May I have this dance?

The Daddy seemed a little down this afternoon.  It was way too hot outside, the phone hadn’t been ringing off the hook with jobs, and he was just sitting at the kitchen table reading a book and sipping his coffee, sighing occasionally.  Peep noticed this when she came in for her early afternoon crunchy snack.  She trilled at him and rubbed up against his leg, but all he did was reach down absentmindedly and give her head a little scratch. 

She sat in the doorway to the bedroom and watched him for a bit.  Yesterday when he’d been reading the same book he’d been smiling and even laughing a bit, but today the book wasn’t amusing him.  Peep didn’t like it when the Daddy was sad, so she wandered into the bedroom and settled on the bedspread to think of how they could cheer him up.  There were plenty of things that she and the other cats did that he laughed at, but some of them weren’t really funny.  The time she’d tried to do the dishes and had ended up wet and soapy with water all over the floor hadn’t been funny, although the Daddy had laughed a lot.  She certainly hadn’t liked it, and she knew he hadn’t enjoyed the clean-up required.  So, pranks like that were out.  He usually laughed when she brought in a frog or chipmunk, but then he felt he had to rescue it, and that required lots of time and moving of furniture.  Not a good idea, and anyway it was too hot to go hunting today. 

What did people laugh at?  She couldn’t tell him jokes – they didn’t speak the same language.  She could have Rudy email the yarn lady and have her tell him jokes, but he’d probably wonder why she was calling him with jokes.  People laughed at other people and also animals doing silly things.  Stuff like slipping on a banana peel, or really bad dancing.  They didn’t have any bananas, but the dancing was an idea.  She and Rudy had seen lots of dancing on television, and she bet they could imitate some of the dances.  They could do the monkey, waltz, tango and even try some breakdancing. 

It took a couple hours to find LT and Rudy, convince them to perform and then do a little rehearsal.  By four o’clock they were ready to perform.  They entered through the cat door and lined up in the living room in front of the Daddy where he sat on the couch.  He didn’t notice them right away, so Peep jumped up on the coffee table and once she was sure he was watching rejoined the others on the floor.  All three began to sing “Fun, Fun, Fun” by the Beach Boys and dance the monkey.  They made it through to the last chorus and saw the Daddy staring at them as though they had each grown an extra head. 

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/fofurasfelinas/3659858487

Next, Peep dropped back and began to sing “Moon River” while Rudy and LT waltzed.  Well, they tried to waltz.  It’s hard for cats to move to a beat while embracing, and so after a few false starts each danced alone standing as close as possible, touching paws.  Towards the end of the song they embraced again and just swayed a bit as Peep warbled the last few bars.  By now the Daddy was laughing.  It was working, so on to the finale.

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/puffsdaddy/1703976662/

LT and Rudy started singing Run DMC’s “It’s Like That” with Rudy taking the melody and LT providing background rhythm.  Peep began her breakdancing routine.  She’d never done much of it and so it wasn’t very polished but made up for it in enthusiasm.  She jumped, spun and even did a four-legged split in mid-air.  By this time, Daddy was laughing so hard they were afraid he’d fall off the couch.  Peep finished with one complicated jump and landed winded in a heap on the floor.  All three cats then stood up, faced Daddy and bowed.  Daddy very properly applauded them.  “I never knew you three were such talented dancers.  I didn’t recognize the music, but you all sang beautifully.  He stood up and petted all three of them for several minutes and then walked into his office, still laughing. 

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdjackson/2526427851/

When the Mommy called later he told them of the cats’ escapades.  “I was feeling kind of down.  It’s too hot and I didn’t get any work calls today – I was just bummed out.  Then all three cats came in, started caterwauling and dancing.  I swear they were doing the monkey, and I haven’t seen that dance in decades.  Then Rudy and LT did some sort of slow dance and finally Peep did breakdancing with LT providing rhythm.  No clue what the music was, but it sounded appropriate for what they were doing.  I’ve been laughing ever since.  Boy, I wish I’d had a video camera for that.  No one but Ande will ever believe this one!”

Listening to the conversation, Peep was glad they’d made the Daddy happy, but how in the world did he not know those songs?  Maybe the Run DMC wasn’t his style, but she was sure he knew the Beach Boys and Andy Williams.  In any case, at least he wasn’t sad now.