Peep’s first day home alone was very long. The Mommy and Daddy were gone until early afternoon and came home with lots of stuff from the flea market. There was a cute new shower curtain with birdhouses and bugs and the Mommy put it up right away. There were also a couple bird cages, which really worried Peep. Just because Rudy and LT were away there was no reason to replace them with birds. They were coming back, right? Maybe the Mommy knew something Peep didn’t – maybe they weren’t coming back and she’d be sent off on some trip so the humans could have birds instead of cats. Maybe they were tired of cats.
Peep lay down and buried her head in the sofa pillows. She didn’t want to hear any conversations about birds and birdfeed and bird toys. She wanted her friends back. Lying with your head buried under a pillow is a recipe for sleep, so Peep woke hours later wondering why her head was under a pillow. She pulled it out and saw the birdcage on the kitchen table and remembered. Birds. They’d probably get…parakeets. Stupid little birds that couldn’t live in the wilds of New Jersey. She did a double take – there was a bird in the cage already. How long had she been asleep? Had they bought the birds at the flea market too?
Peep slithered to the floor and stalked the interloper bird. She probably shouldn’t kill it, but maybe she could frighten it to death and the Mommy would decide that cats lived longer and she should keep the cats instead. The bird didn’t seem to notice her approach so Peep leapt onto the kitchen table with a furious howl. The bird didn’t move, so Peep hissed and spit, making feints with her claws at the cage.
Laughter erupted from the Mommy in the hallway. “It’s not a real bird, Peep. It’s just a decoration. I bought the cages because I thought they’d look nice for summer.” Peep sat back and examined the bird. Well, now that she saw it up close it was obvious that it wasn’t a real bird. For goodness sake, its eyes were made out of yarn and it was felted wool and had no feathers. She reached her paw through the wire and poked it, just to make sure. Yup, fake.
Deciding some artful distraction was in order, Peep jumped to the floor, ran into the living room and tackled a sofa pillow. She growled at it, disemboweled it and threw it on the floor and then ran outside. That would completely confuse the Mommy and make stalking a felt bird seem normal. At least this humiliation wasn’t witnessed by Rudy. She wished she could use a camera. She’d take a picture of the darn bird and send it to Rudy saying that it was her replacement.
She climbed to her favorite spot on the peak of the roof. It was a great vantage point and had the added benefit that Fuzzy wouldn’t come up here, since he was afraid of heights. As she watched, large grey clouds moved in and she heard distant thunder. She scrambled to the edge of the roof and jumped down. While on the roof she was the highest point around and she didn’t want to test any theories regarding the electric conductivity of cats.
She snuggled the Mommy who was ready to head down to Mary Land and then watched as both the humans left again. The Daddy took his truck, so she knew he wasn’t going with her, plus he told her he’d be back in an hour or so. Peep headed to the office to compose an email to Rudy and LT.
What should she say? She didn’t want to admit to being lonely or fooled by a fake bird. She didn’t want to make it seem like life was better without them. After starting and discarding several emails she decided to report on the day and leave it at that. Oh, and say she hoped they were having a good time. That took most of an hour, and Peep headed off to the bed for a nap. It surely was going to be a long month.
Peep lay down and buried her head in the sofa pillows. She didn’t want to hear any conversations about birds and birdfeed and bird toys. She wanted her friends back. Lying with your head buried under a pillow is a recipe for sleep, so Peep woke hours later wondering why her head was under a pillow. She pulled it out and saw the birdcage on the kitchen table and remembered. Birds. They’d probably get…parakeets. Stupid little birds that couldn’t live in the wilds of New Jersey. She did a double take – there was a bird in the cage already. How long had she been asleep? Had they bought the birds at the flea market too?
Peep slithered to the floor and stalked the interloper bird. She probably shouldn’t kill it, but maybe she could frighten it to death and the Mommy would decide that cats lived longer and she should keep the cats instead. The bird didn’t seem to notice her approach so Peep leapt onto the kitchen table with a furious howl. The bird didn’t move, so Peep hissed and spit, making feints with her claws at the cage.
Laughter erupted from the Mommy in the hallway. “It’s not a real bird, Peep. It’s just a decoration. I bought the cages because I thought they’d look nice for summer.” Peep sat back and examined the bird. Well, now that she saw it up close it was obvious that it wasn’t a real bird. For goodness sake, its eyes were made out of yarn and it was felted wool and had no feathers. She reached her paw through the wire and poked it, just to make sure. Yup, fake.
Deciding some artful distraction was in order, Peep jumped to the floor, ran into the living room and tackled a sofa pillow. She growled at it, disemboweled it and threw it on the floor and then ran outside. That would completely confuse the Mommy and make stalking a felt bird seem normal. At least this humiliation wasn’t witnessed by Rudy. She wished she could use a camera. She’d take a picture of the darn bird and send it to Rudy saying that it was her replacement.
She climbed to her favorite spot on the peak of the roof. It was a great vantage point and had the added benefit that Fuzzy wouldn’t come up here, since he was afraid of heights. As she watched, large grey clouds moved in and she heard distant thunder. She scrambled to the edge of the roof and jumped down. While on the roof she was the highest point around and she didn’t want to test any theories regarding the electric conductivity of cats.
She snuggled the Mommy who was ready to head down to Mary Land and then watched as both the humans left again. The Daddy took his truck, so she knew he wasn’t going with her, plus he told her he’d be back in an hour or so. Peep headed to the office to compose an email to Rudy and LT.
What should she say? She didn’t want to admit to being lonely or fooled by a fake bird. She didn’t want to make it seem like life was better without them. After starting and discarding several emails she decided to report on the day and leave it at that. Oh, and say she hoped they were having a good time. That took most of an hour, and Peep headed off to the bed for a nap. It surely was going to be a long month.
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