Sunday, September 04, 2011

Adventures In Babysitting

Lex and I are currently fur kid watching for the bats who live in the belfry while they are "enjoying" a natural disaster-filled vacation (record-breaking temperatures, followed by tropical storm Lee, followed by tornadoes...Dudes, it's time to come home now...you know, where the weather appears to be sane and sadly predictable).

This is a huge responsibility and one we take quite seriously as, you may be aware, we treat our own fur kid like the pretty little princess he seems to think he is...even if he doesn't have a tu-tu and tiara.

In the belfry, there are 4 delightfully unique kitteh kings and queens...Nubian - the King of the Castle - whose grumpy old man face is decidedly a facade as he's just as much a lover as his sister, Pooka, the toothless wonder who's stolen my heart, Jetta, the nervous nellie who is in constant motion and Buddy, the ninja cat who won't come out no matter how much you want him to and who, instead, hides away the instant he hears the monkey chatter also known as people speak.

For the last several days, Lex and I have made the trek twice a day together to feed, pet, play with, and chit chat with the kids so they don't get too lonely. The first three, Nubian, Pooka, and Jetta, are all over this together time. We're usually greeted at the door by both Nubian and Pooka - both of whom know it's Pooka's wet food feeding time which means Nubian's getting one helluva clean up treat as soon as she's done - and will soon be joined by Jetta just as soon as we call her name.

But Buddy? Buddy's stubborn and apparently neurotic and wants nothing to do with the aforementioned monkey chatter or human contact outside of HIS humans.

We were catching glimpses of him as we'd enter the apartment, at least, until yesterday when he'd figured out the key in the door was not being turned by the ones he sought. Then? Then he took to hiding from us all the time and since we're not snoops and not privy to his especial hidey-holes, we were more than a little distressed that we hadn't been able to locate him since yesterday morning...

Until tonight.

Tonight, I went up by myself as Lex had just returned from work and a walk and needed some down time. So, I went up, petted and played with Nubian and Jetta while Pooka ate in her place of solace (aka the bathroom). I gave Pooka her after-dinner love time, and then sang them all a couple 'o numbers from my a cappella repertoire. And then, as I was saying good night to them all, Lex came to the door and said he wanted to spend a little time with the kids before they turned in for the evening. So he went in, I went out and that was that.

When Lex came back downstairs he said, "Well. I think we've dialed Buddy's number. When you left and I came in, he must have heard the door close and thought they were alone because he came out of #himself's room and sniffed around and even came and sniffed me".

Heh.

Silly ninja. Tricks are for kids.

So tomorrow? There will be an experiment. I will go up there as usual. Sing and chatter and play as usual. And then? Just when Buddy least expects it, I will pretend to leave, opening and closing the front door with a resounding CLICK but I will not leave in hopes that he'll poke his head out and then come sniff me.

I WILL make this cat love me. I will. If it's the last thing I do. You hear that, Buddy? Resistance is useless. Succumb to my wily cat charms. Nao.

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