<p>Oh, this cat is one for the books. Once, I was staying at my friend’s house, and she was out of town somewhere - visiting Tufts trying to make a matriculation decision I think - anyway, the cat stays out all night; I get up at 5:00 a.m., and, the first thing that HAS to happen every morning without fail is there has to be espresso. I cannot even begin to function without it. So I go about trying to make it. </p>
<p>But this cat has radar or something. The very second I turned on the kitchen light at 5:00, he came bouncing up the outside stairs to the kitchen, meowing loudly, demanding to be let in. So I let him in. But that wasn’t good enough - he also VERY loudly demanded to be fed. Immediately. The food that was in his dish from the night before wasn’t good enough; he wanted new, fresh food. And he stood there and meowed loudly over and over and even stamped his feet - I’m not kidding - and they’re very big feet too - demanding to be fed. </p>
<p>I tried to make my espresso first, but, he wouldn’t let me. He totally blocked my access to the area of the kitchen where this stuff is kept, meowing loudly and indignantly the entire time. </p>
<p>When I first wake up, it’s a real challenge to work my hands around a can opener and get a can of cat food open, but, I managed. Oh, and trust me when I tell you that nothing smells worse than cat food at 5:00 a.m.</p>
<p>So I get the can open, and, he wanted his dish perfectly clean, too, so, I was forced to wash the dish. He wouldn’t even let me complete the action of placing his food dish on the floor - he shoved at my arm and began eating while my hand with the dish was still in motion on its way to the floor. He ate like a pig - loudly snorting and snarfing the food, but, this gave me a break to finally get the espresso made. </p>
<p>Just barely sat down with my drink when he began meowing loudly again, demanding to be let back out. So I did this, thinking, good, end of cat duty for now. I sat back down and tried to wake up.</p>
<p>Then I heard the very loud meowing again. So I went to the kitchen door again, thinking “what does he want now”, but I didn’t see him. I looked out the window, and I saw the neighbor’s lights come on. Turned out he was at THEIR back door, demanding food. So I watched out the kitchen window, curious, and I saw a person move within their house, and then return to the back door with a dish for him. Ten minutes later he did the same thing at the next house. My friend’s house is at the top of a hill, and I can see the majority of the houses on the street, and one by one I could see their lights come on as this cat worked the entire street, at 5:00 a.m. </p>
<p>I was sooooooo embarrassed. I did not know any of the neighbors, and I was certain they thought I was abusing this poor cat, or at minimum refusing to feed him. </p>
<p>Next morning, he did the exact same thing again. </p>
<p>So when my friend got back in town, I explained to her what happened. That Saturday she went door to door explaining and apologizing to all her neighbors, but she related to me that they took it in good humor and understood the cat was being weird, it wasn’t that he was neglected. </p>
<p>I adore my friend; she and her brother are two of the nicest, kindest and most gracious people in the world, but, when she knows I’m in town and she invites me to stay in her guest bedroom, I’m like, um, who has the cat? Did he make it up, to, say, Columbia or Cornell yet? When she advises he’s still in Arlington my schedule tends to suddenly fill up…</p>
But, even at the house I own in our primary city, I don’t use the garage any more. Got out of the habit of using it after two years of successive hurricanes - power outages lasting for weeks at a time, the manual process to open the garage got old. Plus, when I bought my new car, I wanted to show it off, so parked outside my garage all of the Christmas season. Maybe I should go home, live in my house until mating season is over or something. </p>
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