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July, 2010
A Tale of Two Kitties
Princess lolls on the sun-warmed cement of the back porch. This is her house, her back porch! Through the open back door, she can see the Woman busy at whatever task keeps her sitting in that spot during the day. The Man is out in the garage, making noise with those horrid machines. She sees him much more often nowadays than she used to, and follows him around when he isn't making such a loud racket. She likes having company outdoors again.
Then she hears it, that lower, more whining "meow" that says that the Interloper has arrived. He lives a few houses down the way, she knows; and while she doesn't blame him for making the trek from a house full of People who don't pay him much attention at all, this is her house, darn it! But the Man and Woman have made a point of feeding the rascal a few times, probably feeling sorry for him because he has a kink in his tail that tells that he broke it badly a while back.
Leave it to a tomcat to take advantage of a personal misfortune!!
Princess narrows her eyes as the black and white Interloper slowly saunters up onto the sidewalk at the bottom of the steps to her back porch. She'll let him climb the first step before she hisses, which stops him every time. Even though the Big People allow the Interloper to stick around, they've made it very clear that SHE is ruler of the roost. A few hissing and spitting and yowling matches at night have reaffirmed this Order Of Things.
The Interloper isn't in the mood to challenge her today, though; he stretches out on that bottom step as if he owned it, lolling in the sunlight of a summer afternoon. Princess eyes him for a long time, her casual loll having rolled over into a patently false crouch, defending the water dish and bowl of dry crunchies. She's prepared for whatever he wants to throw at her.
Time passes, the sun continues warm and comfortable, and the Interloper has fallen asleep on that bottom step. Princess sits up and scratches a pesky flea and licks her long fur back into shape, and then returns to her previous loll.
Truce is declared; it's too nice a day to argue.