A few days later, a huge package arrives. When she opens it, I recognise a bicycle. I watch Humans riding bicycles through the front window. Later, when Tony finds a place for it, I realise that it is a different sort of bicycle, meant to stand still. It has bicycle wheels, but it stands on a base that makes it stationary. Tony fiddles with it until he is satisfied that it is stable. Then he sits on it and moves the pedals. The wheels whir around fast until Tony stops. He is puffing and panting.
‘It is a top exercise bike,’ he says to Karen. ‘It will help us both to keep fit.’
Karen tries it out, but cannot manage to make the wheels turn as fast as Tony does.
‘I’ve had enough,’ she says, after a few minutes. It will take me ages to build up my fitness.’
‘You need to take a morning break and do some exercise or you’ll be sick,’ Tony says, giving Karen a hug. ‘I do quite a lot of walking to and from the bus stop to work, but you work at home and do very little walking.’
‘You’re spot on! I’m going to take a morning coffee break and a few extra minutes on the exercise bike every day.’
I am with Karen in the therapy room, when she looks at her watch. ‘Time for a break and exercise,’ she says.
I follow her to the side of the television room, where Tony has put the exercise bicycle. It is time for my exercise too. I feel a spurt of energy needing release and race around the house until I am tired. At the same time, Karen is riding her bike.
Keeping fit is another aspect of Catness. Being strong enough to chase prey or run from predators if they attack is essential.
The wheels of Karen’s bike stop turning. She is breathing hard and falls onto the couch. Then, while I lap water, she goes to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. I sit next to her and rest, as she slowly drinks her tea.
There is a part of me, deep beneath my furry coat, that knows it is a weird idea, but I hope that my Karen is learning Catness.
The early sun greets me, filtering through the curtains and making bright spots on the floor. As I wait for Karen to open the door to my garden, I chase the flitting light across the room.
At last, I hear her unlocking the door. I have fun running and hiding behind bushes and pouncing at rocks. Then I chase my tail, imagining it is a mouse. When the heat drives me inside, I rush to the coolest part of the house, directly under the big blower. My fur coat is thick, hot and heavy. Right now, I would like to be as hairless as a Human.
Karen tries to “cool me down” by wiping me with a wet towel, but water treatment of any kind is abhorrent, so I run from her.
It is Friday, and Karen is in the hot kitchen baking for the weekend. She gives me sweet, soft bits of cake. Yumow! She says I am weird because cats rarely like cake, and that most cats do not have taste buds for sweet things.
When she leaves to go shopping, the cakes sit partly covered to cool on the benchtop. I circle them. What a huge temptation! One swoop of my paw could snap off a chunk of deliciousness, but this once, I exercise restraint and eat my boring pebbles.
She returns carrying a large box. I watch and wait as she places it on the floor.
‘Something new for you to play with. I know you like boxes.’
I sniff the outside of the box and chew a bit. It tastes awful, and smells of food and dust. I jump inside. It’s dark, but safe, and somewhere to roll around and play. No one can sneak up on me, and I can see everything from here. I scratch the inside and outside of the box to mark it as mine.
Scratching is an amazingly satisfying activity and always a release of any built up tension.
Later, I sleep in the box and have a magnificent dream.
It is night in the desert, and I am alert. The cool night is my hunting time. During the day, the sun burns my nose, so I seek cover and sleep.
Hungrily, I look out from my mountaintop territory for food. No mice or lizards up here. If I want to eat tonight, I will have to climb down the mountain. In the moonlight, I use the pads on my feet and my claws to grip small plants between the craggy rocks, to make my descent. At the foot of the mountain, grass is sparse. There are a few trees and a muddy steam. Guardedly, I check for predators – foxes, wolves and owls. I am safe and I drink. I catch one lizard and then another. After scraping away their tough skin with my claws, I eat their flesh. Satisfied, I check the territory again.
In the darkness I see a bright ball of light, hotter than sunlight. Plumes of grey surge into the sky. I move towards it slowly, prepared to hide or run if threatened. Humans are talking, and I smell charred wood and food.
