5:00 pm – after spending a lazy day hunting in the garden and sleeping in the sunshine, I wander back towards the house, noting my Master and Mistress standing near the door. “Are you coming in?” the Master inquires. Well yes, I suppose I could come inside now, I haven’t had anything to eat for a little while, so some food and a nice cool drink would be nice, so I drift toward the now open door.
But wait, what was that? Oh! It’s just a leaf blowing along the path, nothing to worry about, but I sit down to think about that, and to clean my left front paw, testing to see how long my Master will stand there, holding the door open, waiting for me.
“One” he begins, “two, three” he is beginning to loose patience and the door is being closed “four”, I stand up and begin again to move toward the door. He stops counting and waits for me, I sit down again, this time to clean my right front paw. “Five” he says loudly. I finish cleaning my paw and make a dash for the door, just as it closes. “Meow” I tell him, as he moves off muttering under his breath.
What about my food??? You need to take me to eat!! You ALWAYS take me to the dish to share my food! You scratch my back while I eat, I CANNOT eat until you do this!
But alas, he moves away towards his desk! This will not do at all! I follow and sit some distance from my Master, who is now absorbed in thought and not paying attention to me at all. “Meow” I say softly. He ignores me. “Meow” I say again, louder. He still ignores me. I get up and rub against his legs hoping this might attract his attention. It doesn’t! “Meeooowww” I say, much more emphatically now. “Oh for heaven’s sake” my Master roars! “What do you want now?”
Well I mean to say! Isn’t it obvious? Even to a human? I want you to come with me to the food, I want you to stand there, stroking my back while I eat, and I want you to know that I will stop eating the *instant you stop stroking my back! Why don’t humans understand that a cat must be in control at all times?!
We complete this routine to my satisfaction, and I begin to think about have a snooze in my chair when out of the corner of my eye I notice something of extreme concern. My carry box is sitting there near the door! Now, this means one of two things. Either I am going to the Vet – a fate I consider somewhat inevitable but also, though unpleasant, not life threatening. The second option is that I am going to that other place where my humans leave me for no reason at all. I believe it is called a “Cattery” although I cannot imagine why! All I hear the entire time I am forced to spend there, is barking dogs! Of course, last time I was there, there was a very nice male cat who visited my door on a regular basis. I sit down to contemplate him and try to recall his name. Fabulous long black fur, as I mistily recall, (my fur is short) with a single white paw, and a white tip, right at the top of his rather magnificent tail! Hmm, now what was his name?
My reminiscing is rudely interrupted as I am picked up. This is something I have never been able to make my humans understand. I HATE being picked up! I am TERRIFIED when you pick me up! WHY do you pick me up? It only means bad things for me! Resigning myself to the inevitability of my situation, at the last moment I realise that I am being carried toward my carry box. Desperately I try to avoid being unceremoniously deposited in this contraption, I spread out four paw, bracing myself against the opening in a vain attempt at refusal. Alas! My Mistress is wise to this move, and simply gathers my paws together and “posts” me into the box, with not a single thought for my dignity! “Meow” I protest, but the door is shut and I am inside.
Well now, nothing to do but wait and see which of the places I am going to be taken to. Of course, the Cattery is the best choice between the two, since that nice black cat might be there also, but I have no choice now but to wait and see. I begin again thinking of his wonderfully thick and smooth fur, and that tail! How I wish …… Suddenly the carry box is lifted up and I’m being carried outside and towards the car. “Meow” I say ineffectually, for I know they will ignore me. My Mistresses face appears in my line of vision “Sorry Puss” she says – she is not of course in any way sorry! “You’re going to spend some time with Dale and Bernie, they’ll look after you and you will be safe while we’re away” She tries to stroke my nose through the bars of the carry box, but I move away disdainfully.
She places me in the car, another thing I have not been able to make them understand that I am terrified of! Nothing has actually ever hurt me in the car, it’s just the noise and movement and I generally cannot see anything from my so-called “safety” in my carry box.
