I saw the towel before I saw anything else. It was on the counter, draped over something round, and I want it noted that my reaction was not an overreaction. That towel has a history. That towel has, on more than one occasion, meant the end of my claws as I know them, delivered via … Read more
It came off the counter sideways, which I want on record, because a fair drop is one thing and this was not a fair drop. She had a bag of them open on the counter, doing whatever it is she does with a knife and a cutting board when she’s making something involve apples, and … Read more
She came in through the front door at the usual hour, with the usual keys, making the usual amount of noise setting down her bag, and I did not go to greet her the way I normally do, because something about the shape of her head was wrong. I want to be precise about this. … Read more
Something under the floor made a sound this morning that I have never heard before, and I want it on record that I did not simply ignore it. There was a clunk, low and mechanical, somewhere beneath the hallway, followed by a rushing hiss that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, and I did … Read more
There is a sound a certain bag makes. I have known it for a long time. It is not the sound of the food bag, which is a heavier crinkle, more of a slump, because the food bag is mostly full and doesn’t move much when it’s touched. It is not the sound of the … Read more
She did not go to the desk today. I want that noted, because the desk is where the working happens, and the working happening somewhere else is the sort of thing a cat is entitled to have opinions about. Instead she came into the front room with a mug of tea and a stack of … Read more
I want it on the record that I have made that jump before. Many times. It is not a difficult jump. The bookshelf is not especially tall, and I am not especially small, and the two facts have always balanced each other out in my favor. I have landed on top of that bookshelf with … Read more
It arrived without any of the courtesies I consider standard for a new presence entering my sightline. No gradual approach along the fence, no polite pause at a distance to be assessed. One moment the gutter above the back room window was empty, the way it has always been empty, and the next there was … Read more
There was a knock at the door today, which is already a serious event, and then a second knock right after it, which is not how anyone in this house knocks, and so before the door had even opened I understood we were dealing with an outsider. I took up a position under the console … Read more
I want it on record that I was awake first. I am always awake first, technically, in the sense that I never fully stop being awake, but this morning I was awake in the specific, aggrieved way of someone who has been personally wronged before the sun has even finished coming up. The alarm went … Read more
