Storytime

Phoebe’s Log – July 24, 2013

The silver car slides into the driveway. As stealth as the engine is, I know it is there and I know who it is. The tell-tale Dunkin Donuts iced tea with extra lemon appear first in the air as the rest of Carolyn emerges from the car. “Hello Phoebe,” she sings. I just stare at her blankly, while my tail whips the couch in below her line of sight. Crosby squints his eyes and raises his chin a little – a signature salute to those passing by the kitchen window.

Once in, Carolyn goes through an even more formal greeting exchange by ceremoniously tossing us treats galore and then settles into her favorite chair with a book. This week, it is the classic “The Little Prince,” the story of a boy who came to Earth from an asteroid after travelling to several other planets.

It’s an inspirational story – especially to us cats because, quite frankly, sometimes we feel as though we were sometimes dropped into Earth from some outer space asteroid, evolution aside…Our powers are much more keen than that of a human and as Carolyn begins to read, I shift a bit. Crosby sits and stares lovingly into Carolyn’s eyes and hands, while his tail gives me the two twitch signal. It’s time.

I go and sniff Carolyn’s ankles and down to her shoes. It’s unmistakably Cambridge and alien cats that live with her. I inhale slowly. Prior to coming here, she fed them turkey flavored treats…I inhale again. I see the cats receiving more – tuna treats and plenty of them. Oh happy, happy. I give her a little nip…before moving to the next chapter – leaving her house.

Cement sidewalks and stop signs. Plenty of stop signs in Cambridge and cars…I put my paws around her leg and I hear horns honking and buses going by on the busy streets as she navigates her way around the rotary and through the drive thru, “Extra lemon in the ice tea,” I hear her say….as she slips away into traffic…Too many cars. I’m not liking this. I give her a bigger bite. Carolyn only shakes her leg…I release my claws and see her calmly sipping her iced tea. Oh joy.

Next, she stops at a store and goes outside. And this is where it gets really interesting. Before she gets into the store, I spot feathers and beady little eyes looking at her ready to swoop down and attack. Bird! In my vision, I try to warn her. I wrap my paws around her ankle a little firmer, claws gently pressing into her ankle.

“Phoebe,” Carolyn says, trying to shake me off a little. I just give her a rub and dance away a little.

Crosby thumps his tail. I return to the ankle…you can tell a lot about where a person has been by investigating their feet and ankles. You see, every step taken is a connection to the ground. Even through shoes, socks, and concrete there is a connection to where you’ve been and the energies surrounding your environment. There are things that we are sometimes not aware of….in this case…Carolyn was unaware of the Bird poised and ready to mark her car. I could see it from the soles of her feet, errr, ankle.

“Take your shoes off,” I say.

She did not. Clearly, there were limits to her threshold for pain.

I turned and twisted my body and tail for a display of sportsmanship against her foot and then I got to business. I imagined the Bird swooping in and I sank my claws more firmly into her ankle and I bit that Bird. err, the ankle. She tried to fly away…Oops. Too late, I was carried away by the image of the Bird and dug in further, my hind legs propelling into action.

“Phoebe!” Carolyn yelped and raised her foot.

The end. I let go. And danced away. I foiled the Bird and saved the day and a trip to the car wash.

“Bravo!” Crosby said.