Ursula and Tatum watched in amusement as the yarn lady (or Ande or Andrea or Mommy depending on who you were) buzzed around the kitchen. She was measuring and mixing and pouring and smooshing stuff. She stepped in a food dish, turning its contents upside down on the kitchen floor, and she barely stopped to clean up the mess before she started her mixing and measuring and whatever again.
Finally she turned on the oven and put half of what she’d been making into its hot mouth and sat down to take a breather. “Half-way there kitties. Maybe one-third if I consider the clean-up. I don’t know why baking take so many bowls.” Even then she didn’t rest much. She started organizing things, muttering to herself about what she’d need on her trip.
This was the first the kitties had heard of a trip. She’d tripped a couple days ago, almost falling on Tatum, but that hadn’t seemed to require any planning at all. She just walked out from the back hall, caught her foot on something and down she went. Tatum thought personally that perhaps if she had done some planning she might not have tripped.
As she continued to mutter about clothes and phone chargers and books Tatum realized that it was the kind of trip where you leave and go away somewhere. This could be a problem. If all of the humans went away, who would provide squishy food and water for Ursula and Tatum? It was true that Tatum had thumbs, but he couldn’t open the cans of squishy food.
Tatum consulted with Ursula about this potentially momentous problem. “Do you think they would leave us all by ourselves? I thought they loved us! I mean, sometimes a vole will come inside, but I’ve only seen two in all the time I’ve been here, and we couldn’t both live on voles anyway.”
“I don’t know, Tatum. I’ve been here since last summer, and the one time all the humans left they took me over to the English Lady’s house. She’s the nice one who fed me with a bottle when I was just a baby kitten. I haven’t heard them talking about taking us anywhere, though.”
Tatum shuddered. He did not want to leave this house, even to go to visit some nice English lady. The yarn lady finished her baking and started up packing her suitcase, still muttering about clothes and chargers and books. She packed up some knitting, and by that Tatum knew she’d be gone for more than a few hours. There was enough yarn to keep her going for days.
Deciding he needed to get to the bottom of this, Tatum jumped onto the bed and carefully climbed into the suitcase. He trusted the yarn lady not to close him in, and besides, she’d have to squish him, because there was a lot of stuff in the suitcase. “Tatum, I know you like to lie on nice soft clothes, but I need to close this up soon. Pam and I have to be ready to go in the morning. Don’t worry, Bob will feed you, and hopefully even give you water and crunchies.”
Tatum stood up and butted his head against the yarn lady’s hand. Oh, that was a relief. They wouldn’t be left to fend for themselves. And his beloved Daddy would be the one who would stay. Tatum found a soft spot on the bed that wasn’t full of suitcase and curled up for a nap. He fell asleep dreaming of quiet days with just the Daddy for company.
Finally she turned on the oven and put half of what she’d been making into its hot mouth and sat down to take a breather. “Half-way there kitties. Maybe one-third if I consider the clean-up. I don’t know why baking take so many bowls.” Even then she didn’t rest much. She started organizing things, muttering to herself about what she’d need on her trip.
This was the first the kitties had heard of a trip. She’d tripped a couple days ago, almost falling on Tatum, but that hadn’t seemed to require any planning at all. She just walked out from the back hall, caught her foot on something and down she went. Tatum thought personally that perhaps if she had done some planning she might not have tripped.
As she continued to mutter about clothes and phone chargers and books Tatum realized that it was the kind of trip where you leave and go away somewhere. This could be a problem. If all of the humans went away, who would provide squishy food and water for Ursula and Tatum? It was true that Tatum had thumbs, but he couldn’t open the cans of squishy food.
Tatum consulted with Ursula about this potentially momentous problem. “Do you think they would leave us all by ourselves? I thought they loved us! I mean, sometimes a vole will come inside, but I’ve only seen two in all the time I’ve been here, and we couldn’t both live on voles anyway.”
“I don’t know, Tatum. I’ve been here since last summer, and the one time all the humans left they took me over to the English Lady’s house. She’s the nice one who fed me with a bottle when I was just a baby kitten. I haven’t heard them talking about taking us anywhere, though.”
Tatum shuddered. He did not want to leave this house, even to go to visit some nice English lady. The yarn lady finished her baking and started up packing her suitcase, still muttering about clothes and chargers and books. She packed up some knitting, and by that Tatum knew she’d be gone for more than a few hours. There was enough yarn to keep her going for days.
Deciding he needed to get to the bottom of this, Tatum jumped onto the bed and carefully climbed into the suitcase. He trusted the yarn lady not to close him in, and besides, she’d have to squish him, because there was a lot of stuff in the suitcase. “Tatum, I know you like to lie on nice soft clothes, but I need to close this up soon. Pam and I have to be ready to go in the morning. Don’t worry, Bob will feed you, and hopefully even give you water and crunchies.”
Tatum stood up and butted his head against the yarn lady’s hand. Oh, that was a relief. They wouldn’t be left to fend for themselves. And his beloved Daddy would be the one who would stay. Tatum found a soft spot on the bed that wasn’t full of suitcase and curled up for a nap. He fell asleep dreaming of quiet days with just the Daddy for company.
Photo courtesy of Liz West - http://www.flickr.com/photos/calliope/5371166/
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