Ep.206 – Feline Troubles - Furry Terror is Waiting in the Dark!

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Pets can be a very mixed bag. We love our little furry friends,

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and oftentimes they find us more than
we find them. We don't know where

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they've come from, we don't know
anything about their history, and sometimes that

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could figuratively or literally come back to
bite you. What's that you want to

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be scared to? Come with me. You will experience tales of over opera,

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ghosts, and death. It is
not recommended, and for the week

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at heart, listen us in the
dark. It's more fun than that way

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this week least speaking, Hello,
my spookies, It's Wednesday, and you

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know what that means. It's time
for a little spooky in your weekly.

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I'm your host and narrator, Enrique
Kuto, and this week's bit of fear

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is of the furry variety and I
really look forward to sharing it with you

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all. But before we get to
the story, I want to say a

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heartfelt thank you to all of you
listening right now. It's August, about

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to be September. Spooky season is
around the corner, but it's still the

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dead of summer. So if you're
listening to this, you are, without

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a doubt, a die hard fan, and I appreciate it. A lot.

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All I ask of you is if
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really truly allow this show to keep
going and going and going. And you

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better be preparing yourself because in October
there will be so much spooky content for

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you to sink your fangs into.
I don't think you'll know what to do

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with it all. But now,
my friends, it's about time we get

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to the story, because this one
might put a little extra hair on your

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chest. I cracked me up.
This one's all about a ferocious feeline,

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and we're going to get to it
right after these quick words from our sponsors.

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I have a Feeline Trouble by Douglas
Waltz. So standing in the dark,

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back against the living room wall with
a baseball bat in one hand and

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an oversized oven mid on the other
was not on my list of things to

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do on a Saturday evening. But
then again, if you had told me

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my cat would become possessed by a
demon, I probably would have told you

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you were full of it. And
here we are. It might help for

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a little backstory, and things seem
quiet right now, so here we go.

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I've had a pair of cats since
they were kittens. Pashmina came up

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to me on a walk home from
work, just a fluff ball walking down

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the sidewalk that I mistook for some
kind of weird looking rat, But then

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as she got closer, I realized
she wasn't a rat. I asked around

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on my walk home if anyone was
missing a cat, but nobody was,

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so she came home to a very
surprised wife not even a month later,

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one of my co workers had adopted
a kitten founded a target loading doc odd

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place for a cat to decide to
give birth to a litter, but probably

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not the weirdest Anyway, Her cat
did not mesh well with the new addition

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to the family, so I volunteered
to take the cat, and we were

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stuck with the name Coco. Strangely
enough, both were female Calico kittens and

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they tolerated each other. Once in
a while we would catch them sleeping next

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to one another, and they hated
it when we saw it. Now we

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need to flash forward fifteen year and
the household had increased by a seven year

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old boy named Michael and a two
year old named Lily. Something had happened

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to Pashmina after being accidentally locked in
our basement for a day or so.

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See, we own a farmhouse built
in eighteen ninety five that has what is

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popularly referred to as a Michigan basement. The walls are cement with a coat

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of plaster, and there's a huge
shelf running about four feet from the ground

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throughout the entire basement. I'm not
certain why it's called a Michigan basement and

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have really never been curious enough to
find out. So after the basement incident,

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Pashmina started dropping weight, and she
had developed a small crooked jaw during

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her adventure. The loss of weight
did not affect her appetite. She would

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eat food right off of your plate. We had her checked out by the

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vet and they recommended a high protein
diet. We did that, and it

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made little difference. She still tried
to eat anything in sight. No food

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was safe from this cat. After
a while, we had to have her

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sleep in a cat crate at night
or she would destroy the house. She

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shredded food cartons, marked her territory
and left vomit anywhere she could reach.

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It was a mess, so she
became a nighttime crate dweller. During this

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time, Coco remained aloof and really
didn't want much to do with Poshmina.

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I couldn't blame her, really.
One morning I came downstairs to start my

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morning coffee and to let Pashmina out
of the crate. I opened it,

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but there was no psychotic streak of
fur launching themselves from the box. I

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peeked inside and saw that she had
passed away in the night. One paw

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outstretched with the claws on the cage
door of the crate, I went out

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back to the yard where it butted
up against the woods, and dug a

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small grave and put her in it. I felt bad for her, but

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was glad that whatever had turned her
into an insane beast had gone with her.

