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I dragged out to the kitchen after a "feed me" call from Lindsey at about 1:30 a.m. He slips into the bedroom, stands at the side of the bed, and nips at my elbow. A crowd of cats materialized immediately to take advantage of the moment. A bit of Max in one dish, some Science Diet in another. Then Buster's dish goes into his favorite spot on the front steps. Stagger back to bed. Hope for the best. But the sleep deprivation experiment continued after what was probably less than a half hour, when Buster reappeared in the bedroom and immediately jumped onto the dresser and let out a yowl, which was much magnified by the hour. The source of his anguish? A desire to be placed onto a safe portion of the bed where he happily resumed his nap, while I struggled to resume mine. |
 Lindsey at rest. |
Next was Leo. Probably around 3:30 a.m. Ready to play and no one to play with, so he decided to dissect the telephone cord and lamp right behind the bed. So I'm up again, grabbing a wiggling wildcat for the short run to the bathroom. Drop, slam door, back to bed.
Leo's no slouch on the complaining front, however, and he soon let us know that solitary confinement was not the way he wanted to start the day. Eventually the sounds of claws on door got Meda's attention, and after a suitable interval she assumed a chastened Leo would emerge. So this time she got up to open the bathroom door.
Zap! He may have beaten her back to the phone cord. At least it seemed that way. The alarm clock crashed to the floor, the phone's handset fell to the bed, and Leo was one happy cat.
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By now it was 4:45 a.m. I give up, head for the living room, Leo at my heels. Just another day in Kaaawa. Another half hour, and the sounds of cats fighting send me towards the front of the yard, where Lindsey is squared off with Blackie, who lives two houses down the street and shares the road. Lindsey must outweigh Blackie by two pounds or more, but by the time I reach the scene he's in hyperventilation-mode, totally wound up and far into an adrenaline high. I scoop him up and head back inside, depositing him into the same bathroom for a time out that eventually stretched for several hours. By 9 a.m. the cats were all asleep, and had been for at least an hour. No one said life was fair.
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