One calls me. Ssk, ssk cat!
I am afraid, as I know little about these Humans.
Meow, meow, I reply.
He calls again, holding out some cooked meat for me that smells inviting. I edge closer and grab the meat.
I am about to eat the meat when Karen’s voice wakes me and interrupts my dream.
‘Bella, my precious, something special for you. Soft meat that you like.’
She leaves a few pieces of cooked meat in my bowl. I jump out of my box to eat it. It is gone in seconds.
‘Bella...work!’ Karen calls.
Half-heartedly, I follow her. I would prefer to go back to sleep and follow my dream.
A loud knock on the door. A tall, agitated mother holding the hand of child in tears, enter the room. The child looks as fragile as a petal in the wind.
‘How can I help?’ Karen asks, motioning them to chairs.
The mother’s words pour out in a jumble. ‘Jeremy is four...and hasn’t stopped crying since he heard that his big brother Laurie is leaving home to live with a group of his university friends. He has an older sister, but he adores Laurie and is very upset.’
Little Jeremy sits on his mother’s lap, sobbing as he clings to her.
My ears are erect, as I try to catch everything that is said. I wonder why the frightened little, kitten boy is crying so much.
Tears fill the mother’s eyes. ‘My husband and I have separated, and with Laurie leaving as well, it is too much for Jeremy to handle. I hope you can help.’
Cats Alive! The poor little Human. No wonder he’s upset, and his mother doesn’t know what to do.
‘Arguments and the tense atmosphere in the house before we separated upset the children and Jeremy is the worst affected. I wish we had handled things differently.’ She sighs and wipes her eyes with her hand. ‘I’m worried. In the last month he’s been talking “baby talk” again, clinging to me and sucking his thumb.’
Karen nods. ‘When parents separate it can upset children more than people think, and they can return to childish behaviour, but it will pass when he feels more secure.’
So many parents who bring their children to see Karen have broken relationships and their children suffer. At least we stay with our mothers and our other family as long as we can. Our fathers are not worth worrying about. Human males have trouble settling down too, it seems.
Jeremy begins to cry again and Karen smiles at him. ‘While I chat to your mum, Jeremy, you can sit with Bella. She likes children.’
‘Hello Bella,’ he says, as he frees himself from his mother. In seconds, he is on the carpet next to me. I purr, and he allows me to put my head on his tiny leg. I move closer, touch him with my paw and he stops crying.
‘You’re such a pretty kitty,’ he says, as he pats me all over.
‘You can tell Bella why you’ve been upset today, Jeremy. She’ll understand,’ Karen says to him.
He touches my head and whispers. ‘Everyone I love goes away and I’m scared. It’s my fault that mum and dad aren’t going to live together anymore. and that Laurie has gone too.’
He snuggles closer as I rub my cheek against his tiny hand, wet from his tears.
‘Both your parents love you, Jeremy. It isn’t your fault that they aren’t living together, or that Laurie has left home and is staying with his friends,’ Karen says, and then adds more comforting words.
While his mother talks t
o Karen, he continues to stroke me.
Then Karen asks Jeremy how often he sees his dad.
‘Dad comes to see me late after work, but most times I’m already sleeping...and mum won’t let him wake me.’
‘It’s a pity you miss seeing him when he comes, but do you see him other times?’
‘I to go to his house every Saturday and sleep over.’
He bursts into tears again.
His mother throws up her hands and shrugs. ‘Maybe changing houses every weekend is upsetting Jeremy.’
Sad Cats! Jeremy is like a lost kitten who has been hurt. He needs so much love and care – and being pushed from one house to another isn’t doing him any good. I rub against him, while purring loudly for him. I am trying to tell him that I care about him and that I want him to feel happy again.
‘Jeremy, I can tell that Bella is sad that you are upset,’ Karen says. ‘We all want you to feel happy again. So, I will talk to your dad...and between all of us we’ll make certain that you’ll be happier soon.’
