December 21st

 

Clementine and Ursula headed for bed at their usual time on this evening. Tonight’s visitor was Gluggagægir, also known as the window-peeper. Unlike Peeping Toms, this guy was looking for things to steal, but Pamela made sure every curtain and blind in the house was shut each night as it started to get dark. They might not get a treat or gift, but at least they wouldn’t worry about a troll snooping at the window.

BC and Sparky on the other hand had rooms full of windows without curtains. The living room was glass on three sides with only a curtain on the side where the sun shown in the afternoon. The kitchen had only a valence over the windows for decoration and the bathroom window had no curtain at all. There were curtains in the bedroom, and Sparky decided she’d head in there as soon as it got dark. She did not want to see a spooky face at the window peering in at her.

The cats had enjoyed last night’s baby hot dogs very much, and hoped tonight maybe there would be tiny hamburgers. It wasn’t quite barbeque weather, although the daddy grilled even in the snow sometimes. BC had fallen asleep on the sofa and was dreaming about tiny hot dogs with legs and tails invading the house. They didn’t have eyes, so they bumped into walls and furniture and couldn’t run very fast so BC was chasing them down and biting them in half, except there were too many of them.  There were dozens of pieces of hot dogs littering the kitchen and living room when a noise work BC up. He shook his head and decided that perhaps they hadn’t agreed with his digestive system and had come back to haunt him. He looked around to try to find what window tonight’s Jólasveinarnir was peering through. All of them so far had been pretty sizable, even Stúfur, who was just shorter than the rest. None of the windows had a largish silhouette outside, so BC sat quietly, waiting for the troll to show himself. Finally, he heard a scratching noise at the window near the head of the couch. That one was right next to the fence by the laundry room. BC eased his head above the arm of the couch, as that would put him within a foot or two from that window. There was no silhouette, although he could see a pair of shining eyes just above the bottom of the window. Maybe this troll was even shorter than Stúfur. BC eased up onto the arm of the couch, leaning toward the window and found himself face to face with a raccoon. Since neither had expected to see the other they both screamed. The raccoon lost his grip on the window frame and fell to the ground and BC pitched forward onto the tile floor, landing in a very undignified sprawl.

From behind him BC heard a low laugh. “Ah, you were expecting one of us Jólasveinarnir and instead found a trash bandit! The expression on your faces was priceless.” BC ignored Gluggagægir and started grooming to get his fur back where it belonged. No cat likes to be caught being less than graceful, and to be called out on it is inexcusable. 

Seeing he would not be answered, Gluggagægir placed a laser pointer on the table by the couch and left a second one in a sneaker. He had it on good authority from one of the seniors at Destiny’s Bridge that cats loved to chase laser pointers. He wasn’t quite sure how, as they were kind of long and lumpy, but the old woman seemed to know what she was talking about. He hoped the cats would enjoy them.