Writers Workshop

I am a curious cat, and I need to I know things. My nose is acute and accurate, sometimes too accurate.

Every night I get to go into my room and have my food. The door slides closed and I am safe. In the morning, if someone doesn’t open it, I am forced to scratch and meow for release. If it isn’t all the way shut, I can squeeze my paw around the edge of the door and lever it open a bit, then insert my head sideways to pull on it with my chin. I’ll get the opening just wide enough to push on through. If She is watching, there’s laughter.

Once I am out of the night room, I head out to sniff out any new smells or possible foodstuffs. The big furry monster, aka Sasha the dog, may or may not be in the big room. If she isn’t, I own the place. And if she is, I still control things. I especially like to ambush Sasha as she comes in the from her walks. I skulk at the door, and when it opens, Sasha rushes through, and I rise up on my hind legs and jump. Sometimes I land on her, other times she dodges me. Whatever, we both gambol into the larger area to run laps, dance and duck, avoid and contact, until one of the big folk sits down, and one of us claims the lap as a landing place.

Often, Sasha is curled up asleep, so then I have to find stuff to do, assuming I’m not also sleeping. There are toys for me. Boxes and brown paper bags lure me in, especially the bags. I can ensconce myself inside, my head at the opening to keep an eye on my surroundings, for any danger that may lurk. Or, I can attack from without, landing on the bag with a satisfying crunch, flattening it, even chewing it into submission. I have little chew toys too, that I like to throw up in the air and catch, and sometimes the big folk throw them high for me to chase after. The little gnomes are too still to be much fun, however, the fish that wiggles and waggles, then goes quiet until I attack, then it starts up again is very enticing! Then there is the feather on a fishing line. That one about makes me nuts with excitement. I’ll jump 5 feet to grab that delectable morsel!

But most of the time, I’m asleep in the dog’s bed. It reminds me of my mom, all furry and warm, like a nest. I like the bigger one, that leaves the smaller one to Sasha, but she is in the big folk’s lap most of the time anyway. She may be bigger than me, but she’s a wimp, a regular pussycat, and not at all intimidating.

Some doors stay closed most of the time. That’s ok, but when they do open, I’m scooting on in to check out what makes those places off limits. The bummer is, usually the room is even more boring than where I was before! Then I’m stuck, alone, door shut, until a big folk notices and let me out. I’m not one to make a fuss. The worst trap was in the laundry room. I slipped in there; the door is a slider and sometimes is left open. I did a thorough search and found a marvelous tunnel under the dryer. One problem, I could go in, but it was a dead end and I couldn’t or wouldn’t back out. I was in there forever!! Until FINALLY, the big folks located me. Then it took another century for them to figure out how to get me out. Just before taking the dryer apart, the big guy tried lifting the dryer, and there I was, ready jump back into my life, released to hunt again!

I have a pretty good life, I can’t complain. Plenty of food, shelter, petting, and warm laps, and plenty of alone time, to hunt and sniff and sleep and eat. The view out the window has lots of flying feathered things that would be fun to play with, too. Life’s an endless vacation for me!