The phenomenon I am
referring to is when you walk down (or up) your carpeted stairs and
one of steps is warm on the bottom of your foot. It happens because
my cat, Storm, likes to stretch out his whole body on one of the
stairs and then he gets spooked and moves a few seconds before I
start climbing the staircase, thus leaving a warm stair.
Sometimes I feel
bad for my little Storm, fearing that he's not really happy. He's
obviously a wild creature. He's a medium hair and quite large, even
though he isn't yet two years old. He has a ruff and camouflage
markings. He would blend into the forest and prowl and pounce, but
instead... he lives with me and he must sit on a cushion and watch
the forest from the comfort of the cushion. He isn't allowed to go
outside. He dreams about birds, but isn't allowed to chase them.
This way, I save on
worm medication. Actually, that's one of my life goals. Not to need
worm medicine. So far, so good!
But I digress.
Sometimes
Storm is
still waiting on the stairs as I
approach and he has this look
on his face like he's surprised to see me there. It sort of reminds
me of when you saw a boy loitering outside your house and then he
pretends he's surprised to see you when you come out of your own
house. “Fancy meeting you here!” Or when you
literally bump into a boy
you've
been trying to bump into around
that particular corner.
“Eek, he touched
me!” Even though from the
boy's perspective, it was a
hundred percent accidental. I think Storm
has those moments of sudden joy when I'm around with his tiny feline
heart beating wildly. Cats
particularly like their contact to seem accidental.
He's
a sweet boy. He likes to
chase bugs that somehow get into the house. I'll see an ant (BTW
ants are enormous here), Storm is chasing it and batting it back and
forth. He seems engaged and I think he's finally going to start
earning his keep, when suddenly, he loses interest completely and
wanders off to loll about on the stairs. The
ant walks away like he's so evolved he can let an attack like that
slide.
And
I am not egocentric enough to believe that my
cat has a more complex
relationship with me than that ant. He was probably also thrilled
when he saw the ant scuttle across the checked floor. Bat, pat, bat
with his paw and then the mood left him and he'd rather sleep or
snooze or snore. It's the same for me. I pet him and rub behind his
ears, and then boom, he's bored and he goes to the foot of the bed to
put some space between us. He'll
give me a nice slow blink, like he loves me, but prefers it if I
don't touch him.
He
also likes to stretch out on the stairs at night in the dark. That's when I'm
the ant. He's gonna catch me.
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