Rocky

Toby

Put up the tree the other day, it is still standing (sorta). Toby and Rocky have specific jobs, which they have divided up between them. Toby is in charge of putting holes in the tree skirt and climbing under it. He does this by digging a hole straight down through it (obviously, if you are going to insist on a brisk -12 C outside, you have to have a warm place to hide -- doesn't matter if the heater is on full blast, or that you are an inside cat!). As you may suspect, I did not put the beautiful quilted skirt on the tree, but a $3 special that I don't care about, so Toby doesn't think I am serious when I tell him "no". He is also in charge of rubbing his lips on the presents -- repeatedly. A damp present is a proper present, after all!

Rocky has the more physical job. Being the tall cat, he is in charge of knocking the most breakable ornaments off the tree (he knows they can be dangerous if broken, so was only trying to make sure the humans didn't do any harm to themselves. He may have a point, last summer he allowed me to wash a glass and I managed to almost severe a digit with it when it shattered). The cheaper plastic items are allowed to live, especially the ones we put on just for them. I only had ten breakable ornaments on the tree, and they were all gathered above cat level (or so I thought). Rocky was so insistent, I heeded his warnings and took all the shiny glass from the tree and stored it away. Rocky can rest now, his biggest job taken care of. He has been taking relaxing naps on my lap using my hand as his pillow, poor exhausted beast. Toby has many more inches of unripped cloth to go, and many dry packages to dampen. He is confident that he will succeed in his misson, and assures us that he will have the job done by Christmas, even if he has to work at it overtime.

Copyright © Kim Bulback
December 21, 1998

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