Lovelorn

Peep was restless this afternoon. She walked from room to room, looking under furniture, poking into narrow spaces and piles of papers and burrowing into blankets. By the time Rudy came in for an a snack, the house looked like it had been searched by a team of professional thieves.

"What's with you today, Peep? You're pacing like a caged tiger and the house is a mess. I know the Daddy didn't do this - he's been gone all day." Rudy settled down in her favorite spot on the couch, after pulling her special afghan back where it belonged.

"Rudy - have you ever been in love?" Peep didn't look at Rudy when she asked this. She stared at a spot on the floor, as though it might burst into flame at any moment.

"Love, me? I don't think so. Well, I loved my cat mother, and I love the Mommy and Daddy, but that's different." Rudy gave Peep a sharp look. "Are you in love, Peep?"

"No, I'm not in love, but isn't it a bit odd that I'm an all-grown up cat, and I've never been in love? I mean I know I can't have kittens because of Tibet, but I could still fall in love, couldn't I?" Peep continued to stare at that spot on the floor, but now she was wiggling a little in embarrassment.

Rudy looked carefully at the Peep. "Is there somecat you'd like to be in love with?" She searched her memory for cats that they knew that maybe Peep had a crush on.

"Nope. I just wish I could be in love. Look at Mommy and Daddy. They love each other so much. They do things for each other, and care about each other, and miss the other when one is away. I wish I had someone special like that." Peep gave up staring at the floor and flopped on the floor bonelessly.

"Hey love isn't all that, Peep. You watch TV - remember the time that Mommy fell asleep and Jerry Springer came on? Those people said they loved each other, but all they did was scream about how lousy the other person had been." Rudy searched her memory for other tails of bad love. "And sometimes on that show that Mommy loves, Saving Grace, bad things happen when people love each other. I do like that show...."

Peep sighed. Last summer she'd seen how much LT and Ginger cared about each other, and she wanted that for herself. She wondered if something was wrong with her - she'd never even had anyone ask her out on a date. Then again - did cats date? She wasn't sure. LT and Ginger didn't go out on dates, but she had been busy with her new kittens.

"For one thing, Peep, you spend most of your time in the house. How are you going to meet anyone other than us if you spend most of your time in here? It's not like anyone but Fuzzy comes in, and he's your brother!" Rudy did have a point there.

"But it's scary out there, Rudy. Fuzzy chases me, and there's cars and big animals and who knows what. Anyway, I see other cats at the Cat Club meeting every Friday." Thus far, she hadn't fallen in love with any of them, but she hadn't considered then as possible suitors. "Maybe I just need to get to know those guys better. Who knows, maybe one of them has a grand passion for me, and is too shy to show it?"

Rudy doubted that, as the other cats in the Cat Club, the males at least, were a pretty rowdy bunch, and didn't keep anything inside. "Well, who knows, Peep. Keep your eyes open, and maybe love will find you. It's not like you can chase it like you can the bullfrog." With that wisdom, Rudy shut her eyes, signaling that it was time for a nap.

Peep thought about that. She didn't want to be seen as some brazen hussy, chasing the male cats around. She'd keep her eyes open though. The love of her life might be out there somewhere, just waiting for her.


Photo courtesy of Evan Ravitz - http://www.flickr.com/photos/vote/42911929/

Turnips - internships?

Peep and Miss Rudy sat in the living room discussing the Mommy’s absence. At least this year they knew what was going on, so neither was worried that she’d never come home again. Still, her being gone from Sunday to Friday every week wasn’t going to be fun.

Laughing, Peep said, “We won’t have to plant turnips this year, at least.”

“Okay, so I misunderstood her. Internship, turnips. They sound similar, and besides, I didn’t know what an internship was, so I guess my brain just found a word I did know that sounded right. Come to think of it, why did my brain know turnips? I’m a carnivore.” Rudy shook her head.

“It’s okay, Rudy. It was a lot of fun to watch the Mommy and Daddy try to figure out where all the turnips came from. I didn’t know that there were so many different ways to cook turnips. Mashed turnips, turnips au gratin, pickled turnips, creamy turnip soup, glazed turnips…. “ Peep shuddered. It wouldn’t have been bad if the Mommy didn’t keep trying to feed it to them. She never wanted to see another turnip as long as she lived.

“Mommy will be back every weekend. That’s one paw and one claw, counted every morning when we wake up.” Last summer Peep had learned how to count, creating what was probably the first and only cat counting system. Four claws made a paw, four paws made a cat, four cats made a house, and four houses made the world. After further consideration, she wondered about that last one though. Between the cats she knew and had heard about, there were probably more cats in the world than that.

Both cats were worried about the Daddy, though. He didn’t like it when the Mommy went away like this. He got sad, even with all the attention the cats gave him. He did seem to be working a lot though. Maybe that would keep him from missing the Mommy so much.

