{"id":16527,"date":"2024-04-30T14:05:57","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T19:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/?p=16527"},"modified":"2024-11-26T11:44:38","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T17:44:38","slug":"take-em-both","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2024\/04\/30\/take-em-both\/","title":{"rendered":"Take &#8217;em Both"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-social-links is-content-justification-right is-layout-flex wp-container-core-social-links-is-layout-765c4724 wp-block-social-links-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-facebook  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61556140010887\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12 2C6.5 2 2 6.5 2 12c0 5 3.7 9.1 8.4 9.9v-7H7.9V12h2.5V9.8c0-2.5 1.5-3.9 3.8-3.9 1.1 0 2.2.2 2.2.2v2.5h-1.3c-1.2 0-1.6.8-1.6 1.6V12h2.8l-.4 2.9h-2.3v7C18.3 21.1 22 17 22 12c0-5.5-4.5-10-10-10z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n<li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-instagram  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/boudin_mcneese\/\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12,4.622c2.403,0,2.688,0.009,3.637,0.052c0.877,0.04,1.354,0.187,1.671,0.31c0.42,0.163,0.72,0.358,1.035,0.673 c0.315,0.315,0.51,0.615,0.673,1.035c0.123,0.317,0.27,0.794,0.31,1.671c0.043,0.949,0.052,1.234,0.052,3.637 s-0.009,2.688-0.052,3.637c-0.04,0.877-0.187,1.354-0.31,1.671c-0.163,0.42-0.358,0.72-0.673,1.035 c-0.315,0.315-0.615,0.51-1.035,0.673c-0.317,0.123-0.794,0.27-1.671,0.31c-0.949,0.043-1.233,0.052-3.637,0.052 s-2.688-0.009-3.637-0.052c-0.877-0.04-1.354-0.187-1.671-0.31c-0.42-0.163-0.72-0.358-1.035-0.673 c-0.315-0.315-0.51-0.615-0.673-1.035c-0.123-0.317-0.27-0.794-0.31-1.671C4.631,14.688,4.622,14.403,4.622,12 s0.009-2.688,0.052-3.637c0.04-0.877,0.187-1.354,0.31-1.671c0.163-0.42,0.358-0.72,0.673-1.035 c0.315-0.315,0.615-0.51,1.035-0.673c0.317-0.123,0.794-0.27,1.671-0.31C9.312,4.631,9.597,4.622,12,4.622 M12,3 C9.556,3,9.249,3.01,8.289,3.054C7.331,3.098,6.677,3.25,6.105,3.472C5.513,3.702,5.011,4.01,4.511,4.511 c-0.5,0.5-0.808,1.002-1.038,1.594C3.25,6.677,3.098,7.331,3.054,8.289C3.01,9.249,3,9.556,3,12c0,2.444,0.01,2.751,0.054,3.711 c0.044,0.958,0.196,1.612,0.418,2.185c0.23,0.592,0.538,1.094,1.038,1.594c0.5,0.5,1.002,0.808,1.594,1.038 c0.572,0.222,1.227,0.375,2.185,0.418C9.249,20.99,9.556,21,12,21s2.751-0.01,3.711-0.054c0.958-0.044,1.612-0.196,2.185-0.418 c0.592-0.23,1.094-0.538,1.594-1.038c0.5-0.5,0.808-1.002,1.038-1.594c0.222-0.572,0.375-1.227,0.418-2.185 C20.99,14.751,21,14.444,21,12s-0.01-2.751-0.054-3.711c-0.044-0.958-0.196-1.612-0.418-2.185c-0.23-0.592-0.538-1.094-1.038-1.594 c-0.5-0.5-1.002-0.808-1.594-1.038c-0.572-0.222-1.227-0.375-2.185-0.418C14.751,3.01,14.444,3,12,3L12,3z M12,7.378 c-2.552,0-4.622,2.069-4.622,4.622S9.448,16.622,12,16.622s4.622-2.069,4.622-4.622S14.552,7.378,12,7.378z M12,15 c-1.657,0-3-1.343-3-3s1.343-3,3-3s3,1.343,3,3S13.657,15,12,15z M16.804,6.116c-0.596,0-1.08,0.484-1.08,1.08 s0.484,1.08,1.08,1.08c0.596,0,1.08-0.484,1.08-1.08S17.401,6.116,16.804,6.116z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Instagram<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Take &#8217;em Both<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>John Janelle Backman<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The only other customer in the pet shop sidled up to my right, like someone about to whisper a secret. I couldn\u2019t turn my head toward him to get a good look. Short, that I could tell\u2014at least a head shorter than me. Square frame, stubble-jawed. A driving cap like a cabbie\u2019s. The look said dog lover to me, so he was there to buy&#8230;a leash? cow hoof? jerky treats? Maybe he had the merchandise in hand, maybe not. Whatever the case, he hovered now, just out of eyeshot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><br> I couldn\u2019t turn my head because it might disturb the black cat cradled upside-down in my arms. This was the other cat, temporary cagemate to the gray tabby my daughter was fondling six feet away, the cat she and her mom had already picked out to live with us. The black cat kept staring at me. No, <em>gazing<\/em>\u2014a gaze that held mine, so I couldn\u2019t turn my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><br> I don\u2019t think the cabbie and I chatted. He could have sussed out the situation just by looking: my daughter and the shop owner were making the noises you make when the deal\u2019s done and you shift to payment. In a minute, I\u2019d hand over the black cat and she\u2019d go back in the cage. The cabbie knew that too, I\u2019ll bet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><br> So he said, \u201cTake \u2018em both.