Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Gaslighting the Cat

When I was in college, my mother had a part Siamese cat named Tamarama. Forrest used to pick Tamarama up, hold her in his arms on her back like a baby, look deeply into her eyes and intone, "Kaiser Foil is quilted, Kaiser Foil is quilted," and she would become hypnotised. She would lie quietly on her back until he put her down -- for however long he wanted to hold her.

Years later, when Julie and Richard were in high school, we had a dog, Samantha, a Siamese cat, Sheba, another cat, Evenrude, various hamsters, and about 45 tropical fish. Julie discovered that she could sit and make a peculiar caterwauling sound with her mouth not moving but open and Sheba would stand on her chest and look into her mouth (putting her little face right inside) to see what on earth was making that noise. Because this was so funny, Julie did it a lot. Until the day that Sheba decided she had amused Julie as much as she was going to and, instead of looking in Julie's mouth, marched over and scratched Samantha's nose.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's nothing like a story about good-natured cat tormenting to bring a smile to my face. I love cats, but sometimes they just bring out the ornery in a person.

J said...

Poor Sheba! Poor Samantha! That sure was funny, though!

Ally, you might like my brother's favorite holiday...cat flinging day! It's the day he and his wife throw the cats out into the snow, and laugh at the disgusted looks on their faces as they pick their way into the house, pretending like snow isn't just frozen water, and therefore getting them wet. :)

Bugwalk said...

Very cute!

kenju said...

That's very funny and I can picture it - but I have to know what Samantha did about it!?

Maya's Granny said...

Samantha sat there, like the patient dog she was, and looked hurt.