I am never so happy to live in a small town as when I have to take my cat to the vet. My cat starts meowing as soon as the car starts moving and doesn’t stop until we get to the vet clinic, which is all the way across town. Luckily, “all the way across town” is only a fifteen-minute drive.

I know it’s useless, but I always talk back to the cat. I try my best to be soothing. “Don’t worry, it’s not a long drive, we’ll be there soon.” Like the cat has any idea what I’m saying. I used to do the same thing when my kids were babies and they’d start crying on car rides. I guess it makes me feel better to be doing something, even if the something is completely ineffective. At least in Laramie I only have to be an irrational cat-whisperer for fifteen minutes.