I love cats, but they have their dark side, and more than once they’ve made my fur stand on end. My hair, I mean, sorry. The day the vet told me Fusspot had died, I was sitting here at my computer and the wind had got up. There was a loud crash from the porch (I know it wasn’t Sharky, as he was sleeping beside me on a director’s chair). It was either the letterbox or the cat flap. In my mind’s eye I saw Fusspot come whirling into the house in a fury, his eyes shining red, wanting vengeance – for what?
“How dare you leave me at the vet’s? I wanted to stay home with you; you know I did. What do you mean by it all, eh? Eh?”
The thought of his irate ghost drifting up the hall behind me made me shiver for a moment.
Last night I was trying to sleep, with Sharky lying on my stomach under the duvet. The light was out and my thoughts turned to Fusspot’s ghost. Again I imagined him entering the catflap and advancing up the hall. Suddenly Sharky twitched violently – almost leaping. His head lifted warily, and he began to inch slowly forward over my stomach, looking out towards the hall.
“He heard something!” I thought, worried. “There’s something out there!” I started to tip my head back so I could look through the glass door into the dark hall, then Sharky darted forwards and nipped my cheekbone.
What???
I was completely confused till I realized he was having a nightmare – again. If there’s such a thing as a sleepwalking cat, Sharky is it. On other occasions he has sat up and growled fearsomely, looking towards the door, and it takes you a while to understand he’s still asleep.
I hugged him to my chest and put the light back on, and he collapsed in a purring heap. When I looked at his face, his eyes were still shut, but he was looking relieved, as though some great danger was past. Slowly his eyes blinked open.
“Hello? It was just a dream, OK?”
Purr, purr.
Maybe he was dreaming about Fusspot’s ghost too.
Comments for this entry (from its previous life on Blogigo):
1. kateblogs wrote at Mar 20, 2007 at 16:17: Our younger dog does that. He will leap up, barking as though a mad axe man is about to burst in, and startling the life out of anyone in the room. Then, you realise he is fast asleep. Sometimes, he seems to have really nice dreams though, and will jump up with his tail wagging.
2. Pacian wrote at Mar 21, 2007 at 12:24: Aw! What a cute story! When my cat has a nightmare he tends to just wake up with a real start and meow loudly.
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