The Hippie Saves the Cat

The Hippie Saves the Cat

  10:50 AM    Unknown

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Joe "The Hippie" McCrimmon watches his dog, Lulu, who isn't the same dog he battled over the life of a kitten.

The Hippie Saves the Cat

The best book I've ever read about storytelling was "Save the Cat" by screenwriter Blake Snyder. In it, you learn that in good stories, the hero has a "save the cat" moment where early in the story they save a cat or defend a bullied child or help an old lady cross the street: A moment when a small act of kindness wins you to the hero's side.

Well, I have a friend named Joe McCrimmon whom we call the Hippie, because, well, he's a hippie. He's a good-hearted vagabond with a fondness of jam bands, freedom and tie-dyed T-shirts. He's also a savior of kittens, and I'll tell you why.

On the Saturday night before Mother's Day, the Hippie was hanging out with some friends when a Jack Russell terrier walked onto the scene. Jack Russell's were bred to hunt foxes and other small mammals. Well, this one found a kitten.

Hippie heard something behind him and turned to see the little dog with a kitten struggling in its mouth, and the kitten was caterwauling in pain and fear. Suddenly, the womenfolk there started howling in alarm, and the Hippie knew he must take action.

Suddenly, he was in a life or death battle.

He dove to the ground and grabbed the dog to try to wrestle the kitten from its maw. But the determined little dog would not let go. Momentarily, he wrenched the kitten free, but the dog quickly snapped its trap, biting the soft tissue of the kitten's belly. The kitten loosed a pitiful, high-pitched wail.

Well, you know how in a professional wrestling match, sometimes a popular wrestler like the Rock will do a run-in and start beating up everyone in the ring? Well, that's what happened with the mama cat.

The Hippie said he saw the mama cat charge in with his peripheral vision. The cat, clearly rushing to its baby's aid, began attacking everyone that wasn't the kitten. Cats are known for their claws, but they can bite, too, as the Hippie found out as the cat treated his wrist like Fancy Feast.

He said his first thought was "It's going to mess up my tattoo!"

So, the kitten tried to get away from the terrier who tried to get away from the human, and the mama cat ripped at all of them like a banshee buzz saw.

"Somebody get this cat off of me!" Hippie bellowed, and our friend, Debbie, pried the cat away.

Finally fighting through the flurry of fur and fangs, the Hippie pried the dog's jaws open enough to let the kitten dash away to hide under a shelf. But the ordeal was not over, as the angry little terrier continued to snap and snarl as it felt under attack by the Hippie.

The Hippie grabbed hold of the mad mutt in two places and quickly tossed the predatorial little beast into a nearby tool cage. The dog almost immediately went to sleep.

As for our heroic Hippie, he just laughed, although he had a collection of new scratches and bite marks. Luckily, his tattoo was unharmed.

So what about the mama cat, who showed the deepness of a mother's love just the day before Mother's Day? She seemed to be grateful.

"She jumped up on the back of the truck with her tail wagging. She was loving on me and stuff," the Hippie said. "At least somebody loves me."