Obsession bordering on addiction?

It was a beautiful afternoon.  Peep and LT were outside enjoying the weather.  Peep lounged in her favorite spot in the back yard, and LT prowled around checking to be sure there were no new bee or wasp nests anywhere in the yard.  After all the rain both cats felt they’d have to be nuts to be inside on a day like this.  

As LT completed his circuit of the yard, he wondered where Rudy might be.  She usually let someone know if she was leaving the property, and she wasn’t anywhere in the yard he could find her.  He walked up onto the deck and stuck his head in the cat door and noticed Rudy watching TV.  She didn’t even notice he’d put his head through the door, which was unusual.  They all kept an eye on the door when inside, in case Fuzzy tried to come in.  

LT backed out and trudged over to where Peep was sunning.  “Rudy’s at it again.  It’s a beautiful day, and she’s glued to the boob tube watching that stupid story.”  Peep thought a moment and replied, “Well, at least she’s not watching in the middle of the night and waking Daddy up if she hits the volume control too many times.”  

“My concern is not so much that she’ll wake up Daddy, although that wouldn’t be good.  I really think this obsession with a show about humans is not healthy for Rudy.  She wasn’t on a quest for a ‘soul mate’ until after she started watching it.  Cats don’t have soul mates.  We have friends and then there are mates, and although it’s nice to be friends with your kitten’s sire, it’s more a matter of breeding than compatibility.  And Rudy can’t have kittens anyway, so I don’t know what the big deal is.”

“So, what should we do, LT?  Do we talk to her and ask her not to watch it?  Unplug the TV?  Tie her up so she can’t watch?  I can’t see any way she’d give up this show!   Peep had tried talking to Rudy about it several times, and all she got was a detailed synopsis of the plot elements.  

“I’m going to just go ask her what’s up, and see how she acts.”  LT casually walked into the living room as the show ended and asked her what was going on.  At first Rudy was very defensive, but when she realized LT was just being friendly she launched into a frenzied summary of what was going on with her two favorite characters.

“Oh, it’s just these pregnancies of Natalie and Jessica.  Both pregnant at the same time, both not sure who the father is.  And Jessica, who has Hepatitis C is afraid that her baby’s father might be Ford, who is really a very not nice person.  Natalie’s baby’s father might be the mate of her sister Jessica, and she told him and he’s really worried about it.  And Natalie did something she shouldn’t have done in reconstructing a photo that turned out to be Elijah or Bennett, whoever he really is.  I bet she’s going to get attacked because of this.  I just hope it doesn’t hurt the baby, although since she’s thought about getting an abortion, she might like that.  Oh, Brody and Jessica love each other so much just like John and Natalie.  I wish I had a relationship like that.”  Rudy finished with a sigh, and she put her head down on her paws gazing off into space.

LT shook his head.  “Rudy, if you could hear yourself you’d wonder about your sanity.  You just said how the two human females cheated on their mates, but you think they love each other so much.  It’s sick, Rudy, sick.  These are not healthy human relationships, and definitely not healthy cat relationships.  Cats know what is true about relationships.  A mother and her kittens, that’s true and healthy.  If the kittens’ father happens to be around, well okay he can help out, but it’s friends that count, Rudy, not mates.”

Rudy shook her head.  “What about you and Ginger?   You loved her, didn’t you?  Why can’t I have someone like that?”  That comment made LT stop and think.  He had loved Ginger very much and missed her.  He still thought wistfully of her sometimes, wishing her human hadn’t moved away.  LT hung his head and admitted to Rudy that yes, he had loved her, and he’d missed her a lot when she moved away.  He still didn’t think it was the same as this quest for a soul mate and told Rudy so.  

In the end they agreed to disagree, and both walked away dissatisfied.  Rudy knew she’d find her soul mate some day, and LT was truly convinced that Rudy’s obsession with this television show was bordering on addiction.  Not a physical one, but a mental addiction.  He needed to think more on what needed to be done to return Rudy to sanity.