Cat Tails: Hug your cat day

Wednesday morning long after the sun came up, Peep was snoozing on her favorite green chair. She dreamed of tiny little mice combing her belly fur with tiny golden combs. She woke with a thump when Miss Rudy jumped on the chair and started squeezing her.

“WHAAAT are you doing, Rudy?” Peep caterwauled.

“I’m giving you a hug, silly. Didn’t you know that it’s hug your cat day?” With that, Miss Rudy gave her another squeeze with her front legs, and bit her chest for good measure.

“It’s a good thing I was sleeping on my back while those mice were combing my belly. You woke me up from the nicest dream. I had six little mice combing my fur, and with tiny golden combs. And then I was going to eat them, and give the combs to the Mommy.” Having said that, Peep suddenly remembered that the Mommy was still away in Virginia. “Ohhhhhh, I think I need a hug”, she said.

“Good!” said Rudy, and proceeded to squeeze her again.

“That’s not what I meant. Mommy’s still gone, I checked when I got up this morning.”

“Still, the Daddy can hug us. We can hug the Daddy. We can hug each other. We can even hug TREEEES!” With that, Miss Rudy jumped off the chair and bounced off the coffee table and skidded around the couch into the kitchen.

Peep thought to herself that Miss Rudy must have found some wild catnip, because this certainly wasn’t how she usually acted. Rudy was usually a little stuck up with Peep, and Peep didn’t understand what was going on at all. But now that she was awake, she might as well see what the day was doing.

LT was sitting on the deck, right outside the cat door. Peep called to him, and he replied to come out, that it was safe and he’d keep an eye out for Fuzzy. So, Peep cautiously went through the cat door, whiskers and nose quivering for any scent of Fuzzy. The coast was clear, so she sat down next to LT and proceeded to start her mid-morning bath (which was not to be confused with her early morning bath).

“Are you okay, little Peep?” asked LT.

“Yup, I’m just dandy, but Miss Rudy is acting really weird this morning. She just hugged me twice and she’s never even hugged me once before.”

LT looked serious. “Rudy is a little guilty that she didn’t pay attention to you yesterday when you said you were going to use the poo field. I think she’s trying to make it up to you. Plus she heard something on the news that Daddy was listening to this morning about it being hug your cat day. So, Rudy figured out that hugs would cheer you up, even if they were from another cat.”

Peep looked up at LT. “I never even knew that cats could hug each other. I mean, the Mommy hugs the Daddy, and they both hug me, but cats hugging each other? That’s just strange. I thought she was trying to tackle me, and I almost got scared until she said she was hugging me.”

Peep walked back inside and saw Rudy sitting in the kitchen examining the food bowl as though new squishy food would magically appear in it if she stared long enough. “You’re not going to hug me again, are you Rudy?” Peep asked.

“Nope. I’m going to wait for the Daddy to come home for lunch and then he’ll hug you. And maybe me too. I’m not much for hugs, though, so he better make it quick. He heard that head on the TV this morning say that it was hug your cat day too, and he laughed and said that hugs would have to wait until he got home, as work was awaiting him. Or something like that.” Miss Rudy kept staring at the food dish.

“Do you really think that if you look at it long enough that food will appear?” Peep asked.

“Nope. I just like the picture on the plate. Daddy used the pretty cat plates that Mommy always saves for the people.” Miss Rudy gave Peep a devilish smile.

Peep settled down for the rest of her nap, hoping that she’d dream about mice combing her belly again. Before she started dreaming at all, she was swung up into the Daddy’s arms and squeezed a little bit harder than she liked. “Hello, Peep. I bet you didn’t know it was hug your cat day.” The Daddy turned her over and nuzzled her belly fur. It felt almost as good as all those mice combing it. Daddy put Peep down and brought in Rudy from the kitchen, hugging her. He let go quickly enough when Rudy gave a little growl. LT came in then, and Daddy scratched LT’s head. “I know better than to hug you, old man”, said the Daddy. He sat on the couch and Peep walked onto his lap, stood on her hind legs and gave him a hug of her own. Hug your cat day is a good holiday, Peep decided.