cat party

Scene: Early morning. Still dark with a slight cold rain. The camera zooms in through the window, focusing on a sleeping form, warm in bed.

The sleeper awakens, unsure of what woke her up. Then she hears it again. The unmistakable howls of a meow-off.


...
A 3-way meow-off, to be exact. On the roof of my house, to be exact-er.

So I got up and poked my head out the back door and yelled, which will usually result in a scrambling of cats and an apologetic Pumpkin running in the door. It's usually an effective end to the meow-off.

Not this time. They kept going. So I put on a robe and flip flops, and spotted Gary on the fence. Yelling did no good, so I tromped out into the wet grass and he retreated to a safe distance.
Still hearing meows, I see Pumpkin's head poke out of the shadows on the roof. There is another cat a few feet away, echoing her song.

It now seems that although the meow-off is done, Pumpkin is loudly expressing her displeasure at being stuck on the roof. The other cat has disappeared. I go inside and grab a chair, and stand on it, hoping that my wet flip flops will not end up being the death of me. Of course, Pumpkin stays just out of reach of my grasp, so I take the chair back inside and pull out the bench on the back porch. Again. prayers for wet flip flops happen. Again, Pumpkin stays out of my reach.

So I go back inside, keep the door cracked, and go back to bed. If she wants to get down bad enough, she'll find a way.

From my bed, I hear more meows, and more than one set of kitty pitter patters back and forth on the roof overhead. After a few minutes, I hear a meow from a closer distance. Pumpkin finally made it off the roof and is in the living room.

So I get up, knowing she will be wet, and I towel her off. There are muddy kitty prints on the carpet now.

I don't know what kind of cat party I interrupted, but I went back to sleep, glad it was over.