“Do you think we need to do something special for Daddy today, Rudy?”

“Hmmm, I don’t think so, Peep, other than making sure that one of us is around all the time when he’s home. He didn’t like it when we brought him mice and bunnies, and when we decorated the house, he thought it was a mess. We just need to make sure we love him a lot.” Rudy was practical. Last year Peep had come up with lots of schemes, most of which hadn’t helped at all. The Daddy had just needed to do a lot of cleaning when it came down to it.

“Well, places to go, people to see, squirrels to catch. See you later, Peep.” Rudy headed out the cat door to begin her day, leaving Peep to keep the Daddy company when he came home.

Peep sighed. She was glad that Mommy would come home every weekend, but still thought that she’d miss her every day she was away.


Photo courtesy of Julie - http://www.flickr.com/photos/yoursecretadmiral/3245161653/

Alone again...naturally

As Jason walked from his radio room back to the house he heard Peep crying. She wailed in varying tones, and each one grated on his nerves. It had been a hard enough day and now Peep sounded as though either she was being tortured or her heart was breaking. Since Mary Rose had left for Maryland that morning, Jay figured that it was the latter, but he didn’t really want to deal with a heartbroken cat right now.

Miss Rudy had abandoned the house and was lying by the pond, hoping for a frog to come by and distract her, and LT was off who knows where. Peep was alone in the house and she was obviously miserable. Jay found her sitting in the middle of the bed, howling.

He sat down next to her pulled her onto his lap. “What’s wrong, Peep? You’re going to wake up anyone asleep within a three-mile radius.”

Looking him straight in the face, Peep began singing again. “In a little while from now, if I’m not feeling any less sour, I promise myself to treat myself and visit a nearby tower…”

Jay began petting her. “I don’t know what’s wrong, Peep. Are you hurt? Hungry? Sick? What can I do to make you stop crying?”

Peep kept on singing. “Leaving me to doubt talk about God and His mercy, or if He really does exist why did He desert me. In my hour of need I truly am indeed - alone again, naturally.”

Picking Peep up, Jay brought her into the living room and settled on the couch, hoping that a change of scene would quiet Peep, but Peep just started singing the song again from the top. It suited her mood right now. The Daddy liked to listen to old radio shows and music from when he was younger, and Peep had heard this song on the WABC MusicRadio Saturday night show a few weeks ago. The tune was catchy, but the lyrics were awfully maudlin, Peep had thought when she’d first heard it, but tonight they fit her mood perfectly. “Alone again, naturally,” she warbled, ending the song for the second time.

Rudy burst in through the cat door. “I can’t stand it anymore. Shut up, Peep. You’re not alone, and that stupid song is about a guy who got left standing at the altar and wants to kill himself. If you want to throw yourself a pity party, do it SILENTLY!” She jumped up on the couch and swatted at Peep’s head.

Either reacting too quickly or not quickly enough, Jay’s hand ended up between Peep’s claws and Rudy’s and he ended up with scratches on both sides of his hand, and gouges in his leg from Peep vaulting off his lap with claws out on all four feet.

“What is with you two tonight? Have you all been eating catnip? I’m going to wash the blood off my hand and go to bed. If you can’t be quiet, I’ll shut the door, turn on the fan and let you all fight it out.” Jay stomped off into the kitchen.

“See, Peep, you just made it worse. He’s sad enough because Mommy left, and now he’s mad at us on top of it.” Rudy decided to take the high moral ground, rather than consider if she had any part in Daddy getting hurt.

“Go suck an egg, Rudy. Mommy’s gone again and it’s going to be a long, hot, miserable summer with no Mommy.” Peep didn’t want to be consoled. She wanted to wallow in her misery, ignoring the fact that Mommy would be home on weekends.

“Fine, Peep. Be that way. Enjoy your pity party, but please, don’t sing. Daddy can’t understand what you’re singing anyway. People just think we’re crying or screaming when we sing, so it’s a waste of time, unless you’re just doing it to amuse yourself. But please, don’t. I need my beauty sleep.” Rudy jumped off the couch, tail held high and headed back outside.

Peep sat on the couch for a while, considering that. She’d never thought about people not being able to understand her singing. Hmm, it did make sense. She’d sung to the Mommy to cheer her up lots of times, and it always just made her more upset. Ah, well, Peep thought. I’ll just purr at them. They do understand that. She padded quietly into the bedroom, where the Daddy lay on the bed. She sprung up onto the mattress, meowed a greeting and examined his hand. It didn’t look too bad, but she gave it a healing lick, just to make sure and carefully climbed onto the Daddy’s chest and snuggled down to purr him to sleep.


Photo courtesy of PernilleLouise - http://www.flickr.com/photos/8372716@N03/1398800204/