I've often said I would give my life for my child. Now it seems as if I have, and I must say, it sucks. The problem is that I am not dead; if I were, I'd probably feel better. What's happened is this: I agreed to take Zack's cat--again--while he is In A Period of Transition. (My son, not the cat.)When Big Lurch spent three weeks with us last spring he barely ventured out from under the guest room bed, so I had little fear for his safety. This time was different, since he arrived with the likelihood of becoming a permanent member of our household. My son was considering moving to an apartment in a busy urban area, not a good place for a Maine Coon accustomed to going outside frequently.
After almost two weeks of confinement, I took Lurch outside last Sunday, a warm and sunny day, and off he ran into the surrounding woods, taking along the shredded remains of my peace of mind. He returned early Tuesday morning for breakfast, which I had left on the back porch, the door propped open to let him in along with all the flies and mosquitoes we intended to keep out by having the porch re-screened a month ago. Immediately after eating, he began crying to get out. It was such a mournful cry, and my own cat Daisy hisses at him, and the renovators in our bathroom make an awful racket, and so I let him go.
In the interim I have cried, gotten up during the night to call for him, walked the perimeter of our property shaking a can of cat treats and making meowing sounds like my son makes to get him back, all the while checking incessantly to see if the food left out for him had been eaten, and cried some more. What have I done? My son loves his cat and I threw him to the wolves! Literally, since there really are wolves in our woods, along with other creatures that I hear tell eat cats. I was filled with remorse. My husband, always a source of comfort, said, "Maybe you shouldn't have let him out."
But wait--isn't he my cat now? If so, I have too many cats. I hate keeping animals trapped indoors. I feel like a slave owner, except they don't do anything for me and I do everything for them. And while they are not free, neither am I. Who ever started this whole domesticated animal business anyway? Finally Lurch came back, and I realized my blood pressure can't take any more of this. I called Zack today and said he better come get his cat. He's working on it. I'm hoping that all this aggravation has a least caused me to lose a few pounds, which is always a nice consolation prize in difficult times.
Cats ... amazing animals. Along with my kids, our cat Mia has me wrapped around her fingers, I mean her paw. We have a plastic ring that she likes to play with. Her idea of playing is not the same as mine though. She goes up to the ring, sits and calls for us to throw it. One would think in a normal relationship, the human takes the ring, picks it up, throws it and the cat, being a cat, chases it. But noooo, this cat is a Greenspan.
ReplyDeleteMia's idea of playing is to have me take the ring and throw it ... while she sits there and looks at it. That's the signal for me to walk across the room and fetch the ring, so I can throw it again, so Mia can look at it and I can fetch it again.
She can play this game for hours ... while I need oxygen!!
If you want to be a little wierded out, listen to the RadioLab podcast about parasites and then think again about the relationship we have with domesticated animals. And how recently they actually moved inside with us. And, especially, what might account for there being "cat people" and "dog people" and "cat and dog people".
ReplyDeleteRick, thanks for sharing your story, makes me feel better knowing others are also slightly insane--you, not the cat.
ReplyDeleteKeith: not sure I need to be any more "wierded out," but it sounds interesting; I will check it out.
I love reading what you write sweetie . . . this is all so accurate and honest -- and amusing . . . your core competencies as a reporter / journalist!
ReplyDeleteI use to have 3 cats. None now since my husband is allergic. I loved them. They were only indoor cats. They didn't care, since they slepted all day. I do love cats, but really...they are animals, not humans.
ReplyDeleteGL