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Four weeks later, we noticed similar
symptoms in Coco. Now remember that

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Coco had never been locked in the
basement. She wouldn't even go near the

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basement door, but she developed the
same weight loss and the little crook of

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the jaw. The refreshing part would
be that Coco only was interested in actual

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cat food. Then the swelling of
her jaw began and I did a little

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online research. The condition, outlined
in the articles I read, had a

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small chance of recovery after a surgery
costing about three thousand dollars. And even

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then we were talking about a fifteen
year old cat, which made the odds

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even worse. I rationalized that she
ate food, used her litter box,

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and drank water. We would keep
her happy and comfortable for as long as

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possible. Until two days ago,
when Michael was coming down the stairs from

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his bedroom and Coco, who was
perched on the railing knocked him down the

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stairs. Seven year olds are extremely
resilient and nothing was broken, and there

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appeared to be no head trauma.
But after a call to the doctor's office,

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she said to just keep him awake
for a while and watch him for

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anything like dizziness or nausea, as
many seven year olds who have accidents.

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He was fine. Then on Friday, I was working from home that day,

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one of the only real benefits I
could see coming from the COVID plague.

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Funny how huge corporations have no problem
with their employees working from home to

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keep making that all important dollar.
Then they saw how much money they saved

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on maintaining offices, and well,
here we are. My wife Lisa was

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in the kitchen where the laundry was
located and getting assistance from Lily. Michael

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was outside in our yard playing when
we heard the scream. I was closest

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to the door and knew it was
Michael's voice, so I flung it open.

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Interestingly enough, Coco dashed inside before
I could run out to see what

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had happened. I saw that as
interesting because our cats have always been indoor

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cats. I spotted Michael screaming at
the base of the oak tree that he

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was always climbing. He was still
screaming, and I rushed over to see

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that he had fallen from the tree
and his right arm was definitely broken.

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A huge wave of nausea washed over
me, and spots filled my vision.

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Lisa took care of stuff like this, but I toughed it out and screamed

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my wife's name at the same time. I was comforting him when I heard

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Lisa gasp behind me. Then she
went into survival mode. She had me

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go get a blanket to wrap Michael
in. This kept my racing brain occupied

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so that when I came back out
with the blanket, she had already loaded

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him in the car. She covered
him with the blanket and told me she

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would keep me posted. I numbly
waved as she backed out of the driveway,

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still in shock over what had happened. I walked in the house and

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saw Lily walking towards Cocoa in the
living room. The cat was making an

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unnatural noise and they were both advancing
towards one another. I shouted something,

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ran forward and drop kicked the cat. She flew through the air, hit

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the wall, and fell behind the
couch. I scooped up Lily and made

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a quick scan of the living room. No cat, but I could hear

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that noise. It sounded like it
was coming from behind the couch, But

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how could I be sure? I
tried to think of what could make the

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cat act like this, and I
kept thinking the same thing, rabies?

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Could it be rabies? Though I
had fed Cocoa an hour before, Michael

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had fallen out of the tree and
she seemed fine. Then my brain replayed

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the whole incident for me, and
I saw it the red scratches on Michael's

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arm where they scratches or claw marks? Did Coco attack Michael while he was

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in the tree? The noise seemed
to fade, which worried me more so

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so I took Lily into the kitchen, where she demanded a snack. As

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I fixed her something, my eyes
were locked on the doorway that led from

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the living room into the kitchen.
Still no noise, and Coco had not

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made an appearance. That was also
weird because I was making Lily a peanut

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butter and jelly sandwich. Anytime you
opened a jar in the kitchen, it

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summoned the cat. This time,
nothing, while Lily enjoyed her sandwich.

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I stood in the doorway and kept
an eye out. I never saw the

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cat one second. I'm staring in
the living room doing a quick sweep of

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the area. Then a hissing ball
of fur and claws had become attached to

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my face. I screamed more from
the surprise than the pain, although that

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came pretty fast. I could hear
Lily screaming, and, knowing how much

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would hurt, grabbed the cat with
both hands, gave a fatal squeeze,

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and hurled it across the room.
I used my sleeve to get the blood

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off of my face so it wouldn't
get into my eyes, and looked where

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I had thrown the cat. Nothing. There was a tiny spot of blood

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on the carpet, and I just
knew it was probably mine. Grabbing a

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towel hanging from the oven door,
I cleaned up my face and picked up

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Lily. She stopped screaming after that, and we went upstairs. I took

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her into mine in Lisa's room and
shut the door. I turned on the

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television and found some cartoons for Lily
to watch. She liked being in our

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room and snuggled right into the bed
while I checked my phone that had just

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started vibrating. It was a message
from Lisa that Michael had a small fracture

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and they were taking care of it. Then she also mentioned the doctor was

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worried about scratches on his arm and
that they might have been a wild animal.

