Orangey's Journey Part II

 ORANGEY'S JOURNEY PART II

After a week or two at Tonya's place, it was decided that Orangey would need to spend some time on display at the Allen, TX PetCo so potential adopters could see him, and see him up close instead of on the website for his rescue sponsors.

I wasn't big on that.  I didn't like the idea of him spending entire nights in a big chain pet store for an extended period.  I even asked if I could pick him up at store's closing and return him in the morning.  This was asked with humor, of course, as my job hours would not permit this.  Tonya took my request seriously, at which point I assured her I was just joking about something I knew was impossible, but in my heart was a perfect world situation.

She then said, with my explanation about kidding coming after she spent several paragraphs explaining why my idea was against policy: "Are you fucking Crazy?"   I busted into laughter, but I still didn't like Orangey in that situation, because at the least it made me sad for him. 

I asked Tonya for frequent updates and got them, as Orangey got the entire top level of his condo to himself.  The people who came in to clean and give attention to the cats had wonderful things to say about Orangey's persona, as he withstood his stay in his little box.  Those folks that came in loved him, and this came as no surprise to those of us who knew the big "O". 

 

After only a week in the Kitty condo, Frani's niece Arielle decided she was interested in taking care of Orangey for a time as a foster.  So Tonya arranged for Orangey to get picked up by Arielle, supplied him with food and toys and sent him on his way.  Arielle brought him over to us, where we doubled his supplies.  Arielle has now had him for well over a month, and apparently the relationship is one of joy.  Orangey is very affectionate with Arielle, taking over part of her bed at night, while having the run of her place during the day, and the kitty tower we gave as a housewarming gift. The daytime arrangement appears to be good with Orangey as she can watch him on the Wyze camera we gave her to keep an eye on him from work.   (Yes, we're like overprotective parents.)

This past week,  Arielle had to take a trip, so we kept Orangey while she was away.  We had to keep him in a spare room, which saddened me, but due to his F-IV, we cannot risk possible encounters with our own kittie babies.  However, the room is much bigger than the laundry room his crate was in when we first rescued him.

So it was a touch of a compromise.  We were somewhere in the middle. 

To our surprise and great joy, he really liked it there.  Very little meowing, no clawing, and he found a way to do his exercise "zoomies" as Arielle calls them, by running around and under the bed, and playing with his ball pyramid.   His appetite was every bit as good as we could have hoped it could be for a kitty changing locations again, without knowing how it would end up.  I mean, after all, this room, while being an adult sized room, is much smaller than Arielle's apartment where he has free reign.  Orangey's comfort only seemed to expand, right until he was picked up by Arielle upon completion of her trip.

Orangey is at ease, and I couldn't be happier.  I miss him now that he's gone home, but I can relax, as we'll have him for another stay next month as Arielle has an additional trip to take. 

Bound to the Past: Michelle Remembers

During the late 70s and the early 80s there was a book making the rounds called Michelle Remembers. It sold a ton of copies and the basis of its narrative was regression therapy, where a psychiatrist talks a patient through their memories using hypnotism in a format where they’re basically reliving the events as they happened in an unconscious state.

This resulted in the titular Michelle remembering Satanic abductions, abuses, and murders including with babies. Now as time has gone by it’s become quite clear that there was no evidence of any widespread satanic abuses, murders, or cult monstrosities of this ilk.  The sudden outcry that came in the wake of the book sales is now known as the “Satanic Panic” and it had widespread coverage on the nightly news and Geraldo Rivera specials. Geraldo was even talking to Ozzy, pointing fingers on the air. Now I’m no Osbourne fan, (he owes Randy Rhoads the world)  but I think Jerry would have been better off getting the members of Venom and Mercyful Fate on the phone, quite honestly. 

There was indeed ugly cult activity of course.  I remember early 80’s horror stories of animal killings in a ritualistic fashion in rural surroundings even near where I lived. But these tales of widespread human bloodshed were obviously a product of mass groupthink brought about by the absorption of this book and the growth and spread of regression therapy.  This psychological technique has long since been debunked. 

The circumstances around the book that started it all are actually quite seedy.  The titular Michelle and the therapist were married to others when the regression began, and to each other by the time the book came out.  The cover of the original hardcover was subtly lurid, while the paperback was straight out of VC Andrews Flowers in the Attic series.  It was more like an emanating horror story than an example of true crime. 

It’s all in the past now, but a perfect time capsule example of mass hysteria at its worst.  The film Regression with Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson explains a fictional example, even mentioning this book with a substitute title.  The movie works, explaining how the hive mind can run with things.  Over a cliff if necessary. 

There's also a documentary on the streaming service Tubi, Satan Wants You, that tells the events pretty well and has key testimony from the key figures involved.  It pretty much corroborates everything that's been said here.

I have a copy of the hardcover of Remembers that I got at a library book sale, and I don’t know how I feel about reading it.  I guess I'll take Frani's advice and approach it as fiction.