Ennoia (en-no’-i-a): A kind of purposeful holding back of information that nevertheless hints at what is meant. A kind of circuitous speaking.
I couldn’t imagine who put a can over our cat’s head. Who would do something like that? I don’t know. I’ll never know, but I’m going to help little Snarly out.
I duct-taped Snarly’s paws together. Then, I pulled on the tin can. It was stuck. I had to tie Snarly to a saw horse. He was squirming around too much. I got my father’s metal shears and cut a line up the side of the can. I pried the can open and it easily slid off and fell with a clank on the garage floor.
Snarly was ungrateful. He was laying there on the saw horse with murder in his eyes. When I went near him he hissed and yowled. How was I going to set him free without getting hurt myself? Then “hazmat”popped into my head. I could wear protective clothing! I could wear my football helmet with the protective face guard. There were two lengths of plastic sewer pipe laying on the floor. They were left over from Dad repairing the septic system. I could put them on my arms—they were the perfect length to protect me from claws. Mother had oven mitts with fingers like gloves—perfect for peeling off the tape and untying the rope.
The time came. I suited up and moved toward Snarly. He started writhing around a growling. I went for the duct tape and got it undone. The rope was more difficult, but I managed to get it off and free Snarly. He ran out of the garage and it was a year before he came back home.
At that point in my life I decided to become a veterinarian. Now, I shelter abused pets and nurse them back to health. Right now, I am working with a trio of of visually impaired mice who had their tails amputated by a sadistic farmer’s wife.
Definitions courtesy of “Silva Rhetoricae” (rhetoric.byu.edu).
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