Cat Tails: A very noisy day

It didn’t look as though Monday was going to be a good day for the cats. To start off with, the Daddy had run out of squishy food and told them that he’d get more for them by lunchtime, but they’d have to settle for crunchies this morning. Crunchies are fine as a snack, but they just aren’t breakfast. It would have been okay if the Daddy had made them bacon or steak or even chicken, but he just left them with crunchies and a promise.

Next, the Daddy pulled out the dreaded bacoom. He didn’t do anything with it right away, but still, it was a scary presence right there in the kitchen. None of the cats like the bacoom, but Peep hated it. When the bacoom started its horrible roaring, LT and Rudy generally just took off for parts unknown, but for the Peep, it was a more difficult issue. If Fuzzy were anywhere around she wouldn’t be able to go outside, and it always seemed as though the bacoom chased her from room to room. It roared at her and threatened to eat her. She didn’t want to be breakfast for the bacoom, particularly since she hadn’t had a good breakfast herself.

After he’d finished his coffee, the Daddy stuck the bacoom’s tail into the wall and it started to roar. LT and Rudy had already left when they saw it in the kitchen. Peep ran into the living room and jumped up to look out the window. “Oh no! Fuzzy’s out by the poo field. I can’t go out there now.” Peep was terrified. Where could she go? The Daddy was fighting with the bacoom – it seemed that he had trouble controlling it. He’d push it and pull it and it was obviously trying to get away from him. She just knew he was trying to keep it from eating her, and wasn’t sure he could control it.

Peep ran past the two of them struggling in the kitchen and hid under the bed. She could still hear it, but at least it couldn’t get at her. She cowered and shook with fear. After a few minutes it seemed to go into the living room. Maybe the Daddy would win his battle with it in there and they wouldn’t come into the bedroom. She heard it make a higher pitched noise and then all of a sudden the bacoom was quiet, although now the Daddy started yelling at it. He seemed to be mad at it because it had eaten something.

Peep crept out of the bedroom and into the door of the living room. He had the bacoom lying on its back and had his hand in its mouth. “Be careful, Daddy,” Peep yelled to him. “Don’t let it eat your fingers. I love you Daddy, be careful!” She watched as he pulled out a long string and helped it to stand up. Peep thought that if she were the Daddy she’d have left it lying helpless on its back. After a minute it began to roar again, and Peep ran back under the bed.

As she lay shaking under the bed she heard the bacoom come roaring towards her. She asked the Higher Cat to please make it go into the office, but that feline obviously wasn’t listening to her or had as little control over the bacoom as she did. It roared into the bedroom and stuck its ugly head right under the bed. Luckily it was so tall that only its mouth really fit under the bed, but it was still too much for Peep. She ran out the other side, vaulted onto the bed and ran into the living room. She hoped that since the Daddy had already fought with it in there that they wouldn’t come back. Peep crouched under the television next to her friend the pig. The pig didn’t seem to be bothered by the noise, but then again he was only a statue.

Finally Daddy got the best of the bacoom and it was silent. He put it back in its lair and Peep breathed a sigh of relief. If it hated having its tail stuck in the wall so much, why did the Mommy and Daddy keep doing it? It was more than she could understand. The Daddy came into the living room and said, “Peep, it’s safe to come out. I’m done with the vacuuming. I have to go to work for a little while, but then I’ll be back with canned food.”

Peep sighed and jumped onto the fleecy thing on top of one of the chairs. Now she could rest. What a day, and it wasn’t even lunchtime! She did think though that it probably couldn’t get any worse.

Peep was wrong. It did get worse. As Peep slept, heavy dark clouds moved over the yard, and she was woken by a very loud and very close clap of thunder. She levitated about two feet, right into the Windsor chair stacked on top of the chair she was lying in. “Ouch!” she screamed. She looked out the window, and as she watched the skies opened and the rain came down in sheets, in buckets, in bathtubs. She’d never seen that much rain at one time.

Rudy and LT came running through the cat door soaking wet. “It’s terrible out there, Peep. You better get away from the windows in case the lightning strikes close by.” LT said. Peep jumped down and as lightning lit up the darkened room she squeezed under the couch. It was the smallest place she could think of, and no way could the lightning get here there! For the next ten minutes it was flash-crash, flash-crash as the storm raged around them. Rudy soon joined her, saying that she didn’t want Peep to be scared, but Peep thought Rudy was pretty scared herself. LT sat under the coffee table, guarding them.

Finally the storm moved away and the rain slowed. Peep crept out and jumped up to look out the window. The yard was a puddle, a swamp, a lake! So much water! Would the Daddy be able to get home to them? Across the yard, she could see a drenched Fuzzy crouching at the edge of the trees. She could almost feel bad for her brother, having been out in that storm, but not bad enough to invite him in. LT saw where she was looking, and stuck his head out the door. “Fuzzy, use my winter house! You can get dry in there.” Gratefully, Fuzzy ducked into it and they could see him starting to groom himself.

“That was nice, LT,” Peep said to him and gave him a kiss. “I don’t much like Fuzzy, but I don’t want him to get hit by lightning or get sick from being drenched.” LT just snuggled next to her warm little body. He was still a bit wet himself. The three cats watched as the rain stopped and the sun came out. The yard steamed and it became almost foggy with all the water all over the grass.

They saw the Daddy’s truck pull in and around the house. A few minutes later he came in the house. “What a storm! I had just come out of Shop Rite when it started to rain, and had to sit in my truck for fifteen minutes before I could drive. I was afraid the truck would be hit, it was so much taller than the little cars around it, but I’m okay. The yard is a mess, though. Leaves down, flowers crushed, and half the yard under water! Are you guys okay?” As he said this he was pulling cans out of his bag.

Wonder of wonders! There were some of those little tiny cans that had the delicious squishy food in it, not just the regular stuff he bought usually. “I bought this for you as a treat, to say I was sorry for not having canned food this morning. Will you forgive me?” he said as he put the contents of each can on its own plate. He placed two on the floor and one on the table for LT. Each cat went to a plate, and happily began to eat.

Before she started, Peep said, “Thank you Daddy. I forgive you and I’m glad you didn’t get hurt in the storm. Can we have a calm day now?” Then she buried her face in the food and quickly ate the delicious squishy food.

The Daddy looked out the window, took out something from the bags for him to eat and settled down at the table. “I think that’s enough for all of us for today. Let’s have a quiet afternoon. Maybe television and a nap.” Pee agreed, that was calm enough for her.