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><br> No discussion. Three words and gone. Three words that led, ten minutes later, to my daughter and I driving down the main road toward home, with the tabby on her lap and the black cat entwining herself in the steering wheel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><br> Some people would call him an angel, disappearing like that. Maybe, but maybe this instead: He went home to the dog and gave him an ear rub and a jerky treat. That night his first fare climbed into the cab, tearful about making the mortgage payment this month, and he gave her some advice. He\u2019d go on break to his favorite diner, and the guy on the next stool mentioned a kid in the hospital, and maybe the cabbie lent him a few words, or maybe none, just an ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><br> One thing the cabbie never found out: what happened next. Whether the kid pulled through; whether his first fare was still in her house or out on the street. No clue that the black cat spent fifteen years in our home with her cagemate, lay next to me upside-down at night for scratches, cuddled on my lap when I needed it (which was a lot in those days), carried her tail straight in the air like every other happy cat on earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><br> It\u2019s possible the cabbie told his dog all about the pet shop and his advice. But I doubt it. To tell the story, you have to believe it\u2019s worth telling, and how could he have known? How could anyone?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dedication<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our current cats, Missy (left) and Sir Charles, are eerily similar in appearance to the cats mentioned in &#8220;Take &#8217;em Both&#8221;: Madeleine and Max. Apparently we can&#8217;t resist what draws us, feline-wise.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/04\/20221028_115026-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16629\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/04\/20221028_115026-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/04\/20221028_115026-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/04\/20221028_115026-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/04\/20221028_115026-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/04\/20221028_115026-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>John Janelle Backman<\/strong> <em>(she\/her)<\/em> writes about gender identity, ancient spirituality, the everyday strangeness of karma, and occasionally cats. Janelle\u2019s work has appeared in <em>Catapult<\/em>, <em>the tiny journal<\/em>, <em>Typehouse Literary Magazine<\/em>, <em>Tiferet Journal<\/em>, and <em>Amethyst Review<\/em>, among other places. Her essays have also made several contest shortlists and earned a few Pushcart nominations. She can be found on the web at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.backmanwriter.com\/\">www.backmanwriter.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>__________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"438\" height=\"211\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15484\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg 438w, https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1-300x145.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2024\/04\/30\/rhumbline\/\"> Back<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2024\/04\/30\/how-my-dog-smells\/\">Next <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To learn more about submitting your work to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/boudin-submissions\/\">Boudin<\/a><\/em> or applying to McNeese State University&#8217;s Creative Writing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/mfa-application-submissions\/\">MFA program<\/a>, please visit Submissions for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Take &#8217;em Both John Janelle Backman __________ The only other customer in the pet shop sidled up to my right, like someone about to whisper a secret. I couldn\u2019t turn my head toward him to get a good look. Short, that I could tell\u2014at least a head shorter than me. Square frame, stubble-jawed. A driving&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[205],"tags":[75,146],"class_list":["post-16527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boudin-april-24-pet","tag-boudin","tag-fiction-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16527"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18017,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16527\/revisions\/18017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}