Karen asks Jeremy’s mother to tell his father that she would like to talk to him about Jeremy as soon as possible.
By the time they leave, Jeremy has stopped crying but he still looks upset.
Meow, meow I cry to Karen, touch her leg with my paw, and then go to the spot on the carpet where Jeremy was sitting.
‘Bella, my treasure, I think you are trying to tell me that you are worried about Jeremy. He is going through a tough time and feels alone. He needs lots of loving from both his parents. I hope his father will help.’ She pats my head. ‘You were great with him and helped him to feel wanted. He left much calmer. Thanks Bella, you amazing cat!’
I jump onto Karen’s lap and purr loudly for her.
At last, she puts her papers and her small hand phone away, and turns off the computer. She stretches and smiles.
‘Work is over for the weekend.’
Later, Tony arrives with flowers and chocolates for Karen. He carries in brown, small bottles for himself. They hug and kiss. Watching them together makes me feel good. The atmosphere in the house is calm. I like to watch them chat, for their eyes to connect and then their lips to meet in a kiss.
They drink dark liquid and open the box of chocolates. Karen eats many, but Tony only a few. Life at home is so pleasurable.
The flowers are fun to play with. I bite off some of the petals and they fall on the floor, but I avoid the chocolates. I ate a bit of chocolate once and vomited on Karen’s soft bedroom carpet. I could tell she was upset, but she wasn’t angry with me. All she said was, ‘No more chocolate for you.ever again!’ Then she washed the carpet until it was clean.
I am in my garden when I hear a swishing sound above me. I look up, and all I see is a blob circling. Then, a birdlike creature as big as me, lands on the grass. It stares at me without any sign of fear or aggression.
Quark, quark, it says.
It has white feathers, a spotted breast, a dark head and beak, and short, strange feet. I haven’t seen a bird anything like it before. Why has it landed on my territory?
Cat Alert! I approach it slowly and cautiously, head lowered, ears erect, claws out, and pupils dilated. I am ready to pounce if necessary. The creature ignores me, as it picks at seeds and grass.
It says quark, quark again.
Not knowing what to do, I answer meow meow.
Suddenly, it surprises me by lifting its weird feet and chasing me. As it runs, it flaps its large wings in the strangest way. It appears to be playing with no intention of attack. I turn about and chase it. When I hide, it finds me. I climb the half-tree. It flies up to me and pecks my tail. I haven’t had such fun for a long time. When I search for it, it has disappeared. High above, I see a blob flying away.
Karen comes into my garden laughing. ‘So, now you’re playing with a duck. You are the funniest cat.’
When Karen leaves, I sit on a rock wishing the duck hadn’t left so soon. I am lonely with no one to play with and wish I had a friend. I go to the half-tree and scratch the trunk. After several scratches, I am relaxed and go through the cat door to the inside of the house.
Another hot day.
Karen answers her phone. After a brief greeting, her face crumples with concern. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she says. ‘Poor Helena...how can I help?’ She listens, and then replies, ‘Yes, I can come and see her and bring Bella along, if you think she will help.’
‘Bella, we will have to leave soon to visit Helena, an old lady I have known for a long time. She is sick and in pain. Her daughter says that she is a cat lover and hopes that you can help to ease her mother’s pain.’
As Karen opens a drawer to take out my harness and lead, the fur on the back of my neck stands up in revolt.
Ssssssss I hate the harness! If only she wouldn’t make me wear it, and in this heat too. I flick my tail and glare at her. She has to know that I am not at all pleased with these tools of oppression.
‘Come on, silly!’ She reads the signs of my dissatisfaction and strokes me gently. ‘I know how much you dislike wearing the harness, but when we visit sick people we don’t have much choice. We have to follow the rules. All cats visiting sick people must wear a harness and lead, but you know that.’
When Karen showed me the harness for the first time, I sniffed it. It had an unpleasant, sour odour.
‘We will have to do some training. You need to wear this when we visit sick people. It will help them to feel safe with you and make you look more professional – a qualified Cat Therapist,’ she said, patting my head with a laugh.
