Can we keep him?

Callie cat-she LOVES chipmunks

OK, you know your life is just plain flat weird when you spend your Friday night rehabilitating a chipmunk. I went outside and caught one of the cats "playing" with a chipmunk. Feeling sorry for the little guy, I shooed the cat away. Emily comes up from the barn and witnesses the latter. I told her I would keep an eye on the cat so the chipmunk wouldn't become dinner. Well.....I got a little bit busy with Jordan and forgot all about the chipmunk. That is until Emily came in holding it and blowing in its face so it could breathe. She has seen one too many episodes of Animal Planet. I convince her that it is dead and should have a proper burial. We have a very special spot for critters whose lives abruptly end so I'm ready for this one. She's crying, "Find a box, find a box." It was at that point that she reminded me I was supposed to be watching the cat. OOPS I blamed that one on Jordan. I found a plastic container that holds her sidewalk chalk and she placed the chipmunk in that. This would serve as a coffin as far as I was concerned. As soon as she placed it in his plastic coffin the darn thing started moving. This begins the rehabilitaion. She decided to put it on a plate. I'm trying to explain that it is probably suffering from internal injuries and is going to die. Perhaps we should put it outside so its mommy will find him and he can die being loved by mommy. I know, sick and twisted but I did not want a chipmunk in my house. I lost that argument. The next thing I know she has it on a paper plate and is petting it. Do they have lice? I hope not. It starts moving and she is so excited. This means she needs two paper plates so it can walk from one to the other. All of this is going on in my dining room . That room has hosted many parties but never a chipmunk rehab. After awhile she is convinced it will live and I convince her that it would be unfair to keep it in a cage so let's let it go. We walk across the street through weeds as high as our waist to get to the woods where it will be free again. As soon as we were ready to bid farewell, guess who shows up for dinner? THE CAT!! How did she know? I was so close to ending the saga and the cat shows up. So, we come back in the house and regroup. I went outside and caught the cat and put her in the house where the dog enjoys making her think she will be dinner. We go back outside with a big flashlight this time and prepare for the big release again. As fate would have it, another cat shows up. Thank goodness Jordan was sitting outside on the porch swing. I demanded that he hold the cat and not let it go at all so we could free the chipmunk. We proceeded with the process and she bid it farewell. Thank goodness. The first thing I did this morning when I woke up was make sure that there was not a dead chipmunk on the back porch. That would have started our Saturday off with a funeral and I threw the coffin away last night.