The Nail

“How’s your foot?” Lacie asks. Pausing in licking her paw. She looked at Abby in sympathy.

Abby glanced at the cat and smiled. They had been friends for a while. Quite a while, in fact. “It hurts. I’ve been limping around on three legs all day.”

“What did you do?” Lacy said, setting down on her haunches after finishing her bath, the fifth one today.

Abby’s ears flopped. “I was in bed. You know I like to sleep on the side.”
” Unless the master is in bed, then you sleep at the top.” She almost laughed. But cats have a hard time laughing. Someone hearing a cat laugh thinks they have something caught in their throat.

“Anyway, I thought I heard something. I got my foot tangled in the blanket.” Abby held up her right front foot.

Lacy came close and sniffed Abby’s paw. The outside nail hung crookedly. “Boy, that looks like it hurts.”

“It does. It’s ok if I’m inside, but the grass pulls at the nail, then I grit my teeth. It hurts so bad.”
”Uh oh, here comes the master. What’s that in his hand? It’s the nail thing.” Lacy said, jumping up on the counter.

“Here pup.” The master called. He always called Abby that. “Set down.” She did and lifted moist eyes to his face. Gently, he held her paw. “This may hurt a little.” Putting the claw in the cutter, he squeezed. Abby almost screamed. It hurt so badly. Watching from her perch, Lacy cringed. Taking the dog’s paw gently in his hand, the master washed and dabbed medicine on the entire pad. He patted the dog and scratched her behind the ears.” There all done. I hope your foot feels better.” He opened the cabinet and gave both of them a treat.

And surprisingly, it did. Within a week, Abby was back chasing the ball in the yard. Watching from her shelf, Lacy finished her bath and lay down in the sunshine. Soon she was asleep. In her dreams the mice were slow and the cat -meaning her- was fast.