I like the sound of her laughing. It’s like bubbles of water in her throat.
When she put the thing on my body and snapped it shut, it was tight and bit into me. I meowed loudly, but she ignored my discomfort. I ran and hid. Then I did my best to bite the torturous thing around my middle, and pull it off, but it was thick and clung to my fur. As hard as I tried, I could not free myself.
‘Right Bella,’ I’ll take it off now and loosen it. Then we’ll try again another time until you get used to it,’ she said in her firm voice that I disliked.
It took me three weeks to become accustomed to the smell and feel of the harness, though nothing could make me like it. I wore it to please Karen. Just when I thought my training was over, she produced another article of torture – a lead.
‘Treasure, now that you’re used to the harness, I’d like you to learn to walk with a lead attached to it. You may not like it, but you’ll need to wear the harness and lead when we visit people in their homes and in hospitals. Eventually you’ll get used to them both and they won’t bother you.’
Karen was determined that I would bend to her wishes. Every day she took out the despicable objects, connected them to me, and attempted to make me walk. There were occasions when I was too angry to please her. I lay on the floor, made myself as heavy as possible and refused to move. She was not at all happy with me and pulled on the lead in the hope of moving me. This made the harness even tighter and more uncomfortable. I absolutely hated it.
I made an instant decision. As much as I loved Karen, I would not allow her to do what she liked with me. I cried louder and louder. She did not have to do this awful thing to me. I was a cat after all – a free, wild creature, a hunter, not born to walk with a lead. Leads were for stupid animals like dogs without free spirits or minds of their own. Unlike me, they were happy being controlled. I had seen them through the window going for walks with their owners. They all wore collars and leads.
Well, Karen could forget it!
I let her know how displeased I was with her by turning my back on her, and jumping out of her arms if she tried to pick me up. One day, when she attempted to put the instruments of oppression around me once more, I hissed at her and dug my nails into her flesh. Red oozed out of her and she ran to the bathroom to clean it. She yelled at me, and even threw her shoe at me. It was the first time she had done that. I dodged the shoe, but I realised how much I had upset her.
<
br /> I love Karen, and I admit that I had taken my rebellion too far, but I had to make a stand.
When she pretended she could not see me and refused to give me my usual treat of chicken for dinner, I knew I was in trouble. Later, I went to her. She watched me move slowly towards her, my tummy close to the ground, my tail down, but she ignored me. As I rubbed her hand with my cheek, I feared she would push me away.
She sighed. ‘You have behaved very badly, Bella...like a naughty kitten, but I adore you, and you know it. I’ll forgive you this time, but you will have to learn to wear the harness and lead.’
For a few days she wore a bandage on her arm. It was a reminder of what I had done to her. When the bandage came off there were three red marks on her arm. I looked at them every day, waiting for them to heal.
I tried not to feel guilty about hurting her, and told myself that it was not my fault. She had pushed me too far and any cat would’ve reacted like I did.
Anyway, why was this device so important? Humans have the strangest ideas and their priorities are illogical. They become stuck on things and will not let go! Rules ruled her life.
After a week of peace, she continued with her efforts to persuade me to walk with the harness and lead. I refused to give in, that is, until she bribed me with food. When she held out some tuna, I could not resist the seductive, tantalising aroma and I walked towards her. Each day a whiff of tuna or chicken encouraged me to wear the contraptions and walk a little further.
When confronted with my favourite foods I lose my Cat Sense and all my Cat Ethics. I have to admit that I am not proud of being so weak and easily manipulated.
Eventually, I became accustomed to walking with the harness and lead without a bribe of food. Somehow, her affectionate words and extra strokes made it worthwhile.
Just when I thought my training was over, she produced a big box. When she pulled the sides of the box away, a large object emerged.
‘I’ve bought you a lovely, new carry box that is larger than the old one. It should be more spacious, now that you’ve put on a little weight. I can take you to see people in this.’
Bella Page 4
