Cat Tails: Alone again...naturally

As Jason walked from his radio room back to the house he heard Peep crying. She wailed in varying tones, and each one grated on his nerves. It had been a hard enough day and now Peep sounded as though either she was being tortured or her heart was breaking. Since Mary Rose had left for Maryland that morning, Jay figured that it was the latter, but he didn’t really want to deal with a heartbroken cat right now.

Miss Rudy had abandoned the house and was lying by the pond, hoping for a frog to come by and distract her, and LT was off who knows where. Peep was alone in the house and she was obviously miserable. Jay found her sitting in the middle of the bed, howling.

He sat down next to her pulled her onto his lap. “What’s wrong, Peep? You’re going to wake up anyone asleep within a three-mile radius.”

Looking him straight in the face, Peep began singing again. “In a little while from now, if I’m not feeling any less sour, I promise myself to treat myself and visit a nearby tower…”

Jay began petting her. “I don’t know what’s wrong, Peep. Are you hurt? Hungry? Sick? What can I do to make you stop crying?”

Peep kept on singing. “Leaving me to doubt talk about God and His mercy, or if He really does exist why did He desert me. In my hour of need I truly am indeed - alone again, naturally.”

Picking Peep up, Jay brought her into the living room and settled on the couch, hoping that a change of scene would quiet Peep, but Peep just started singing the song again from the top. It suited her mood right now. The Daddy liked to listen to old radio shows and music from when he was younger, and Peep had heard this song on the WABC MusicRadio Saturday night show a few weeks ago. The tune was catchy, but the lyrics were awfully maudlin, Peep had thought when she’d first heard it, but tonight they fit her mood perfectly. “Alone again, naturally,” she warbled, ending the song for the second time.

Rudy burst in through the cat door. “I can’t stand it anymore. Shut up, Peep. You’re not alone, and that stupid song is about a guy who got left standing at the altar and wants to kill himself. If you want to throw yourself a pity party, do it SILENTLY!” She jumped up on the couch and swatted at Peep’s head.

Either reacting too quickly or not quickly enough, Jay’s hand ended up between Peep’s claws and Rudy’s and he ended up with scratches on both sides of his hand, and gouges in his leg from Peep vaulting off his lap with claws out on all four feet.

“What is with you two tonight? Have you all been eating catnip? I’m going to wash the blood off my hand and go to bed. If you can’t be quiet, I’ll shut the door, turn on the fan and let you all fight it out.” Jay stomped off into the kitchen.

“See, Peep, you just made it worse. He’s sad enough because Mommy left, and now he’s mad at us on top of it.” Rudy decided to take the high moral ground, rather than consider if she had any part in Daddy getting hurt.

“Go suck an egg, Rudy. Mommy’s gone again and it’s going to be a long, hot, miserable summer with no Mommy.” Peep didn’t want to be consoled. She wanted to wallow in her misery, ignoring the fact that Mommy would be home on weekends.

“Fine, Peep. Be that way. Enjoy your pity party, but please, don’t sing. Daddy can’t understand what you’re singing anyway. People just think we’re crying or screaming when we sing, so it’s a waste of time, unless you’re just doing it to amuse yourself. But please, don’t. I need my beauty sleep.” Rudy jumped off the couch, tail held high and headed back outside.

Peep sat on the couch for a while, considering that. She’d never thought about people not being able to understand her singing. Hmm, it did make sense. She’d sung to the Mommy to cheer her up lots of times, and it always just made her more upset. Ah, well, Peep thought. I’ll just purr at them. They do understand that. She padded quietly into the bedroom, where the Daddy lay on the bed. She sprung up onto the mattress, meowed a greeting and examined his hand. It didn’t look too bad, but she gave it a healing lick, just to make sure and carefully climbed onto the Daddy’s chest and snuggled down to purr him to sleep.