Cat Tails: Moving???

Emma was snoozing on the yarn lady's bed on the very comfy down comforter. It was getting a little warm for the flannel cover on it, but it was still very cozy. As she'd drifted off to sleep an hour ago she'd thought that come summer it would be better if the yarn lady took off the heavy cover and just left the duvet on the bed.

She was awakened by the yarn lady saying as she walked into the bedroom, "Emma's going to miss me when I move." Although this was addressed to Val, it not only woke Emma up but startled her quite a bit. Move? What was the yarn lady talking about? Emma skipped her stretch and followed the yarn lady back into the living room. What was this all about?

"I'm not sure if it's me she's going to miss or my comforter. She sure likes sleeping on it." The yarn lady plopped down on the loveseat and opened her IPad to look up degrees of consanguinity. She wanted to figure out once and for all what the difference was between a first cousin, a second cousin and a first cousin once-removed.

A lively discussion followed between Val and the yarn lady about a diagram that tried to explain this concept. The yarn lady didn't get it at all, and even Val had a bit of trouble wrapping her brain around how it worked. Did you follow the diagram up, over and down or was it over, over and down and up only if you needed to go there. Too complicated. Emma tried to follow the discussion but decided that it was some silliness of humans. Cats didn't worry about such things. Either you were related or not - that was all that mattered, and it didn't even matter much, particularly since Val made sure that all the cats had been to Tibet for certain surgical procedures.

Emma sat and waited for further discussion on the topic of moving, but after consanguinity the conversation moved on to allergies, particularly those related to mold and roses. Since Emma was allergic only to large dogs that took exception to her being a cat she wandered off to find Buddy. Maybe he knew more about the yarn lady moving.

She found him snoring on the bed. Loudly. Frankly she was glad that she usually was asleep on the bed before Buddy came in at night. His snoring could keep someone with narcolepsy awake. She jumped on the bed and stomped around on the covers until he woke up, as it was not a good idea to wake him directly. He often responded to this with claws extended, and that could hurt.

"What do you know about the yarn lady moving? She said something about it tonight." Emma tried to look timid as she asked the question. No use in getting Buddy's fur in an uproar.

"You woke me up for that? Yeah, she's moving. Buying a place on Wednesday, and she'll be out by the end of the month. Next weekend I think. I'll miss her. This blanket has been to die for. Do you think our Mommy would buy us one like this?" Buddy yawned and stretched out to a length of almost two feet.

"Next weekend? No way - I just got to be friends with her. This is not fair. You've been sleeping in here with her for ages, and I just got in here a couple months ago. I want her to stay!" Emma ended with a cat wail.

"Hey, you coulda been in here a lot sooner. I waited a week or two just to make sure she wasn't some sort of sicko who would skin me in my sleep. You never know with boarders. And never mind. The Mommy's mother is probably coming to stay here this summer. We can sleep with her." Buddy didn't seem too concerned.

Emma slunk off and headed outside to think. This was not good news. Of course she could have made friends sooner, but she was a cautious little cat. She had watched the yarn lady for months, just to make sure she was good people. She'd turned out to be a person who could scratch Emma for longer that even she wanted, and that was saying something, since Emma would happily have her head and back scratched for a very long time. Perhaps she should stow away in the yarn lady's belongings and go with her. It bore thinking about.