Saturday, November 24, 2012

String

Kiki loves a good string to chase as much as any cat: to lurk, and pounce – “aha!” – and almost get it, as I tug the end past her flickering paws: a quick frenzied pursuit and then a pause, while she studies the terrain, pretends nonchalance, and then – suddenly – pounce, again!

But when she tires of the game she turns, tail twitching, and cuffs my hand. Usually, though not always, with her claws sheathed. Just letting me know that we're done pretending, that she knows it's my hand pulling the string, and that she'll tear it to bloody shreds if I don't quit. Kiki is not one of your mild-mannered cats.

Sometimes, after an illness, I have a similar sense of impatience with appearances, impatience with having my instincts trifled with. I don't know what hand is pulling the string exactly so as to capture my attention: but I know it doesn't move of itself, and I'm tired of the game.

6 comments:

rbarenblat said...

(o)

Zhoen said...

Drop the string. Moby just lays down on the ribbon when he's tired of playing.

Dale said...

Oh, it usually happens far faster than I can drop the string. This cat's cinema has ten frames for every one of mine :-)

Anonymous said...

Yes. That's precisely what it is to recover.

Unknown said...

Cat's are pretty clever. They easily sees that I'm the one tugging the strings. Aren't they smart? After, they just get tired of playing and moves on.
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Anne said...

I had a cat I adored who played tug of war with the string. Besides that she would fetch a ball of aluminum foil and drop it at my feet to be thrown again. Cats have wonderfully unique personalities.