and you thought you had a rough day

This is what Charlie looks like when he's real mad.

It's hard to make this cat mad.
He's usually just curious.
Let me start at the beginning...

I'm throwing my sister & niece a "meet the family" baby shower. Games and prizes all fit with what you might expect at your favorite princess birthday party from your youth. One prize for winning a game is a big white boa and tiara and white gloves. No stuffy shower games from this aunt!

Charlie absolutely cannot control himself when it comes to boas. His favorite cat toys are so pink and feathery they'd make a drag queen glad.

So when I bought stuff for the shower, I diligently prepared them in gift bags and locked them in the study (our most unpacked room left), so as to not tempt the little fruitcake.

Around 11am today, my colleagues came to the house to scout. We're shooting here next week and we needed to make sure we were all set on camera angles and props. Someone opened the door to the study, closed it, but didn't make sure it latched.

At 12:30pm, Keith and I came home for lunch to let Dodger out, just like usual.

At 5:30pm, I came home to the twillight zone. No Charlie at the door to say hello. Vases in the living room knocked over, the bathroom a mess...


And this next to Dodger's cage. That's one of the gift bags, with party favor bags tangled together with a random candle holder. I have no idea how he did this.



I let the dog out and went to find Charlie in the office.
This was all I saw. That boa used to be wrapped...


So I searched the house from top to bottom. I had visions of him having choked on the boa and dying, alone - a blissful feathery death.
I finally spooked him out from hiding in the basement.
I just saw an orange and yellow streak.
I cornered him and he was growling like crazy. He looked like he was pooping out an entire gift bag (undigested).
I panicked a bit.
Keith's playing with the guys from the office - I had to face the rabbid beast alone.
So, we just chatted a while, trying to calm him down. Figured I wouldn't be much help if he ate my arm off.
He let me pet him, but he wasn't going to budge.
I tried pulling the bag from between his legs, assuming there was something sticky adhering it to his belly. No luck.
As I pet him, it felt like he had a bag handle under his skin. I thought, "he definitely couldn't have swallowed it... I don't get it."
Then I finally got him to relax enough to let me investigate - he had his body caught in the handle of the bag. So I tore as much of the bag off as possible and went to get scissors. I carefully cut the handle off the bag, leaving this:



Poor guy - he's completely traumatized.