Needle in a Haystack

Oh.
My.
Gawd!

That little trip to the night table was evidently a scavenger hunt.

I am not unlike most people in this respect. I have a little dish on my bedside table that has a lot of little unrelated pieces of junk in it. A button that fell off. A Chapstik. A fortune from a fortune cookie. A book of matches. And in this case, a needle and thread. I'd recently mended the hem on a black jacket and left the needle, with about 8 inches of thread still attached, in the dish with the other junk. 

Once I discovered the needle dangling from Trinket's mouth, I of course shrieked in horror.  Which of course, made Trinket scamper away.  I of course, gave chase, trapping her in the spare bedroom before she could hid under the treadmill. I grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and reached for he needle. Three of four times as she thrashed and squirmed and fought with me.  It took her only a few seconds to scramble from my grasp and dash down the stairs.

I spring to my feet and chase her as she runs. Down the first 6 steps. Turn on the landing. Down the next 6 steps. And then a hairpin turn across the center hall, through the dining room and into the kitchen where she stops to look at me. 

I flick on the light. Exactly 10 seconds has passed.

And I can see that the needle is gone!

Trinket is calmly walking away to hide in the basement.

I grab the phone from the center hall and call Scott. As I explain what has happened, I cradle the phone against my shoulder and drop to the floor. I retrace my footsteps, and more importantly, Trinket's pawsteps from the kitchen to the spare bedroom, feeling along the carpet and hardwood with my fingers, hoping to land on the needle and maybe even the thread. Please, God, let me find the needle.

Scott is very calm.  He is googling while I make my panicked hunt for the needle.  He tells me that I really need to call the vet and do it fast because a tiny cat is not a lot of body to pass through and a needle will be doing major damage in no time.  The alternative is pretty bleak.

When I am certain that the needle is gone I dial the vet. Of course I need to come in...the sooner the better. Trinket is on borrowed time.