The Literate Kitty

If someone asked you to make a shortlist of the very worst things that could ever happen, chances are, your list would be similar to a lot of other people’s. (Partly because we’re just not that original, but mostly because we’ve been exposed to the same TV, movies, and books as everyone else.) We have some pretty vivid images embedded in our brains of the Bad Stuff that lies in wait for us--images we share. Natural disasters would no doubt place highly on the list--tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes strike terror into the bravest among us. Fire is another truly fearsome, destructive force. And of course, the thought of all sorts of transportation accidents--something like a horrible high-speed car crash or the dreaded mid-air disaster--hit most of us in the gut.  Illness and disease would likewise find their way onto a lot of lists. We have only to see the devastating effects of cancer or another debilitating disease, to have an unholy terror of it someday striking close to ho...