VII. The Cat

The best snoozing spot in the universe (for now).

At Aunt Millificent’s:  Shortly after arriving and having a little snack, Hobblestone picked up one of his favorite books and took it to the den. His plan was to go sit in his special chair, the one with the big wings and high arms that he could snuggle into and pretend he was in a hidden cave and everyone was looking for him but couldn’t find him. Aunt Millificent even played along with the game and pretended to be looking for him but not finding him, until finally he would give himself away with a giggle and she would gently pounce on him and snuggle him in her arms. Question: Do you  ever snuggle your loved ones? Just wondering .  . .

            Well, guess what? The cat was sound asleep in the chair.  He went over to the chair and said, “Shoo, Kitty!” Kitty the Cat jumped down from the armchair and less than a minute later was curled up somewhere else happy and content, looking like it had just discovered The Best Snoozing Spot in the Universe, and had already forgotten the indignity of being dislodged by a six-year-old boy carrying a pop-up book. Question: Have you ever noticed that when cats nap, they actually look like they’re working at it?

            Hobblestone climbed into his chair, but instead of reading his book, he just kept staring at the cat with a pensive look on his face, rubbing his chin like an old Rabbi I once knew. What was going on in his little mind?

            Aunt Millificent was wondering the same thing as she stood in the doorway watching Hobblestone stroke his chin and watch the cat. The cat, meanwhile, wasn’t watching anyone at all since she had settled deeply into her seventeenth nap of the day and could care less about what was going on in the rest of the world.

            Meanwhile, the plan that Aunt Millificent was looking for slowly began to take shape in her  mind. She summed up the details she had observed: Hobblestone shooing the cat. The cat quickly finding another place to snooze. No fuss. No bother. No trantrum. Zing! It all came together in an flash of insight!

            Smiling, she walked into the room and went over to the chair. Hobblestone skooched over a little so she could sit down with him. She sat down and he scampered onto her lap. “Oh my goodness, what a nice surprise,” she said. “There’s a Hobblestone here with me in the chair!”  <giggle, giggle> “Just a few minutes ago, Kitty was here. I wonder what happened to her. Have you seen her, my dear?”

Hobblestone giggled and pointed to the couch. “She’s over there on the couch. She was sleeping here but I shooed her down from the chair and she went right over there and curled up again.”

“Really,” Aunt Millificent replied. “Did she get mad at you?” Hobblestone rubbed his chin and giggled. “Noooooooo.” “Did she get angry or growl or try to scratch you?” “Noooooooooo” he said as he opened his eyes big. “She just walked around the room until she found another place to take her nap. She just moved on.”

“My goodness!” said Aunt Millificent. “I think I would really get upset if someone made me move away from a seat I was enjoying . . . “ Notice the consummate skill with which she was drawing him towards the desired conclusion. This woman is a true artist. “Silly Aunt Mullificent! Cats aren’t like people,” he exclaimed. “They don’t get upset the way we do. They just move on. They just find somewhere else to plop down.”

“That’s a very interesting way of putting it, dear. And do you know what?” she said as she stroked her chin and looked into his wide brown eyes. “ I think it would be nice sometimes if people were more like cats and didn’t get upset as easily when things don’t go their way.

That was all. End of discussion. This gal really knew what she was doing. In essence, she had just exposed her nephew to a new bridge, and even paid the toll and opened the gate, and said a quick prayer that he would cross it. But she’d done her job. Now it was up to him.

          Rule #7: Leave people free to make their own choices about which bridges to cross. Unless you’re a prison guard.

Less than an hour later, Hobblestone lay in his bed, having said his prayers alongside Aunt Mullificent (he even prayed for Kitty). He’d been cuddled, kissed and been lovingly tucked in. And as he started to fell asleep he was thinking about what it would be like if he were a cat.