Friday, July 22, 2011

Celebration!

Clem was holding her own private celebration today.  She'd come to live with the yarn lady one week ago and was so happy to be here.  Sometimes she missed her brother and sister, but the yarn lady's condo was a lot nicer than living in the shelter.  She had toys, very comfy places to sleep, as much yummy food as she liked and people who rubbed her head and talked silly to her.  Even the yarn lady talked silly to her sometimes, but that was okay.  She was still a baby kitten.

She started out her celebration by scavenging all of her yarn balls from where they'd gotten stuck under the furniture.  The yarn lady was nice about that - if she couldn't find any, she just made more of them.  It wasn't that she thought Clem had done away with them or anything like that.  She just had so much yarn that it wasn't a big deal to wind up a new little ball and carefully thread the end through the middle so that it didn't unravel too easily.  Clem kind of liked them when they unraveled, though.  The first or second day she'd lived here she had managed to chase one that was coming undone so that it wound around one leg of the big bed, and twice around the chair legs next to it.  She unfortunately ran out of yarn then.  Clem had wanted to run it out into the living room, but it wasn't long enough.  Clem lined up the yarn balls, sternly resisting the temptation to bat them around.  That accomplished, she pulled the sheet of bubble wrap over and placed it right next to the dining room table, and then dragged her playhouse (which had originally been the yarn lady's hamper) over to where she'd lined up the balls in the living room. 

Clem jumped up on the dining room table and positioned herself right above the bubble wrap.  So far she hadn't been able to actually pop any of the bubbles.  She was just too little of a cat, but she had an idea that maybe if she jumped off the table with her claws out, maybe, just maybe she could pop some.  She liked the little popping sounds when the yarn lady stepped on them, and wanted to be able to play that game too.  She considered her plan, and instead walked to the other end of the table.  A running start would work even better, Clem decided. 

The yarn lady walked out of the bedroom just as Clem was making her approach.  She watched as Clem leapt off the table with all four legs splayed, claws at the ready.  Clem landed on the bubble wrap and was happy when at least six bubbles popped.  She hadn't figured on the effect her running leap would have on the landing, though.  Clem and the bubble wrap slid at high velocity across the room, into the hall and right into the yarn lady's legs.  The yarn lady laughed and picked Clem up, ending up with both cat and bubble wrap, since Clem hadn't thought to retract her claws.  She helped remove the wrap from Clem's claws and then gave her a cuddle, laughing the whole time. 

"I could never be bored with you in the house, Clementine.  I'm glad you came to live with me."  The yarn lady carried her into the living room and noticed the line of yarn balls.  There were about a dozen of them, a few starting to come undone.  "Hmmm.  Were you planning on some target practice, Clem?  Or perhaps this is more like a driving range, where you can go down the line and bat each one and see how far you can get them to go?"  She put Clem down and watched to see what she'd do. 

After considering these options, Clem decided on a third one.  She rearranged the balls into a tightish grouping rather than a straightish line and then backed off.  Thinking that her kitty might pounce again, the yarn lady backed off to a safe distance, in case the yarn balls started bouncing around.  Clem considered for a few moments and then charged at the batch of balls, batting as many as she could as she skidded to a stop.  In just a couple seconds, not a single one was within six feet of their starting place, and Clem was off.  It was almost like watching a little kid run the bases in softball, providing that there were a dozen bases that were arranged haphazardly.  She'd run to one, pounce on it and then bat it away and then move on to the next one to repeat the performance.  The yarn lady stood and laughed as she watched her.  Clem ran until she was out of breath, and collapsed on the floor right outside of her playhouse.  She'd managed to bat four into the playhouse.  Not bad, considering she wasn't even trying to do that. 

The yarn lady picked her up and carried her over to the couch.  She sat down and gently scratched Clem's ears.  Clem purred and then said, "I love you, yarn lady.  Thank you for choosing me to come live with you."  She didn't think the yarn lady understood cat, though, so she just turned up her purr.  Everyone understood purrs.