My hard drive crashed last night just a few minutes after midnight. Now you gotta understand, I am not a 'puter geek. I only had a vague idea what to do when this happens, mostly from horror stories told by others. So when I woke the Bopper out of a sound sleep yelling words he had seldom heard before, he came running, ready to calm me down so that I could concentrate.

I called the tech folks and ended up on hold for what would turn out to be a 2-hour wait. What His Katness saw was that the 'puter was off and it was time for the human to turn all attention to the cat. He was to be disappointed, because I was not gonna just sit there on hold. I was gonna try and fix it myself.

Over the next eight hours the poor animal was yelled at dozens of times for bugging me. He had tried everything from bringing toys to biting (drew blood twice) to walking in front of the keyboard, all rewarded with a snub. I was too busy for a cat. Five o'clock comes and he is ready for the bed time preparations like sifting the litter box, filling the water dish, clipping the catnip and opening the blinds to the morning sun so that he can watch the world. Hale Bopp whined and cried, but I refused to listen. Finally he could take no more. About 8:00AM I got up to go to the bathroom. When I returned he was sitting on the mouse, letting me know in no uncertain terms, and another blood letting, that I was finished for the night. I am talking wild cat here. Hisses, snarls, growls and claws. He was right, I needed sleep, but I thought that was a little dramatic and I told him so.

But he wasn't done with me. Cats will have their revenge. While I was sleeping peacefully, El Gato Loco dragged his favorite paper bag into the bedroom and placed it right next to the bed where he proceeded to pounce on it and watched me sit straight up in the bed. I swear he laughed before he darted back into the living room.

Life with Hale Bopp is never boring.

Copyright © Reggie
November 3, 1999