Feline Follies, the cute story from yesterday

I admit it…I love to watch animals be fascinated by the simplest things. Watching a dog play catch for what seems like forever…watching an orangutan find a dozen uses for a paper bag…the innocent sense of adventure and fun is so amazing! But these days, I don’t get to see it very often, since we’ve chosen not to have any pets right now. (Small apartment + pets = cramped quarters and grouchy everyone).

So I was delighted to find out the brothers with whom I am staying for a couple of nights have a cat. She is a beautiful nine-month-old calico-manx mix who quickly decided I was an acceptable playmate. Yet I became an even better playmate when I pulled out my laptop to make some progress on my backlog of reports, as the movements of the mouse and the scrolling of the type were absolutely captivating to my new friend Molly.

But it got even better when the screen saver activated. I have a standard Microsoft screen saver with coral reefs along the bottom, and different fish that swim back and forth across the screen. There’s even a shark fin that roams across the bottom from time to time. All of the motion was just too much for Molly! She could hardly sit still, jumping from one side of the computer to the other trying to catch the fish as they swam offscreen, looking behind the screen for the disappearing fish, batting at the screen and being frustrated by the flat panel she encountered…it was adorable to watch, and reminded me why I can’t wait to have a cat of my own again. Sure, she got in my way while I was typing, and at one point managed to press the one little button that turns my computer off, but all that bother disappeared in that moment of her innocent captivation with the screen saver.

Do you think my hosts would notice if I kidnapped her? More importantly, do you think I could find a way to hide her from Steven if I got her home? I know, I know…it’s a yes and a no, respectively. But she’s just too cute for me not to at least consider it!

(Revision: After becoming quite attached to this kitty for the past two days, she made it very easy to leave her behind this morning when my hosts and I discovered that she had chosen to use the beanbags and my comforter as litterboxes. Thankfully, I was up and out of bed when the comforter became a target. But who wants a kitty that is old enough to be litter-box-trained, but ignores a newly-cleaned box? Not me.)

Where I am: Charleston, SC

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