Scamp

Wham!

I had just finished a lesson in front of my computer and was startled by a loud thud against the window. The cat who visits daily at my patio doors to get a drink of fresh water from Toffee’s dish, had jumped up on my window box to get a better look at me.

The house where I lived between the ages of 8 and 18 had large living room windows, plus French doors that opened up to the patio in the back. One could see directly through from the front yard to the back yard. Every year we would hear and see several birds fly into the front windows. Some flew off, slightly wounded and confused; others lay on the ground semi-conscious for a few minutes then flew away; others died from broken necks or serious head injury. We weren’t sure if they flew into the window because they saw the reflection of the trees in the front yard, or if they were heading for the trees in the back yard, or perhaps they were drunk after gorging themselves on the fermenting yew berries.

I don’t think the cat was looking for anything in particular yesterday. When he comes to drink water he does make sure I’m watching him, although he won’t let me get too close. Sometimes I look out and see him chasing squirrels. One day last January I watched him as he moved slowly, pausing, moving a bit in slow motion, sneaking up on another cat that was sitting at my patio doors, watching me. Scamp (today I decided I would give him a suitable name) got closer and closer to the other cat, until reached out his paw and swatted it on the back, resulting in a bit of a cat fight.

I’m getting to like having Scamp around. The window between us protects me from allergic reaction, and I get to enjoy his company and his antics.