out. and ran away.

p. miller searched and searched. called and called. went back into the vet office and asked for help. no turtle.

p miller was devastated. she went home, printed up a bunch of LOST posters with turtle's picture, and came back and posted them up on trees and lightpoles all around the neighborhood. truth be told, she posted them on more light poles than trees, because the vet office is in a not-very-good--well,-downright-dangerous neighborhood of north minneapolis. not a lot of trees in that part of town.

(good vet, though.)

then she went to work. she had no choice. she hated to leave, hated to leave without turtle, but she really had no choice.

she was shaky at work, and near tears, fearing that she would never see turtle again. on her dinner break--around 7 p.m.--she got in the car and went back to north minneapolis. she asked everyone she saw, even the shady-looking characters. but no turtle.

she turned around and went back to work and finished out her shift.

at midnight, she drove back up to the north minneapolis. it was dark. it was foggy. it was a neighborhood that sees a lot of crime. none of this mattered to the intrepid p. miller. she parked in front of the vet, and she got out, and there in the dark and the fog, she called for turtle again.

a shady-looking character staggered up to her. he'd been drinking. he asked her if she needed any help.

at that moment, p. miller heard a MEOW.

turtle! she squirted out of the bushes by the vet's office, where she had apparently been hiding for 10 hours or longer, and darted under a car.

p.miller was so excited to see her she began to cry. she and the inebriated shady looking character squatted down and worked together and got turtle out from under the parked car. p. miller got her back in her car, thanked the shady-looking character, and drove home, crying tears of joy the whole way.

she had been prepared, once again, to lose turtle forever, and instead she and turtle were together again, heading home, a new lease on life.

all night long at work on tuesday, p. miller had a huge smile on her face. a smile of thanksgiving.