Uncool, Weird Ramblings

And now a short intermission to talk about cats

This is our cat, Tori. She rolls up to the back door every morning and again in the afternoon about three times a week, meowing and tapping on the window. Don’t be fooled. She does not want to come in.

In the morning, she is meowing for food. But not food for her. Food for our other cat, who waits like a purr queen at the bowl around the corner and out of sight. Tori prefers the meat from tiny voles or birds, sometimes a light snack of moth.

Tori’s nickname is Slinks, because if you try to touch her, she edges just out of the way so you hover hand her like a photo shoot with a celebrity.

If you do manage to touch her, she gives you stink-eye. She is not down with that cuddly stuff. She is Cat!

The reason Tori has called you out with incessant meowing is because she wants to pet you. She worries we are not getting enough love. You must stand perfectly still while she does this. Don’t get bored and go inside, or she’ll howl at the door until you return. Don’t try to reciprocate, she will slink. She will do the ritual of circling you thirteen times while petting you with her head. Because you need love to live. Or maybe because she needs to establish that she is the caretaker around these parts.

Sometimes you will catch a vulnerable expression on her face, like after all the petting she has done for you, her tough exterior might finally be cracking and she, too, could accept a pet.

But if you try, she will leave without so much as a cat fart in your direction, and she will go scout the perimeter.

3 thoughts on And now a short intermission to talk about cats

  1. Love this — cat is my spirit animal : ) I respect the love me/leave me alone dynamic and find that catnip is the key to moments of (temporary) adoration/bliss. I also like to nap., so we have that in common.

  2. I don’t know why I’m so charmed by your comment on the Tori post, but I’ve read your note about 5 times. Sometimes I don’t respond right away because I know when I do, I have to let go of the original comment, and so I selfishly mark it unread so I get to read it again. I love that you love Tori! I feel like she’s so tough, she needs internet guardian angels sending her good vibes for her lonely heart.

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