Bliss Kitty and Mouse

Once upon a time I loved reading and even sometimes writing in bed, but because I am a terrible disciplinarian, and a complete pushover, Bliss Kitty and her brother Mouse will not allow it.

Every time I start to read or write one of two things happens. Slippers (aka Bliss Kitty) comes to get petted and drool or Razzi (Mouse) comes over to meow at me and play a game of cat and mouse. I’m the cat and he’s the mouse.

I start to pet him, he moves away with the expectation that my rubber arm will stretch across feet of bed to follow him. He looks at me with a disdainful stare as I try to explain that my body cannot do what he wants. He’s been doing this several years now. Either he’s an eternal optimist or somehow brain damaged.

Besides expecting my arm to magically grow in order to follow him around (I am sure he really does think this can happen and I’m just holding out – maybe he dreamt it and is waiting for the manifestation), Razzi has another interesting personality trait. Whenever I pet his sister Slippers, he turns away and faces the wall as if he is too embarrassed to observe what is happening, or as if he wants to give us privacy, or I suppose he could be showing his annoyance that she is the object of my affection because he is, after all, a cat, and expressing annoyance is part of their gig.

When I give up and go back to my book he shows up again until I begin to pet him and he begins to move away expecting my arm to compliantly grow. If he gives up, Slippers decides that it’s her turn and rubs her head against my book, effectively knocking it out of my hand so that the only thing I can do is pet her.

I began to worry because within minutes of compliantly petting her head or stomach there would be a steady stream of drool pouring out of her smiling mouth. Nervous, I looked this up on line, thanks be to Google, and discovered that when cats drool, if it’s not a sign of illness, it’s a sign of, that’s right, bliss. Therefore Bliss Kitty. How can I deny making another living creature feel so good?

Once upon a time, in an attempt to find a way to pet and read, I found a surprising method of petting Slippers. I grab her, flip her around to lay her on her back – a feat that is actually amazing because this is a cat who is really quite skittish and likes to be petted or handled only if it is her express desire at the moment – and I pet her neck and stomach. She wraps her sweet little Bliss Kitty paws around my arm as she purrs and drools. Sometimes when I get ready to grab her she’ll run away from me until I am focused again on my book at which time she is back for more. She NEVER gets tired of this and will do it for hours if I let her.

The bed is their domain. This is sad, I know, but for as long as I’m single, I have to admit that when I wake up in the morning and the two of them are curled up on the bed, sometimes snuggling together, and sometimes at opposite ends, I feel an instantaneous joy.

So here I am at almost 2 in the morning, writing at my desk because my bed is just for sleeping and nurturing animals.

copyright 2010 Nancy Grossman-Samuel