Cat Tails: Turnips - internships?

Peep and Miss Rudy sat in the living room discussing the Mommy’s absence. At least this year they knew what was going on, so neither was worried that she’d never come home again. Still, her being gone from Sunday to Friday every week wasn’t going to be fun.

Laughing, Peep said, “We won’t have to plant turnips this year, at least.”

“Okay, so I misunderstood her. Internship, turnips. They sound similar, and besides, I didn’t know what an internship was, so I guess my brain just found a word I did know that sounded right. Come to think of it, why did my brain know turnips? I’m a carnivore.” Rudy shook her head.

“It’s okay, Rudy. It was a lot of fun to watch the Mommy and Daddy try to figure out where all the turnips came from. I didn’t know that there were so many different ways to cook turnips. Mashed turnips, turnips au gratin, pickled turnips, creamy turnip soup, glazed turnips…. “ Peep shuddered. It wouldn’t have been bad if the Mommy didn’t keep trying to feed it to them. She never wanted to see another turnip as long as she lived.

“Mommy will be back every weekend. That’s one paw and one claw, counted every morning when we wake up.” Last summer Peep had learned how to count, creating what was probably the first and only cat counting system. Four claws made a paw, four paws made a cat, four cats made a house, and four houses made the world. After further consideration, she wondered about that last one though. Between the cats she knew and had heard about, there were probably more cats in the world than that.

Both cats were worried about the Daddy, though. He didn’t like it when the Mommy went away like this. He got sad, even with all the attention the cats gave him. He did seem to be working a lot though. Maybe that would keep him from missing the Mommy so much.

“Do you think we need to do something special for Daddy today, Rudy?”

“Hmmm, I don’t think so, Peep, other than making sure that one of us is around all the time when he’s home. He didn’t like it when we brought him mice and bunnies, and when we decorated the house, he thought it was a mess. We just need to make sure we love him a lot.” Rudy was practical. Last year Peep had come up with lots of schemes, most of which hadn’t helped at all. The Daddy had just needed to do a lot of cleaning when it came down to it.

“Well, places to go, people to see, squirrels to catch. See you later, Peep.” Rudy headed out the cat door to begin her day, leaving Peep to keep the Daddy company when he came home.

Peep sighed. She was glad that Mommy would come home every weekend, but still thought that she’d miss her every day she was away.