# 12: Making the Acquaintance of Okie.

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Hank was tooling along in his custom three-wheel Harley. He’d modified it to accept his wheelchair. He was done with college and wanted to be somewhere else. He really didn’t care where. Idaho sounded about right.

He wasn’t in Idaho though. He was in eastern Oklahoma. He, and Tex, who was riding in a really, REALLY strange looking compartment, would be there shortly. If the weather held out and he didn’t change his mind it would only take a few days.

He pulled over a hill and changed his mind.

There, just off the shoulder of the road, was a Siamese Cat facing down a Rotweiller. Hank pulled over to watch. This just didn’t happen. Cats were smarter than that. He looked at Tex. Tex was also a cat. A very large black cat. Tex was intensely watching the scene as well. Whether Tex was thinking whether to dive in and help or bail out and run was anyone’s guess. All that was immediately apparent was that Tex’s attention was RIVETED.

The Rotweiller made his move. The cat vanished, or rather seemed to, and re-appeared on the back of the dogs neck, gnawing on an ear. That cat was QUICK. Hank blinked and shook his head. He mentally played back what he’d seen.

The cat had dived head first for the dog and somehow twisted and went between the dog’s front feet, avoiding the snapping jaws, did a couple of flips and while inverted had raked the dogs belly several times with four paws worth of claws while either scooting on or bouncing off the ground. That wasn’t real clear. One or two sets of claws mangled the dogs private parts as the cat continued back between the dog’s REAR legs, did a flip and wound up on the dog’s back, daintily nibbling on it’s ear.

All in much less time than it took to describe.

Hank thought that the dog’s heart wasn’t really into until the cat had applied Marine Maxim Number Twelve . The Rottie was a dog, dog’s were antagonistic toward cats. That was his job. No need to get all personal about it. When Marine Maxim Number Twelve was invoked “grab em by the balls and their hearts and minds will follow” it became personal.

The Big Rottie just stood there....for about half a second, then it lost it’s mind. It jumped, it twisted, it did back flips and front flips and rolls. While it was doing the acrobatics it was howling to wake the dead. All in all it was a very impressive athletic performance.

The siamese cat was even more impressive. It rode that dog. There had never been a mustang or a bull rode better at any rodeo. If Hank sort of unfocused his eyes just a tiny bit it wasn’t hard to imagine the cat with spurs and a sombrero...fanning and raking the dog.

Actually the cat WAS raking the dog. Poor thing was getting bloody shoulders. It went on and on and on. After a while the dog started to get tired. After a bit longer it was just standing there, it’s head hanging , dripping blood from it’s sides and shoulders. None of the cuts were really deep but there were a god-awful lot of them.

For a minute the dog just stood there panting, with the triumphant cat on it’s back. Hank could have sworn the cat had a smirk on it’s face. The cat jumped down and strutted in front of the dog...and a shot rang out ...the cat went rolling.

Hank instinctively drew his “horse-pistol’ from his motorcycle holster. He pointed it at the man holding the rifle who had just shot the cat.

“Drop it” said Hank in a voice that dripped liquid helium. “I won’t tell you twice”.

The HillBilly looked as if he were going to argue for a minute...until he got a better look at Hanks pistol and a better look at Hanks’ face. He slowly lowered his rifle.

“Good” said Hank. “If that’s your dog you can take it and leave, I’ll be leaving too, with the cat. If you bother me one of us is going to die, got that?”

The man nodded, and walked over to the Rottie. The worst thing hurt about the dog was it’s pride. It would look at cats very much more cautiously in the future. The man clipped a leash to it and they walked away, glaring at Hank as they did.

When the man had disappeared from sight Hank rode over to where the cat was. Hank expected it to be dead. It very nearly was. Hank administered first aid as best he could.

Idaho was right out, now.

Next Episode
# 13: On an Oil Platform in the Texas Gulf.
Previous Episode
# 11: Beer Run…
First Episode
# 1: Pain…

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