Midnight - Cat Napping at Noon

This is Midnight, doing what he does best, which is sleeping. That is when he's not eating. It's a lazy day with just a hint of Spring coming and he knows it. Gone are the cold winter nights and the chill of the days. This is life as it was meant to be lived; curled up, dead to the world; basking in the relative warmth of the afternoon.

It's not easy being a cat; especially my cat. He never gets to come inside; no pun intended, as he is a real life "tomcat"; he has no real friends and is always on the lookout for the coyotes and other airborne predators which inhabit the same world as he does. We have reached a mutual understanding, with respect for one another's quirks. He has come into the house a few times; but just as quick as Huckleberry Finn could shuck a pair of shoes, he was gone. His favorite song has got to be "Don't Fence me In."

I'm terribly allergic to cats, and do all I can to stay away from them. But this guy captured my heart about a year and a half ago when someone abandoned him and he needed to be fed. The neighbors all warned me, but I wouldn't listen. No matter, I needed a friend. And each morning; although he still does not bring me my paper; he is at the door waiting for his tuna, having eaten all his dry food during the earlier hours. And each morning I fill it back up.

About 9:30 we both take a nap; he sleeps on the porch while I retire to the bedroom. And when I wake up, he is almost always awake and waiting for me to brush his fur with a corn broom. That's about as close as I can get to petting him. But through the handle of that broom Midnight and I have formed an unlikely bond. He depends upon me to feed him; I just depend upon his being there. And you know, we never let one another down.