Cat's And Guns
Saturday night it snowed, not a lot, but enough. Enough for the oldest boy and I to build snowmen, have a snowball war and make snow angels: Enough to forget about rain and mud and short winter days. Enough to keep a fire burning all day too read by. Enough to make soup. It’s the first real snow we’ve had since he’s been born.
We bundled up the littlest one in a snowsuit he got from his cousin. I took a lot of pictures with imaginary film and a few more with the real stuff. Ate chicken soup with dumplings and banana bread muffins with butter. Watched black crows fight over a dead squirrel and watched the cats watch the crows.
We have two cats named Batman and Zane, though they are both girls. They are old and past their hunting days but they will still keep an eye out for a careless bird. Hunched in the window ledge, tail flicking behind them they watch and wait. Pretending that they would pounce on a moments notice given the slightest opportunity. Knowing full well that the very idea of getting their feet wet in the snow is a definite impossibility.
Hunters by nature, I think our cats would love to own a gun. In fact I think most cats would like to own guns. From high on a window ledge or balcony they would take aim through the scope, slowly following their prey for just the right moment. It seems to me that they have the kind of patience needed to hunt with a gun. They could (and in fact will) sit there for the better part of a day just watching and waiting, knowing that if the perfect opportunity doesn’t come up today there’s always tomorrow. There’s something clean and distant about guns. Something that a cat who didn’t want to get wet in the snow would find appealing.
Our neighbors asked the older boy and I to walk their dog while they cared for a sick friend. When we got back the cats had not moved from their crow watching perch, although their eyes were now little slits, following us from our neighbors porch until we got inside.
We bundled up the littlest one in a snowsuit he got from his cousin. I took a lot of pictures with imaginary film and a few more with the real stuff. Ate chicken soup with dumplings and banana bread muffins with butter. Watched black crows fight over a dead squirrel and watched the cats watch the crows.
We have two cats named Batman and Zane, though they are both girls. They are old and past their hunting days but they will still keep an eye out for a careless bird. Hunched in the window ledge, tail flicking behind them they watch and wait. Pretending that they would pounce on a moments notice given the slightest opportunity. Knowing full well that the very idea of getting their feet wet in the snow is a definite impossibility.
Hunters by nature, I think our cats would love to own a gun. In fact I think most cats would like to own guns. From high on a window ledge or balcony they would take aim through the scope, slowly following their prey for just the right moment. It seems to me that they have the kind of patience needed to hunt with a gun. They could (and in fact will) sit there for the better part of a day just watching and waiting, knowing that if the perfect opportunity doesn’t come up today there’s always tomorrow. There’s something clean and distant about guns. Something that a cat who didn’t want to get wet in the snow would find appealing.
Our neighbors asked the older boy and I to walk their dog while they cared for a sick friend. When we got back the cats had not moved from their crow watching perch, although their eyes were now little slits, following us from our neighbors porch until we got inside.
Comments