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I texted her back about the cat
without mentioning the attack. In the

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house. Next to the bedroom door
was my old Louisville Slugger wooden bat that

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I kept for home defense. It
had actual dust on it because well,

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there had never been a use for
it before. My face burned from the

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scratches, and I looked in the
mirror to see that cocoa had done quite

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a number on me, but nothing
too serious. Then my eyes lit upon

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the laundry basket and a pair of
oven mits lying right on top of the

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clean laundry. That pretty much brings
us up to speed. Going down the

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stairs with the bat in front of
me, I was shocked that the lights

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were out downstairs? Did the cat
do that? The house still had power

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because the clock on the oven was
on, but other than that there were

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no lights. My bedroom still had
a light shining under the heavy wooden door

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that I double checked to make sure
was closed. Where was that damned cat.

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I went to the light switch that
controlled the lights in the living room

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and flicked it on. Headed right
at my face was cocoa with bright red

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eyes, mouth a gape, and
claws extended. I swung the bat on

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reflex and heard a meaty thunk as
the bat reverberated with the impact. She

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hit the floor, spun and leapt
again. I grabbed her with the oven

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mid hand and slammed her right into
the exterior door that was solid oak.

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I kept doing that until she went
limp in my hand. When I released

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her, she fell to the floor
with a terrible thump on the kitchen tile.

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I tapped her tiny body with my
toe and was just ready for her

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to come back to life and attack. A huge exhale of relief escaped my

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lungs, and I heard my bedroom
door open. Lily must have been curious

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about the noise, so I turned
on the lights to the stairs and headed

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up to meet her. At the
top of the stairs, Lily just stood

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there with an odd look on her
face. That's when I saw the small

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crook in her jaw. She opened
her mouth and said, good kitty,

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little Kitty Tiny ball of fur.
I hope you enjoyed that story as much

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as I did, and a big
thank you to our good friend Douglas Waltz

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for writing it. I think it
turned out very well hair raising if you

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will, and I will. I
want to mention that this episode is done

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a bit intentionally. I wanted to
do something scary about our love of pets

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because my dog Chicano, who many
of you know has been in a cancer

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battle for the better part of a
year now, is in surgery for hopefully

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his final tumor removal, and I
just hope it goes well. I'll be

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sure to let all you spook Ease
know how it's going. The only thing

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I know for sure is it's been
expensive. So if you want to help

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support Chicano's chemotherapy, Chicano's cancer removal, all of that, I really do

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00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:15.759
appreciate it. All you have to
do is go to Weekly Spooky dot com

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00:16:15.799 --> 00:16:18.120
and click on help my Dog.
I really do appreciate it, and thanks

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00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:22.559
so much to so many people who
have already helped. You. Guys are

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00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:27.840
incredible. It's been a really stressful
and exhausting time, but your support has

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made a really big difference. And
speaking of support, that's made a big

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00:16:30.200 --> 00:16:33.279
difference, I want to say an
extra special thank you to our Patreon podcast

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boosters, folks who pay just a
little bit more to hear their names on

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the show. And they are Johnny
Nix, Bobbletopia dot Com, Megan Hua,

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00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:47.919
Julia Kirsch, Brent McCollough, Steve
King, Karen we Met, Jack

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Kerr, and Craig Cohen. Thank
you all so much. And if you

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want to hear your name on this
program every single week, just go to

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00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:59.879
Weekly Spooky dot com, click on
Patreon and make it happen for yourself.

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But now, my dear friends,
I have to get back to work because

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I'm not joking about October. It's
going to be incredible. The sheer amount

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of content will be publishing. There
will not just be bonus weekly spooky episodes

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00:17:11.480 --> 00:17:15.359
and terrifying in true episodes and cutting
deep into horror episodes. They're going to

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be entirely new novellas and entire audiobooks. So much content, so little time.

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So for myself, for my producer
Dan Wilder, my executive producer Bob

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00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:29.200
Fields, and our composer Ray Maadis. I'll talk at you next time.

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Thank you for listenings. Make sure
to find your way back next week.

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But for now you are safe.
Trust me.