Guest Blogger 10/12/14

     

Bump

Alone, I typed away on the keyboard. Well, mostly alone. The dog slept at my feet, and the cat was around somewhere and of course the fish tank lit up the living room. I killed another axe-wielding goat and dodged an arrow from a blue woman in tattered clothing. Ah, peace. Just me,  the animals, and a relaxing game of Diablo. The game's music played quietly in the background, the goats bleated as they died, and the women screamed and turned into vapor. Some of my best moments are spent this way.

Then I heard a sound which didn't come from the game. A chilling sound, one which I shouldn't hear in alaHouse when I'm alone.

The sound of the toilet seat.

Our toilet seats are always down.

Toilet seats which are down don't make noise.

I froze, and the goats and blue women in Diablo beat on my motionless character. I strained my ears to hear any other sounds from the bathroom. Was there someone here? Would a burglar stop to pee?

The dog continued to sleep at my feet. I frowned at him and a goat bleated. No further sounds from the bathroom . . .

I got up, leaving my character to his online fate, and cautiously approached the nearest bathroom. The dog followed me.

Upon the toilet seat, tail curled delicately around her front feet, sat Kona. My mysterious noise was just the cat jumping onto the (closed) toilet. "Meow," she said. Then, "rrt, rrt, rrt, rrt." It's an odd noise, that one. It's the sound she makes when a butterfly floats past her window, or a spider crawls up the wall past her reach. I think of it as a plea for the would-be lunch to come closer.

This time, she's directing it at Bounty, the dog.

I think she's finally grown into the cat she can be. She's discovered Garfield's secret: that dogs are fun to annoy. Trouble is, Bounty doesn't annoy. He accepts what Kona does as playtime and he's always willing to play. This one was no exception and as I returned to my besieged character, the dog and cat began a game of Chase Me.

Sometimes I wonder what those games entail, and I think they play more serious ones when I'm gone. Wednesday when I came home from work, I found both animals locked in the computer room. Kona was in the window and Bounty was barking to be let out of the room. How had the door closed? What had they been doing in there all day?

Perhaps they'd spent the afternoon having a relaxing game of Diablo.


Copyright 2014 Michelle Hakala
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