The Dead Cat

Written by 
Jeanne Dixon 
Human Resources 

This is a true story as told by Jim’s cousin from Madisonville, Kentucky. She works with a lady who experienced this event. We will call her Jane for lack of knowledge of her real name.

Jane, her children and a friend had been shopping at a local mall and came out to their car with lots of shopping bags from the department stores where they had been customers. They loaded them in the trunk and piled in the car. As Jane backed from the parking spot she felt a thump under her wheel. She got out to see what she had hit, and found a dead cat under her car. The kids wanted to take the cat home for a proper burial. They unloaded one of the shopping bags, placed the dead cat in the bag and loaded it in the trunk to take home.

On the way home they stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch. It was a hot day and decided the cat might get a bit smelly if they left it in the trunk as they ate. Jane took the bag with the dead cat out of the trunk and placed it by the car with the intention of placing it back in the trunk after lunch.

As they were seated in the restaurant, they could see their car in the parking lot. They began to notice a lady walk by their car slowly and peek into the shopping bag. She passed by the car a couple more times, and then on the last pass, picked up the bag and walked away. They laughed and discussed the surprise this lady would have when she discovered her loot.

Within the next few minutes, the thief entered the restaurant and was seated not too far from Jane and her group. They watched in disbelief as she sat down and placed her purse and the stolen shopping bag beside her feet. She kept peeking into the bag, even reaching in at one point and touching her loot and smiling. After she placed her order, she picked up the shopping bag, opened it and got a really good look! She let out a scream, threw her arms up and head back and proceeded to pass out.

Then the action started! The personnel at the restaurant called 911 and an ambulance was rushed to the scene. The last time Jane saw the lady she was strapped to a gurney, with her purse and stolen dead cat still in the shopping bag, sitting on her stomach, headed to the hospital emergency room.

Crime doesn’t pay!!

12/31/1999