My husband and I are originally from the Pacific Northwest, but moved to Saint Louis, Missouri, when I finished college. I had a teaching job lined up that I was very excited about, so we agreed to move to the Midwest for a couple of years, and then move home to Oregon.
When we moved to Saint Louis, we had one cat, and she moved with us. We returned to Oregon frequently for short visits, and stayed longer a couple of times a year, around the holidays and in the summer. As a teacher, I had a couple of weeks off in the winter and a couple of months in the summer.
While our cat was fine alone in the apartment for a few days, she couldn't be left unattended for weeks or months on end. As such, twice a year, we took her with us back to Oregon. We had to pay the airlines a fee, and her pet carrier was considered my carry on piece of luggage. We had to take her out of her carrier at security, and walk with her through the metal detectors. After a few times at this, we had become experts.
One of the last times we had to fly back to Oregon, I was traveling alone with the cat. I let the security people know about my cat, and confirmed that I still had the correct process for getting her through security (TSA guidelines seem to change monthly). I did, and when it was our turn, I took the cat from her carrier and waited to walk through the metal detectors.
The officer on the other side waved us through, but wasn't really looking. When I began to walk forward, she looked at us, jumped, and scream “Oh my God, that's a cat!” After yelling, she turned and ran. I was left standing there, dumbfounded, with my terrified animal. Finally, another officer saw us through, and we were able to head to our gate. We've only had a fly with the cat once since then, but I was sure to tell every officer who made eye contact with me that I had a cat!
Scaredy Cat!
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