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Title from Jean Kerr's book of essays, Please Don't Eat the Daisies
A/N: Inspired by my own experiences. A little Ninja tidbit to tide you over. :)
"Here you go, Uncle Steve. Here's the flowers you ordered."
Steve McGarrett took the bouquet from his partner Danny Williams' daughter, Grace. "Thank you, Gracie. I hope you raise lots of money for your school."
"Oh, I did, Uncle Steve," Grace assured him. "I was the highest seller for my class."
"That's great, Grace!"
"Okay, Grace," Danny broke in, "it's time for school, and Uncle Steve needs to get ready for work."
They left, and Steve got out a vase and placed the flowers on the dining room table. The bouquet was mostly daisies, with a few other flowers mixed in. Steve wasn't sure why, with the abundance of tropical flowers on the island, they had to import daisies from the mainland, but he supposed they were cheap and everybody liked him. Oh, well. It was for a good cause. He went to get ready for work.
When Steve got home, his cat, Ninja, wasn't there to greet him, and he was concerned. "Here, Ninja!" he called.
Steve heard a retching noise from upstairs. He hurried up to the bedroom and found Ninja on the bed. Just as Steve reached him, the cat gave one last heave and vomited on the bedspread. Steve wrinkled his nose. "Gross." He went to clean up the mess and took a closer look. What the hell? There appeared to be bits of flower petals, and leaves, and stems. Where did an indoor cat find plant material?
Realization dawned, and Steve raced back downstairs. Sure enough, all that was left of his bouquet was a few headless stems. Steve panicked. He opened his laptop and plugged "cats/daisies/poisonous" in the search engine with one hand, and called Danny with the other.
"Are daisies poisonous?" Steve asked when Danny answered.
"What?"
"Are daisies poisonous? Ninja ate the bouquet I bought from Grace."
Danny laughed.
"It's not funny! Ninja could be dying! Would you be laughing if it was Bullet?"
"Okay, first of all, this wouldn't happen to Bullet because my dog is smarter than your cat and wouldn't eat the flowers in the first place"-Steve doubted that, but he held his tongue-"And in the second place, I'm pretty sure daisies aren't poisonous."
"Are you positive?" Steve found the link he was looking for and clicked. "Ah, okay, you're right."
"See?" Danny said. "All you have to worry about is him vomiting them back up."
"He already did that," Steve said. "In the middle of the bed. That's how I knew he ate them."
Danny laughed hysterically.
"Still not funny," Steve said.
"Oh, it is babe, it is. I'll let you get back to cleaning up the mess your stupid cat made. See you tomorrow."
Danny hung up as Ninja crept down the stairs, still looking a little the worse for wear. "How am I going to tell Grace you ate her flowers, hunh?"
Ninja didn't answer.
"Whatever," Steve said. "I'm going to call her and order a replacement. And this time, don't eat the daisies!"
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A/N: This is a problem in our house. I can't bring in plant matter, because our older cat (my black boy in the story icon) eats it. We can't even have a straw broom or he'll eat it. The younger cat's almost as bad-I caught him trying to eat a cactus once.