The Bump-in-the-Nighters
Cats. My favorite animal. I have four, and they each have a different personality and are accordingly, easier or harder to get along with. Or with each other. Alliances are formed, fronts are set, a scapegoat is found, and peace then comes round again.
Tigresa was a misnomer from the beginning. She's more of a paper tiger. She is a very shy cat, greyish with other colors, between tiger and calico, and usually becomes the scapegoat of our little feline world. Though at other times she and the others will make up and they will curl up and sleep together. Any sudden little noise while she's awake and she is suddenly on the lookout, waiting to see if it's fight or flight. While she's asleep, be careful how you awaken her. She may suddenly jump up and skedaddle. I'm the only one she trusts. Even so, if I startle her, she makes sure it's me before she relaxes again.
Matrionuxca (or Nuxca, the x pronounced sh) is the boss. She's just a week younger than Tigresa (they're both ten) but she is the orange and white cat-in-chief. She generally deals the blows and forms the alliances. She's not at all shy. She will come in while I'm giving class, jump on the table, lie down and roll over a few times, inviting people to rub her tummy and scratch her nose. She's the most talkative and inquisitive. If I'm talking on the phone, she'll come and start talking herself. Sometimes, the person on the phone can also hear her. If someone is talking loudly, she'll come and give her two cents. If someone looks at her and says hello, she'll say hello back.
Anton is the delinquent. He's a cross between a Siamese and a regular European short-hair cat, white with patches of brown. My daughter said he had a face like a raccoon's when he was a kitten. He's big and takes advantage of that to bully others. His blue eyes will search out any bug that may be in the room, which he will proceed to chase until he catches it or it goes out of range. He has a thing for bookbags. Some students leave theirs on the floor, and he
comes, lies down on them and takes a nap there. There are some days he goes insane and starts running up and down, in a room and out, mrrrrowing all the time with a peculiar voice. After lunch, he know exactly what time it is and will start asking people to play with him. There's a stick he loves to follow, and will gladly go dizzy running in circles after it.
Macarena is similar in color to Tigresa, but she has more fur. Somewhere in her ancestry there must have been a Persian. The good part is that her fur is easy to care for. She's my daughter's friend. When my daughter is here on the weekends, Macarena is usually by her side and sometimes sleeps with her. If my daughter is sitting down, Macarena will try to crawl onto her lap and generally succeeds. She has a little voice and generally speaks up to ask me for food or to say hello to my daughter. She's shy, though not as much as Tigresa, who acts as if she's scared for her life. Sometimes, she'll come and let a student pet her, but only if she's feeling very gregarious.
At least with these four delincuents, when I hear bumps in the night, I know it's not a thief trying to get in. However, I have heard awful noises sometimes. Early in the morning, a few too many times, I have heard a plate or a glass shatter in the kitchen. I come running down, turn on the light, and two or three pairs of eyes look at me, as if saying, "We didn't do it! We just came to see what the problem was, too!" Other times I've woken up with a weight on my chest. Thinking it might be my asthma, I try to get up to get my inhaler, and I discover it's a mechanical problem, generally named Nuxca, sometimes Tigresa, other nights Anton, though never Macarena.
When I come back from having gone on errands, one or more of them always come to greet me, even if it's only to ask for food. One thing they never do is fawn on me absolutely. They are not slaves. They show love, but we are not the only thing in life for them. They know that the most important things are a full food bowl and a warm, comfy place to sleep. And friends. And we happen to be their friends.
Tigresa was a misnomer from the beginning. She's more of a paper tiger. She is a very shy cat, greyish with other colors, between tiger and calico, and usually becomes the scapegoat of our little feline world. Though at other times she and the others will make up and they will curl up and sleep together. Any sudden little noise while she's awake and she is suddenly on the lookout, waiting to see if it's fight or flight. While she's asleep, be careful how you awaken her. She may suddenly jump up and skedaddle. I'm the only one she trusts. Even so, if I startle her, she makes sure it's me before she relaxes again.
Matrionuxca (or Nuxca, the x pronounced sh) is the boss. She's just a week younger than Tigresa (they're both ten) but she is the orange and white cat-in-chief. She generally deals the blows and forms the alliances. She's not at all shy. She will come in while I'm giving class, jump on the table, lie down and roll over a few times, inviting people to rub her tummy and scratch her nose. She's the most talkative and inquisitive. If I'm talking on the phone, she'll come and start talking herself. Sometimes, the person on the phone can also hear her. If someone is talking loudly, she'll come and give her two cents. If someone looks at her and says hello, she'll say hello back.
Anton is the delinquent. He's a cross between a Siamese and a regular European short-hair cat, white with patches of brown. My daughter said he had a face like a raccoon's when he was a kitten. He's big and takes advantage of that to bully others. His blue eyes will search out any bug that may be in the room, which he will proceed to chase until he catches it or it goes out of range. He has a thing for bookbags. Some students leave theirs on the floor, and he comes, lies down on them and takes a nap there. There are some days he goes insane and starts running up and down, in a room and out, mrrrrowing all the time with a peculiar voice. After lunch, he know exactly what time it is and will start asking people to play with him. There's a stick he loves to follow, and will gladly go dizzy running in circles after it.
Macarena is similar in color to Tigresa, but she has more fur. Somewhere in her ancestry there must have been a Persian. The good part is that her fur is easy to care for. She's my daughter's friend. When my daughter is here on the weekends, Macarena is usually by her side and sometimes sleeps with her. If my daughter is sitting down, Macarena will try to crawl onto her lap and generally succeeds. She has a little voice and generally speaks up to ask me for food or to say hello to my daughter. She's shy, though not as much as Tigresa, who acts as if she's scared for her life. Sometimes, she'll come and let a student pet her, but only if she's feeling very gregarious.At least with these four delincuents, when I hear bumps in the night, I know it's not a thief trying to get in. However, I have heard awful noises sometimes. Early in the morning, a few too many times, I have heard a plate or a glass shatter in the kitchen. I come running down, turn on the light, and two or three pairs of eyes look at me, as if saying, "We didn't do it! We just came to see what the problem was, too!" Other times I've woken up with a weight on my chest. Thinking it might be my asthma, I try to get up to get my inhaler, and I discover it's a mechanical problem, generally named Nuxca, sometimes Tigresa, other nights Anton, though never Macarena.
When I come back from having gone on errands, one or more of them always come to greet me, even if it's only to ask for food. One thing they never do is fawn on me absolutely. They are not slaves. They show love, but we are not the only thing in life for them. They know that the most important things are a full food bowl and a warm, comfy place to sleep. And friends. And we happen to be their friends.
It was lovely to meet your family. Yesterday there was a program on cats in families and neighborhoods and how they conduct themselves. This is the sequel.
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