“Ooo! Don’t let the cat out!”
We visited a friend of ours this afternoon to play Scrabble. As we arrived she opened the door for us to enter. It was at this point the cat, George, decided to bolt out the door. He stopped to sniff something on the ground, then take a look around. This afforded me the opportunity to grab him and carry him back inside. George was not pleased with this turn of events, so he proceeded to hiss, spit, and try to claw me and his owner.
George and I have always been on good terms. He sits in the Scrabble box while we play. I give him scritches. He relaxes and goes to sleep. All is well.
Today, however, we were at odds. After saying our hellos and settling in, we went to the table to get ready to play. George settled in the Scrabble box. I went over to apologize, then ran my hand along his haunch. He turned his head and hissed at me. No reconciliation at that point. Too soon.
We spent the afternoon playing Scrabble, while George lounged in the Scrabble box.
After finishing, we put the game away and cleaned up. I approached George. In a contrite manner I delivered the following speech:
“George, my dear feline companion, it grieves me that we should not part as friends. I deeply and sincerely apologize for my actions, which from your point of view could be considered ‘manhandling’. It was only out of concern for your health and welfare when your servant got quite agitated by your exiting the house that I thought there might be a danger to you. Please forgive me.”
I tentatively stroked his haunch again, which only triggered his vehemence towards me with another hiss.
Somewhere, out in the cosmos, the Cat Gods have seen all this. They will mark me as a ‘bad servant’ in their ledgers. I’m sure my punishment will be a lengthy and unpleasant for interfering with George and whatever he desired. They will not be lenient.
A few notes about the Scrabble games: We played three games and in all three games I had the letter ‘Q’. The first two games I pulled it in my initial seven letters, and in the third game I pulled it about midway through the game. I did play it each game so I wasn’t stuck having to give someone 10 points by still having it in my hand at the end of the game.
I got to play the word ‘ogre’ in two of the games, once on a triple word score and linked to another word.
I placed second in the first and third games and first in the second game.
If you’d like to support my efforts, why not buy me a chocolate chip cookie through my Ko-Fi page? https://ko-fi.com/jhusum
I have communed with the ambassador of the Cat Gods who assures me that since you are contrite they will forgive you. The ambassador suggested you build up good karma with the overlords of all the animal gods. It was suggested that wearing of sackcloth and ashes on at least two public appearances would suffice.
George on the other hand, well that’s another story.
Thanks! I shall rest easier. I’m sure George will forgive me in time. If nothing else, he’ll realize he’s missing out on scritches.