I had a strange dream about cats last night. I woke up in the
middle of the night and immediately felt the urge to go to the
bathroom. Knowing it might be a struggle to get back to sleep, I
reluctantly made my way to the restroom and headed back to bed. I
tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable, rearranged pillows, pulled
the covers off, pulled them back on and finally surrendered to the idea
that I'm not going sleep any time soon. I reached for my phone.
Checking Facebook
and scrolling through click bait was helpful in that my eyes blurred, I
was still tired. Placing the phone down and finally finding a
comfortable position, I fell in and out of sleep for what seemed like
the whole time until the alarm sounded. Yet, that wasn't entirely
true. At one point, I felt something jump on the bed and curl around my
head. I looked up and it was Luther, the black cat my mother had (he
passed away a few years ago due to old age). He jumped down and another
cat jumped up and the whiskered face looked familiar but I couldn't
quite place him. Him? Yeah, him. I don't know how I knew that but I
did with utmost certainty. He was gone in a flash as cats do
sometimes. You know that whole "I'm here now pay attention to me. Too
slow. Gotta go." Something was nibbling my fingers and then moved on
to my toes. I expected a cat. It wasn't. It was fat and round and
sort of looked like a cat but instinctively I knew it was something that
had gotten in the cat door but shouldn't be in the house. It was meant
for outside so I gently picked it up in my hands, feeling the
roundness, the soft squishy weight of it in my hands, twisting to try
and bite me, unable to claw at me and released it out the door.
What
house am I in? My bed was in my bedroom where I live now but the house
wasn't the same. It was the house of a good chunk of my childhood in Pinellas Park. Good 'ol 6219. I was in the foyer. The telephone table was there with the old Uniden
cordless in the holder charging with it's greenish light glowing in the
dark, answering machine adjacent, sitting silently guarding the phone,
no messages. I stumbled to the kitchen looking for water and almost
fell over another cat. A cat covered in kittens sleeping peacefully on
it's back, not nursing like one might have expected. I am noticeably
confused and see more kittens and I'm trying to scoop them up and get
them back to their respective cat parents. I know which ones belong
with which but they are difficult to wrangle as anyone who has attempted
to cat wrangle knows. I feel like I'm hurrying to get them because I'm
expecting someone.
Who am I expecting?
I'm not sure but I know they will be home soon and walk in that front
door. I'll know it because the screen door a few feet in front of the
door will open and swing closed first. I'll hear the squeaky opening
and then the slow then quick slam of the door before they can insert the
key into the front door. I'm not nervous or anxious but feel something
that says, I need to get this done. I don't expect an outburst of
anger, frustration or disappointment if they find these kittens and cats
all over the foyer floor but I'm still concerned by their possible
reaction.
