Attack Of The Thriller Tomatoes

A few weeks ago something so funny happened at a client’s house that I have to share the story.

(Photo by Jack Gavigan)

The client was gone for a week and I visited once a day. She has her own garden and this year she grew many different types of tomatoes: beefsteak, cherry, grape, red, yellow, orange, green, stripped, etc. The entire time I was visiting, there was a bowl of ripe tomatoes on a kitchen counter. It beautifully showed how much variety there is in my favorite fruit.

On one of my last visits, as I entered the living room, I burst into laughter because I saw tomatoes all over the place… By “all over” I mean everywhere except that empty bowl on the kitchen counter. Instead, they were scattered all over the floors in the living, kitchen, and dining areas. There were tomatoes under the dining table, along the baseboards, in front of the couch, near the fireplace, under the stove & fridge, under the coffee tables, and even under a couple rugs. Some were unharmed, indicating they were probably just batted around gently. Others had bite and claw wounds, which I imagine is how some got into the hallway and bathroom! I have a mental image of a cat with a tomato stuck to her claws, and her flicking her hand as she tries to get the tomato unstuck. Even though the tomatoes saw all that action, only one was totally squished! That injury was down to me because I didn’t notice a lump under a rug before I stepped on it. Pfffft!

Miss M (background) and Miss P (foreground)

The more I hunted tomatoes that day, the more I found and the harder I laughed. I kept imagining what it looked like when one of the cats first pulled a tomato out of the bowl and discovered that it made a fun toy. (I suspect one of the kitties pictured on the left because they’re the most playful cats in the house.) The thought of the cats going back to the bowl to try out yet another tomato kept making me giggle.

I sure wish we had captured that activity on video!