Captain Cavedweller and I were chatting last night about some of the adventures I had during my ten years as a newspaper reporter.
Some of the more outlandish escapades happened while I was on assignment during the summer. One of the newspapers I worked for published a huge agricultural publication every summer which involved everyone going out and collecting an assortment of interesting rural-based stories.
If Captain Cavedweller happened to have the day off, he would sometimes come with me if I was going on an interview he found particularly interesting. One sunny summer afternoon found us standing in front of a caged cougar who wouldn’t give us the time of day. The man who owned him said the cat was not fond of strangers and likely wouldn’t come any closer as long as we were looking at him. All three of us turned around and the owner and I took a few steps off to the side, my furiously writing notes while he talked about the cougar. Captain Cavedweller was listening to us when the cougar flew across the cage, lunged at the wire and quite nearly swiped Captain Cavedweller across the back with his huge paw.
The owner and I whirled around to see Captain Cavedweller’s eyes as huge as saucers as he took a hurried step forward, away from the testy cat. I had a hard time getting my heart to settle back into a normal rhythm while the owner laughed and commented “that was close.”
I wanted to shout, “You think?”
After that Captain Cavedweller was a bit more cautious about agreeing to go adventuring with me. Can’t say that I blame him.