6:00pm – We arrive at the Cattery. I know this because I can hear the dogs barking long before I am taken out of the car. As my box is lifted out of the car, I can smell another cat. It’s a male I can tell. “Meow” I say to my Mistress, trying to alert her to the presence of a potential danger. She ignores me, opens the door and carries me inside. The humans talk while I cower in my box. I can still smell that male cat somewhere nearby, although I cannot see him. I found out later, he lives there and was under the front steps, which is his favorite place.
Again my box is lifted and I am carried again. Strange hands reach into my box and attempt to lift me out of my relative safety. Oh no! I’m not leaving here that easily! I hiss, glaring angrily at my humans! Ohhhhh!!!! Suddenly I am sliding forward, my box has been lifted up and I am being forced out! Desperately I look for a landing point, and find that straight in front of me there is a little opening, and into that I grateful, although not elegantly, go, retreating out of sight of the humans until I can assess my situation. It’s warm in here, and there is a lovely blanket, all fluffy and clean. Perhaps this will not be so bad after all.
My Master and Mistress are standing now, on the other side of the bars that separate us. “Be good Puss” the Mistress instructs. “We won’t be gone long” my Master assures me, and tweaks my ears, through the bars. I “meow” to him, to let him know I understand. I cannot help myself when he tweaks my ears like that! I snuggle back into my new found ‘home” and watch my humans leave.
When they are out of sight, I look around. From my vantage point, I can see into the main part of the Cattery – seems like there is only one other there. I look behind me and I can see outside through the window. I can still hear the dogs barking, but I cannot tell where they are, and I cannot see them, so I assume that they don’t know where I am and can’t see me either, so I discount them as being any risk, at least for the moment.
I venture out into my cage, sniffing around the boundaries of my new space. There is drinking water there, a dish of food (not my usual fare, but I suppose it will do) and a litter tray in the corner. It could be worse. It’s not home, but it will do for now, but I don’t want to stay here too long.
“Meow – who are you?” I hear from beside me somewhere, but hidden from view. I stand up on my hind legs to see if I can locate my inquirer, and discover that she is in the cage beside me. “Meow – I’m Jinxy, who are you?” I return. We chat on for a little while, getting acquainted. She is Milly, a very pretty white and grey cat, she tells me she is a Birman (whatever that is! Me I’m just a garden variety cat!)
Our conversation is rudely interrupted “Meow, would you females please shut up” and as I turn to see who this uncouth animal may be, I see to my utter delight, it is my black friend from last time. He is truly magnificent as he sits there atop an amazingly high scratching pole in the center of the room, his magical green eyes contemplating us.
“Meow” I say ” Do you remember me?” He stands up, stretching luxuriously, and without hesitation says “Of course, you are Miss Jinxy” I am deeply flattered! He remembered my name! Now, wish I could remember his! An awkward moment of silence as we stare at each other across the space between us (two wire walls and a concrete walk way!)
At the last possible moment, his name pops into my mind “and you” I say triumphantly ” are Leo” He turns his green eyes on me and laughs out loud. That can’t be good!
“Well nearly Miss Jinxy” he says through his laughter “my name is actually Neo, but you almost had it right” He curls his superb white tipped tail around his paws and settles himself comfortably on the cushion at the top of the scratch pole from where he can see everything that happens.
Mortified, I retreat! “Stupid” I mutter to myself, totally humiliated! He remembered my name and I got his name wrong. Milly giggles from the cage next to mine. “That didn’t go as planned now did it?” she says accompanied by gales of laughter!
Amidst my humiliation, and Milly’s amusement, Dale enters with food, a welcome relief! We each turn to the business of eating, and just as we finish, Dale returns, checking our trays and water bowls and bidding us a good night, she retreats up the stairs and turns the lights out.
I curl up in my new bed, trying to forget the laughter from Milly and the look in Neo’s eyes! Oh well, tomorrow is another day! I curl my paws over my face and snuggle into the warmth and in no time at all I am fast asleep.
The Wendy Diaries 